11 Monday Feb 2013
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Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, 1767
Examination of Doctor Benjamin Franklin, Relative to the Repeal of the American Stamp Act in MDCCLXVI
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
London, 1767
E215.2 F63
The hated Stamp Act was among the oppressive measures that ultimately led to the American Revolution. In a wise and witty manner, Franklin showed why it should be repealed. This pamphlet was first printed in the colonies and then reprinted several times in London and America.
26 Tuesday Sep 2017
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Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Cesare Beccaria, David Garrick, David Hume, Denis Diderot, Edward Gibbon, Enlightenment, France, French, Greek, Horace Walpole, Jean-Jacque Rousseau, L'Encyclopedie, Laurence Sterne, library, Paris, Paul Holbach, salon, Voltaire
““How could the human mind progress, while tormented with frightful phantoms, and guided by men, interested in perpetuating its ignorance and fears? Man has been forced to vegetate in his primitive stupidity: he has been taught stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness was supposed to depend. Occupied solely by his fears, and by unintelligible reveries, he has always been at the mercy of priests, who have reserved to themselves the right of thinking for him, and of directing his actions.”
Lettre de Thrasibule a Leucippe
Paul Heinrich Dietrich, Baron d’Holbach (1723-1789)
…a Londres : [no printer or date, but probably Paris, circa 1768]
First edition
An anti-religious and atheistic attack on superstition, this work compares ancient religions and considers Christianity to be a mixture of Judaism and the religions of Egypt. The work was attributed to Nicolas Freret (1688-1749), but is now considered to be by Paul Holbach, who frequently used the names of deceased writers on the titles of his books in order to disguise his authorship. Nicolas Freret was well-known and highly esteemed in his lifetime, but left little of his own writings.
Here, the French text is presented as a translation of an English text that, in turn, is presented as an original Greek text.
Paul Holbach was a French-German encyclopedist and prominent as a salonist in Paris during the French Enlightenment. He supported Denis Diderot financially and contributed articles and translations to L’Encyclopedie – in all about 400 pieces. His salons were exclusively male and attended by such notables as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, David Hume, Horace Walpole, Edward Gibbon, David Garrick, Laurence Stern, Cesare Beccaria and Benjamin Franklin. Well-fed, his guests were surrounded by Holbach’s three thousand-volume library.
Holbach is recognized today for his philosophical writings, published anonymously or under pseudonyms, and printed outside of France. His writings, however, were certainly recognized in his own day. Voltaire, who was sometimes accused of writing these polemics, made it known that he was not a fan of the « anonymous » Holbach’s work.
16 Monday Jan 2017
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abolitionists, Africa, African-American, Alexander Pope, America, Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Boston, Boston Slave Market, Cape Verde, copperplate engraving, England, frontispiece, Fula, Gambia, John Hancock, John Milton, John Wheatley, London, Massachusetts, Muslim, Nathaniel Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley, poems, poetry, poets, Scipio Moorhead, Senegal, slave, Susannah Wheatley, Thomas Hutchinson
“Still, wond’rous youth! each noble path pursue,
On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire
To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!”
— from “To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works”
POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, RELIGIOUS AND MORAL…
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
London: Printed for A. Bell…and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, Boston, 1773
First edition
PS866 W5 1773
Phillis Wheatley, aged about seven, was bought by John Wheatley of Boston for his wife, Susannah, as a domestic slave, at the Boston Slave Market in 1761. She was probably born in Senegal/Gambia, near Cape Verde, of a Muslim people known as the Fula. She was transported from Africa to Boston on the slave ship, Phillis. The Wheatley family taught her to read and write. She read John Milton and was especially taken with the poetry of Alexander Pope.
Poems on Various Subjects was the first book of poems published by an African American. It gained international fame, and was particularly lauded in England. On a trip to London with Nathaniel Wheatley, she met Benjamin Franklin. Many at the time did not believe that Wheatley, a Negro, could have written this verse. However, Boston intellectuals, including Thomas Hutchinson, governor of Massachusetts; John Hancock; and Benjamin Rush came to her defense and attested to her authorship. Abolitionists used Wheatley as an example of the artistic and intellectual capabilities of black people.
