[Rarebooks] For Sale: Franklin's Autobiography, the important Bigelow edition

[Norman Kane]

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN.  AUTOBIOGRAPHY EDITED FROM HIS MANUSCRIPT, WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION, BY JOHN BIGELOW. Phila.: Lippincott; London: Trubner, 1868. First trade edition of this important edition. Original cloth stamped in gold and blind, a well-preserved copy.  Portrait.  Signature (E. H. Richardson) on front blank. 409 pages.  Index.  William Temple Franklin's text was the standard version of the Autobiography for half a century, until John Bigelow purchased, at considerable expense, the original manuscript in France and in 1868 published the most reliable text that had yet appeared, including the first English publication of Part Four. In so doing Bigelow made a notable contribution to American letters.  It was apparently he who gave this iconic work the title, "Autobiography", which has since been used. (The word was coined after Franklin's death.)  Bigelow subsequently sold the manuscript to Henry  Huntington. Robert Dechert's Copy (probably purchased at Sesslers in Phila.) In an envelope from the Hotel Flora in Rome are 2 blocks of 4, in different colors, of a stamp issued in Turkey to commemmorate the 250th Anniversary of Franklin's birth, docketed by Dechert. Dechert's collection of Americana, given to the Univ. of Pa. in 1962, was one of the finest in private hands. $150.00    

Trade Discount Available        

THE AMERICANIST  113 CREEK'S EDGE  CHAPEL HILL  NC  27516
919  967 9287  nkane at kanebooks.com  www.kanebooks,com