Name/Title
Pocket Almanac for the Year 1765.Description
[FRANKLIN, Benjamin]. Pocket Almanac for the Year 1765. Fitted to the Use of Pennsylvania and the Neighbouring Provinces. With Several Useful Addition. By Richard Saunders. Phila.: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, [1764]. 1st ed. 24mo. 24 pp. plus 8 blank interleaves. Rare. Franklin's pocket almanacs are extremely difficult to find.
Miller locates only 6 copies of this almanac, which was first advertised for sale on 1 November 1764. Almanac printing was, except for the Pennsylvania Gazette, the most lucrative part of the business for Franklin and Hall. These pocket almanacs, though less well known that the "Poor Richard" series, carried much of the same important information and were designed in small format to easily fit in the pocket. The size and usefulness of these almanacs doubtless contributed to their scarcity as they were more likely to be worn out, discarded, or lost. This copy has 8 interleaves with many annotations in an 18th- century hand. The notes generally concern purchases and sales of the almanac's owner who was certainly a Philadelphia bookseller. Many of these entries concern the sales of books including purchase of blank money books and the purchase of pasteboard. "Recieved from Mr. Jos. Davies at one time for books 2:15:0" "Paid to Williams for boards 7-0-0" "[Februaryl 12 Sold 3 copies of Longinus. One to Phiny bond at 10:6 pa at11/0. one Wm McIlvaine at 11/0 pd, one to Rovers
Phineas Bond a Philadelphia physician, a founder of the American Society and Pennsylvania Hospital, one of the original es became the University of Pennsylvania, and Long time friend of Beniamin Franklin. Another note discusses the Pennsylvania fron ley acres in Cumberland County. who, with his brother Robert, held many large parcels in the area.Other Names and Numbers
Other Number
Miller 831. Campbell 700. Drake 9879.Evans 9826.Hildeburn 2056.Condition
Notes
Contemporary blue marbled wrappers in custom cloth clamshell box with blue morocco spine label. Wrappers worn, front wrapper repaired in upper outer corner, front wrapper and first 6 leaves stained in lower outer corner, else a very good copy.