Susannah Wheatley died a year after this book was published, and John Wheatley freed Phillis, possibly under pressure from others. Although Wheatley became one of the most published American poets of her day, she died with her sick baby by her side, at the age of thirty, in poverty, and deserted by her husband.
The copperplate engraving frontispiece portrait of Phillis Wheatley is the only known work by enslaved artist, Scipio Moorhead (b. ca. 1750).
Only about one hundred copies of this book are known to exist today.
20 Tuesday Dec 2016
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almanac, American, American Antiquarian Society, American Revolution, Americana, battles, Benjamin Franklin, bibles, bindery, books, bookstores, Boston, broadsides, Caleb Alexander, Charles River, collector, Concord, dictionaries, Dr. Ronald Rubin, English, Greek, Greek New Testament, history, independence, Isaiah Thomas, John Mill, Lexington, literature, London, Maryland, Massachusetts, medicine, music, Newburyport, newspaper, Nova Scotia, Oxford, pamphlets, paper mill, printer, printing history, rare books, Ronald Rubin, sedition, Vermont, Virgil, war, Worcester, Yale University
HE KAINE DIATHEKE, NOVUM TESTAMENTUM
Wigorniae, Massachusettensi: excudebat Isaias Thomas, Jun, 1800
Editio Prima Americana
This is the first American printing of the Greek New Testament, considered a milestone in American printing history.
Isaiah Thomas’ printing shop was dubbed “the sedition factory,” during the American Revolution. Thomas moved his press from Boston across the Charles River to Worcester in order to avoid confiscation by British troupes. His press reassembled, Thomas remained in Worcester for the rest of his life, printing the first reports of the battles of Lexington and Concord (“Americans! – – – Liberty or Death! – – – Join or Die!”) and continuing to print until he sold his business in 1802.
Isaiah Thomas was born in Boston in 1749. Thomas was apprenticed to a printer, at the age of six, after the death of his father. He stayed for ten years, then broke his bond and headed to London, much as Benjamin Franklin had done earlier. Thomas got as far as Nova Scotia, where he stayed to print a newspaper. After six months, he was sent packing because of his anti-Stamp Act actions. After another foray, this time to the south, Thomas returned to Boston to set up his own newspaper, The Massachusetts Spy. At the same time, he began what would become a lucrative printing business, which included an almanac and the Royal American Magazine, in 1774.
After the war for independence was won, Thomas built his press into an enterprise that included a bindery, a paper mill and bookstores from Vermont to Maryland. In 1773, he established the first press in Newburyport, Massachusetts, at the request of some of its citizens. He printed books on medicine, music, history, and literature; and printed spellers, dictionaries, and bibles. Caleb Alexander (1755-1828), a graduate of Yale University, worked with Thomas as editor for his first American editions of Virgil and other works in Greek, including He kaine diatheke. Alexander based his edition on a 1707 Oxford edition by English scholar John Mill (1645-1707).
Thomas retired around 1802, about two years after his printing of He kaine diatheke. He spent the rest of his life collecting printed American works – books, pamphlets, broadsides, almanacs, and newspapers. He used these as primary sources for his History of Printing in America, published in 1810. He donated his collection to the American Antiquarian Society, an institution he organized in order to provide a home for print material from early American history.
This is the most recent of numerous gifts throughout the years from Dr. Ronald Rubin, a collector, like Isaiah Thomas, of early Americana and a very fine friend of Rare Books. Thank you, Dr. Rubin!
