The Works of Benjamin Franklin.

FRANKLIN, Benjamin.

Item Number: 114785

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1904.

The Federal edition of the works of Benjamin Franklin, one of 400 numbered copies, this is number 119. Octavo, 12 volumes, bound in contemporary three quarters morocco over marbled boards, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers, illustrated. In fine condition. Compiled and edited by John Bigelow. An exceptional set, uncommon in this condition.

Benjamin Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat." To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."