Name/Title
Vie de Benjamin Franklin, Ecrits par Lui-MemeDescription
FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Vie de Benjamin Franklin, Ecrits par Lui-Meme, Suivie de Ses Oeuvres Morales, Politiques et Litteraires, Dont la Plus Grande Partie N'avoit pas encore des Notes, par J. Castera.
Paris: Chez F. Buisson, An VI de la Republique [1798].
Published during the French Revolution, this edition contains not only the life of Franklin, but also additional posthumous political works which would have had considerable relevance in France at the time.
With the Directory assailed within France from both sides--by the remaining Jacobins and Royalists--popular unrest flaring on the streets and the war of the Second Coalition raging on all fronts, Franklin's observations on America's struggle with Great Britain are strikingly prescient.
Among the various political works included are "Observations sur la Guerre," "Sur les dissentions entre l'Angleterre et l'Amerique," and "Discours prononce dans la derniere Convention des Etats-Unis."
The frontispiece is a version of the Duplessis portrait of Franklin engraved by Tardieu.
Ford notes this edition "is a translation from the English re-translation of the French translation of Gibelin." The missing portion from 1731, reprinted from La Decade and first published here, relates to Franklin's time spent in Passy.Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
ReferencesOther Number
Ford 448. Sabin 25543 (collation incorrect).Condition
Overall Condition
ExcellentDate Examined
Jun 24, 2024Notes
2 Vols. [4],viii,382;[4],438pp. Portrait frontis. in Vol. One. Half-titles in both volumes. Contemporary calf-backed speckled-paper- covered boards, vellum corners, gilt-decorated spines, black and red morocco spine labels housed in 1/2-brown morocco and speckled paper box in the style of the binding. Spines and boards a bit rubbed. Bookplates on front pastedowns of both volumes. An unusually attractive set.General Notes
Note Type
Historical NoteNote
In 1798, for the first time, an edition of Franklin's "Life" was published that had a real connection to Franklin's original manuscript. And again, it is in French. On the title page, the editor, Jean Henry Castéra, claims that " la plus grande partie n'avoit pas encore été publiée," but that is a serious exaggeration. The first part of Franklin's memoir in Castéra's edition is a translation of a translation of a translation (translated into French [41, from the Robinson translation into English [3], of Gibelin's translation into French
[2], of the surreptitious manuscript [1). But, for the first time in book form, even if only for a small portion, there was an actual relationship between the printed text and the final version that Franklin wrote. Le Veillard had made a translation of all four parts of the memoir from the holograph before he died in 1794, and Castéra printed some of the second part.
How did Franklin's original manuscript come to be in France, and how did Le Veillard get access to it? We noted above that Franklin had sent Le Veillard a copy containing only the first three parts. But Franklin had carried on revising and writing new material up to the last months of his life. This was the revised manuscript that he left to his grandson. (Green and Stallybrass, Benjamin Franklin Writer and Printer, p. 156-7)