10 Monday Oct 2016
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alchemy, alphabet, anatomist, anatomy, architecture, Aristotle, Ben Jonson, Benjamin Franklin, cats, Charles, chemistry, clothing, dictionary, England, English, engraver, engraving, Europe, France, French, frontispiece, history, horsemanship, hunting, Italian, Italy, James Howell, Kenelm Digby, Kings, lexicography, lexicon, library, London, Machiavelli, Oxford, physician, political, Poor Richard's Almanac, proverbs, reference, Restoration, Samuel Thompson, Spain, Spanish, tracts, travel, trees, Wales, William Faithorne, William Harvey, women
“A catt may look on a king”
Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish…
James Howell (1594? – 1666)
London: Printed by J.G. for Samuel Thompson, 1660
First and only edition
James Howell, born in Wales and educated at Oxford, began his literary career in 1640 with the political allegory, Dendrologia: Dodona’s Grove, or, The Vocall Forest, an account representing the history of England and Europe through the framework of a typology of trees. He continued to write political tracts throughout the 1640s and 1650s, drawing material from Aristotle, Machiavelli, and others. Howell befriended many literary figures, including Ben Jonson and Kenelm Digby. In 1620, he became ill and was treated by physician and anatomist William Harvey.
Howell wrote Instructions for Forreine Travel in 1642, a book of useful information about safe travel in France, Spain, and Italy. Traveling in his own country proved to be hazardous, however. On a visit to London early in 1643, he was arrested in his chambers and imprisoned for the next eight years. He spent this time writing. He was released from prison at the Restoration of Charles to the throne and in 1661 was made Historiographer Royal.
Howell was a master of modern romance languages. Lexicon is a dictionary but also contains epistles and poems on lexicography; characterizations of most letters of the alphabet; and vocabulary lists organized in 52 sections, such as anatomy, chemistry, alchemy, women’s clothing, horsemanship, hunting, architecture, and a library. Howell collected proverbs in English, Italian, Spanish and French which are added in Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Savves & Adages. Benjamin Franklin used this book as a reference for his own Poor Richard’s Almanac.
In the frontispiece, engraved by William Faithorne (1616-1691), four female figures, emblematic of England, France, Spain and Italy, stand among trees with a helmeted figure to the right standing guard. This copy contains a later state of the engraving with initials identifying the countries represented. Half-title and title-page in red and black. Rare Books copy gift of Anonymous, for whose generosity and friendship we are ever grateful.
04 Monday Jul 2016
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American, Benjamin Franklin, Bill of Rights, Boston, Boston Gazette, Boston Massacre, British, colonial, colonies, David Hume, Dunlap, Edmund Burke, England, Great Britain, independence, John Adams, John Wesley, Josiah Quincy, London, monarchy, pamphlet, Philadelphia, Richard Price, Stamp Act, tuberculosis, William Pitt
“…that sacred blessing of Liberty, without which man is a beast, and government a curse”
“No free government was ever founded or ever preserved its liberty without uniting the characters of the citizen and soldier in those destined for the defence of the state…such are a well-regulated militia…who take up arms to preserve their purposes, as individuals, and their rights as freemen.”
OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACT OF PARLIAMENT…
Josiah Quincy (1744-1775)
Boston, N.E., Printed for and sold by Edes and Gill, 1774
First edition
Attorney Josiah Quincy, a Boston native, wrote a series of anonymous articles for the Boston Gazette in which he opposed the Stamp Act and other British colonial policies. His evenhandedness, however, in his approach to the troubles between the American colonies and England, served him and the colonial stance well. He, along with John Adams, defended the British soldiers in their trial after the Boston Massacre. That act aside, in Observations, Quincy urged “patriots and heroes” to “form a compact for opposition…For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, and howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men.” In the same year as this publication, Quincy went to England to argue the colonial cause. He died of tuberculosis on the way home in sight of land.
“Our own people, being unwilling to enlist, and the attempts to procure armies of Russians, Indians, and Canadians having miscarried; the utmost force we can employ, including foreigners…This is the force that is to conquer…determined men fighting on their own ground, within sight of their houses and families, and for that sacred blessing of Liberty, without which man is a beast, and government a curse. All history proves, that in such a situation, a handful is a match for millions.”
