Shakespeare, William. The Way to Wealth - photo 1
Shakespeare, William. The Way to Wealth - photo 1

The Way to Wealth

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$ 4 750
Auction dateClassic
15.10.2021 00:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 627670
Lot 181 | The Way to Wealth
FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). The Way to Wealth, as clearly shown in the Preface of an Old Pensylvanian Almanack, intitled Poor Richard improved, Written by Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Extracted from the Doctor's Political Works. Courteous reader... London: Printed for J. Johnson, [1779].

"Early to bed, and Early to rise..." A rare broadside of Franklin's most beloved work, with unusual portrait of Franklin at the head. London printings for J. Johnson appear in the bibliographies, the text in the same 4-column format with footnote at end of column one and an identical or nearly identical header. However, the present is somewhat larger and it is the only example we find with either the profile portrait at the top or the publisher's imprint at the bottom. The price is in the imprint as well: "two-pence or twelve shillings an hundred."

As Franklin's bibliographer observes, this is "By far the most frequently reprinted of all of Franklin's works ... alternately called 'Father Abraham's Speech,' 'The Way to Wealth,' 'La Science du Bonhomme Richard,' or, occasionally, a bastardized form of these titles. In his autobiography, Franklin says he created 'the harangue of a wise old Man' called Father Abraham for the preface of the almanac of 1758. This was the last Poor Richard Improved ... that Franklin composed himself, the twenty-sixth in the series; it has become the foundation of the Franklin image throughout the world. The Franklin Papers identifies 145 separate reprintings ... before the end of the eighteenth century, and this is by no means a complete list ... Franklin observed with pleasure that it was 'reprinted in Britain on a Broadside to be stuck up in Houses.'"

In a footnote to column 1, the English printer comments that Franklin's fictional interlocutors, Richard Saunders and Father Abraham, "have proved...they are no common preachers. And shall we brother Englishmen, refuse good sense and saving knowledge, because it comes from the other side of the water?" A rather broadminded statement for circa 1779. See Ford 119.

Folio broadside (507 x 324mm). Printed in four columns, bold heading "The Way to Wealth." On laid paper without watermark. Wood-engraved profile portrait of Franklin signed "Lee" (toning and mat-shadow, edges stained from previous framing, about three tiny holes at fold intersections).
Artist:William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Applied technique:Pencil
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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01.10.2021 – 15.10.2021
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
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