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FRANKLIN, Benjamin (printer) - [Robert DODSLEY]. T

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Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall, 1751. 12mo (126 x 78 mm). Publisher's ad on the terminal leaf. Ornamental head and tailpieces. Later cloth-covered wooden boards. Housed in a chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. Condition: browning and staining, several leaves torn, minor losses on title, lacks endpapers, early owner's mounted clippings on the pastedowns; worn and stained. the first american edition of the classic work of moralistic aphorisms and a very rare franklin imprint. "Perhaps no book published in the eighteenth century was issued in more separate printings than Robert Dodsley's Oeconomy of Human Life. Although it was not published until 1750, by the end of the century about two hundred editions had appeared, including forty-eight American editions" (Donald D. Eddy, "Dodsley's Oeconomy of Human Life, 1750-1751" in Modern Philology, vol. 85, no. 4). First advertised in the 4 July 1751 Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin described the work as "a beautiful Piece of Morality." As he was aware of five editions having appeared in London prior to this one, Franklin styled his as the sixth edition on the title. The second part would be first published the following year. very rare. The only other known copy of this first American edition is located in the Curtis Collection at the University of Pennsylvania. This copy is the only one that we could locate appearing at auction, with no copies even in the famed Franklin collections of George Brinley or Samuel Pennypacker. Campbell 461; Eddy 18; Evans 6660; Miller 525.

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