OBSERVATIONS ON THE NATURE OF CIVIL LIBERTY…
Richard Price (1723-1791)
London printed 1776; Philadelphia, Re-printed and sold by J. Dunlap, 1776?
Richard Price, radical in his religious and political views, was well-known in Great Britain as a writer on economic and political issues. A close friend of William Pitt, David Hume, and Benjamin Franklin, he became one of Britain’s most vocal supporters of American independence. Several thousand copies of Observations were sold within a few days. The pamphlet both extolled the rights of the American colonists and excoriated the British crown. Harshly criticized by John Wesley, Edmund Burke, and others, the controversy quickly made Price a celebrity. Price argued that governments held their power in trust from the people and were not instruments of divine authority. The monarchy of England, he said, was only legitimate because it ruled by consent of the people under England’s Bill of Rights. The revolutionaries in the American colonies were merely asserting the same principle. His pamphlet played no small part in encouraging the colonists to declare independence. In 1778 he was invited by Congress to go to America and assist in the financial administration of the states. He refused the offer, unwilling to quit his own country.
02 Thursday Jul 2015
Posted in Book of the Week
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American Congress, Benjamin Franklin, British, Chester County, colonies, colony, Congress, Continental Congress, Continental paper currency, Counterfeit, currency, Elisha Gallaudet, FUGIO, gold, Hall & Sellers, independence, Ivy Mills, pence, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, political revolution, pounds, shillings, silver, sovereignty, Spanish, sundial, war
CONTINENTAL PAPER CURRENCY, 1776
Philadelphia: Printed by Hall & Sellers, 1776
Loosely united in the midst of political revolution and war, the British colonies had no unity whatsoever in currency. Each colony began printing its own paper currency valued both in British-style pounds, shillings, and pence and in the universally familiar Spanish milled dollar. Each colony valued the Spanish dollar at wildly different rates.
In the early flush of independence, the Continental Congress decided to use currency as one indication of sovereignty by launching a standard currency for all the colonies. An emission totaling $4,000,000 payable in Spanish milled dollars, or the equivalent in gold or silver, was authorized by the congressional resolution of February 10, 1776. Of this, $1,000,000 was reserved for the first national fractional currency.
The front design on the fractional notes included the first use of the “FUGIO” (I fly) legend and sundial as well as the “Mind your Business” legend. The back showed the thirteen linked rings representing the colonies and the legends “We are one” and “American Congress.” These designs were created by Benjamin Franklin. The devices and border designs were cut by Elisha Gallaudet. On the fractional bills the dots in the corners of the front design reflected the denomination.
The first four emissions of Continental paper currency from May 10, 1775 through May 6, 1776, included a dollar bill. There was one signer, in red ink, on the fractional bills and two signers, using red and brown ink, on the dollar denominations. Counterfeit detectors for the dollar denominations were made on blue paper. The paper, made at Ivy Mills in Chester County, Pennsylvania, contained blue fibers and mica flakes.
On this bill is printed, “This bill entitles the bearer to receive three Spanish milled dollars, or the value thereof in gold or silver, according to a resolution of Congress, passed at Philadelphia, Nov. 2, 1776.”
22 Friday May 2015
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1790, Alison Conner, America, American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin, Civil War, Euclid, First Acts of the First Session of Congress of the United States, Gutenberg Bible, history, John Locke, Luise Poulton, Marriott Library, Mary Alicia Royal, Nathaniel Rochester, New York, printing, rare books, Reformation, Rochester, S. J. Quinney College of Law, Special Collections, University of Utah, War of 1812
Time travel exists. On the fourth floor of the Marriott Library I have sat with the founding fathers as they pondered the questions facing the new nation on the heels of the American Revolution, been astounded at the invention of movable type in the revolution of the printing process, and solved mathematical principles with Euclid. While the famous people who turned the wheels of history are not miraculously hiding out on the U’s campus, the works they created are.
