[ALMANAC]. [FRANKLIN, Benjamin]. Poor Richard Improved: Being an Almanack... for the Year of our Lord 1752... By Richard Saunders. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Franklin, [1751].

Details
[ALMANAC]. [FRANKLIN, Benjamin]. Poor Richard Improved: Being an Almanack... for the Year of our Lord 1752... By Richard Saunders. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by B. Franklin, [1751].

12o. 36 pages (quire A bound out of order). "Man of Signs" woodcut, woodcut diagram of a solar eclipse. (Title, B2 and last leaf remargined.) 19th-century red half morocco (front cover detached). Provenance: University of Pennsylvania Library (bookplate with withdrawn stamp).

FIRST EDITION. The text discusses the crown's revision of the Christian calendar: "Since the King and Parliament have thought fit to alter our Year, by taking eleven Days out of September, 1752, and directing us to begin our Account for the future on the First of January, some Account of the Changes the Year hath heretofore undergone, and the Reasons of them, may a little gratify thy Curiosity." The text reprints the Parliamentary Act of 1751 which altered the year. 1752 was an important year for Franklin: sometime in June he made his famous experiment with the kite. Curtis/Campbell 476; Drake 9738; Evans 6670; Hildeburn 1239; Miller 529.

More from Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana

View All
View All