The rare books collection holds treasures from all corners of the globe that are available to anyone who wishes to uncover the magical milestones in history that helped to shape our present reality. A simple trip to the rare books will undoubtedly inspire and present questions that will lead to more trips back to the collection.
My freshman year at the U I took a class on the Reformation. The syllabus for the course dictated that on a certain day we would gather at the rare books collection at the library. At the time I didn’t know what to expect, and I certainly didn’t realize that this one time excursion out of the classroom and into the library would forever change my experience at the U and my understanding and passion for the study of history.
My class filed into the special collections classroom and were told to wipe our hands with baby wipes. As we cleaned our hands a large hardbound book was set before us. The book was obviously old and as the cover was opened to reveal the pages inside, it was clear it was not of this era. The thickness of the pages, paired with the indentation of the lettering on the page served as clues into a past that was far richer than any normal book in the shelves standing in the library below.
As I stared at the pages, completely enamored by their coloration, markings and engravings, the curator explained that the page sitting before us was an original leaflet of the Gutenberg Bible. Yes, that Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed after the invention of movable type. My heart started racing. I was standing in the same room, feet away from one of the most influential pieces of history in the world. This excitement I felt was multiplied when we were informed that we could come forward and hold it in our hands.
I think I partly expected to have to put on special gloves and admire the copy under glass. But as I moved up in the line, it became clear that I could hold the copy, no gloves, no glass, just me and the book. When the curator put the book in my hands, it was a feeling that I had never felt before. I can only explain it as a mixture of admiration, gratitude, and awe. For those brief moments that I held the leaflet of the Gutenberg Bible in my bare hands, the past and present collided. I was touching the same pages that came off the press nearly 550 years earlier.
I ran my hand over the page and could feel the indentations of the letters, and smell the old fibers of the paper. From this point on my experience at the U was forever changed. It wasn’t long after that trip to the rare books that I made the decision to declare my academic major in history. Every history class I took from that moment until my graduation I would find myself returning to the rare books.
Walking through the doors of the collection, for me, was like taking a step outside of the busy world we live in, to spend a few unadulterated moments with my historical friends. There have been times over the years that I have admittedly been moved to tears at the sight of certain books, and have felt completely unworthy to be in their presence. This happened recently during a project for my Worlds of Benjamin Franklin class.
As a requirement of the course we had to pick a book in the rare books to study and report on. After meeting with Luise Poulton, who was more than willing to sit down with me and explore options for the project, I decided upon the First Acts of the First Session of Congress of the United States. The cover of the book had completely separated from the spine of the book and the pages were old, some of them bent, with writing and notes filling the inside.
As I carefully turned the pages, I was overcome with the sense that I was holding a piece of America. This book is a first edition that was printed in 1790. As I researched the book, I discovered that this particular one was once the property of Nathaniel Rochester, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and the founder of Rochester, New York. As I began to unveil the history lurking behind the signatures on the inside cover I discovered that the book had also gone through the hands of veterans of the War of 1812 and the Civil War as well as influential legal minds in our country’s formative years. And finally, as I sat in the rare books reading room, I became the next person in the storied line of individuals who had the fortune of being part of this book’s history.
As a new graduate of the University of Utah’s History department I’ve spent recent days reflecting on my time at the U. During this reflection I have pondered on both the people that shaped my experiences as well as places that aided in the enrichment of educational pursuits. Although I have encountered multiple people and places that influenced the completion of my degree, I can say, without hesitation, that the rare books collection had the greatest impact on my desire to study history.
While my time in undergrad has come to an end, my relationship with the rare books collection is far from over. As I begin my legal studies at the U’s SJ Quinney College of Law this fall, I know I will find myself visiting a new set of historical friends. I’m confident the writings of John Locke have untold stories and lessons to teach me as I pursue my juris doctorate.
I have told Luise Poulton and Alison Conner, curators in the rare books department, on multiple occasions that I wish I could spend all day in the collection, going through the pages of history that the U has been charged with the immense responsibility of caring for. My wish for future generations of students at the U is that they have the opportunity, to visit the collection and experience the unparalleled feeling and emotion that accompany the opportunity to hold history in your hands. How lucky we are, as students past and present of the U, to have access to such a resource!
Mary Alicia Royal, BA, Class of 2015
01 Monday Jul 2013
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≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week – A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
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American, Benjamin Franklin, Britain, dictionary, English, John Quincy Adams, language, lexicon, Noah Webster, spelling, United States
A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language
Noah Webster (1758-1843)
Hartford: From Sidney’s Press, for Hudson & Goodwin, Book-sellers; New-Haven: Increase Cooke & Co., Book-sellers, 1806
First edition
PE1625 W3 1806
Noah Webster’s goal was to produce an “American” dictionary. He envisioned something bigger and better than the English pocket dictionaries that were the standard fare of the time in the new United States. Webster was an enthusiastic patriot. He wanted to use the dictionary to promote national unity and cultural independence from Britain.
Influenced by his friend Benjamin Franklin, Webster worked for “a reformed mode of spelling” but rejected the radical phonetic innovations proposed by Franklin. He did make enough changes, however, to produce a distinct American spelling for some words.
This American spelling first appeared in the Compendious Dictionary. It was immediately adopted by American printers. Webster was struck by the inconsistencies of English spelling. His spelling reform was based upon a combined sense of logic and aesthetics. He changed the ‘-ce’ in words like defence and offence to ‘–se;’ abandoned the second silent “l” in verbs such as travel and cancel when forming the past tense; dropped the “u” from words such as humour and colour; and dropped the “k” from words such as publick. Webster included thousands of words – chowder, hickory, skunk, subsidize, and caucus, for instance – which were in daily use in America but not listed in any lexicon.
John Quincy Adams, a future president, was shocked by some of these “vulgarisms.” Appended to the Dictionary, Webster included a list of the Post Offices in the United States, the number of its inhabitants, and the amount of its exports.
24 Monday Jun 2013
Posted in Book of the Week, Donations
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American colonies, Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Meredith, John Penn, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Quakers, Ronald Rubin, Samuel Keimer, William Penn
The Pennsylvania Gazette
Philadelphia, PA: Printed by B. Franklin and H. Meredith, 1763
AN2 P4 U64, No. 1822 November 24, 1763
The Pennsylvania Gazette was published in Philadelphia between 1728 and 1800. It began publication with the title The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences: and Pennsylvania Gazette, founded by Samuel Keimer. In 1729 Benjamin Franklin and Hugh Meredith bought the paper and shortened the name. Franklin printed the paper and also contributed pieces, often using a pseudonym. The paper became one of the most successful in the American colonies. This issue, no. 1822, November 24, 1763, leads with letters of welcome to John Penn, grandson of William Penn, upon his arrival in Philadelphia as governor.
Penn took the oath of office on October 31. He would be the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, leaving in 1776 after the creation of an independent Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, when the Penn family was removed from power.
Letters of welcome include those from the Quakers, the “Managers and Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Hospital,” “the Corporation for the Relief of poor and distressed Presbyterian Ministers, and the Relief of their Widows and Children,” “the Baptist Church, at Philadelphia,” and “the Library Company of Philadelphia.” All of the letters seek aid of one sort or another from Penn. The Library Company’s letter notes that the Penn family “has always favoured our Institution, and promoted it, by their frequent and generous Benefactions.”
This issue was a gift from Dr. Ronald Rubin, a frequent and generous benefactor to the Rare Books Division. Dr. Rubin, a political science professor and noted antiquarian, has written articles on world politics for the New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Jewish Press, the Jerusalem Post, Western Political Quarterly, Christian Science Monitor, Forward, the Wall Street Journal and other leading publications. An anthology of his pieces, A Jewish Professor’s Political Punditry: Fifty-plus Years of Published Commentary by Ron Rubin, was published this March.
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