FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”) to Henry Home, Lord Kames, Portsmouth, 17 August 1762.
FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”) to Henry Home, Lord Kames, Portsmouth, 17 August 1762.
Three pages, 221 x 179mm (pinholes on second leaf mended). With the original transmittal leaf addressed in his hand and franked by Samuel Potts (“Free Sam Potts”) and laid into another sheet (moderate soiling, and marginal tears).
Only “waiting only for a Wind to waft me to America”, his mission to wrest Pennsylvania free of propriety control at an end, Franklin prepares to return home to Philadelphia. "I am going from the old World to the new; and I fancy I feel like those who are leaving this World for the next; Grief at the Parting; Fear of the Passage; Hope of the Future". He tries to find excuses for not writing “the bad Habit of postponing from Day to Day what one every Day resolves to do to-morrow”. He intends to read Elements of Criticism during the Passage and write a letter discussing it soon after his arrival.
Franklin had been in London as an agent for Pennsylvania charged with negotiating an end the Penn Family's control of Pennsylvania, but his efforts came to naught. Feeling his usefulness in London was at an end, he returned to Philadelphia where he soon found himself enmeshed in local politics and was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House in 1764. However, he lost his seat over the issue of proprietary control because many Pennsylvanians feared that Royal government would jeopardize religious freedom in the colony. Once out of office, his supporters sent him back to London to continue his earlier effort. However, soon after his arrival in England, he became embroiled in the controversy over the Stamp Act. Published in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. L. W. Labaree, vol.10 pp. 147-8. Provenance: sold by the descendants of Lord Kames, Christie's, 29 June 1995, lot 508.
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PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS & MANUSCRIPTS
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FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706-1790). Autograph letter signed (“B. Franklin”) to Henry Home, Lord Kames, Portsmouth, 17 August 1762.
Three pages, 221 x 179mm (pinholes on second leaf mended). With the original transmittal leaf addressed in his hand and franked by Samuel Potts (“Free Sam Potts”) and laid into another sheet (moderate soiling, and marginal tears).
Only “waiting only for a Wind to waft me to America”, his mission to wrest Pennsylvania free of propriety control at an end, Franklin prepares to return home to Philadelphia. "I am going from the old World to the new; and I fancy I feel like those who are leaving this World for the next; Grief at the Parting; Fear of the Passage; Hope of the Future". He tries to find excuses for not writing “the bad Habit of postponing from Day to Day what one every Day resolves to do to-morrow”. He intends to read Elements of Criticism during the Passage and write a letter discussing it soon after his arrival.
Franklin had been in London as an agent for Pennsylvania charged with negotiating an end the Penn Family's control of Pennsylvania, but his efforts came to naught. Feeling his usefulness in London was at an end, he returned to Philadelphia where he soon found himself enmeshed in local politics and was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House in 1764. However, he lost his seat over the issue of proprietary control because many Pennsylvanians feared that Royal government would jeopardize religious freedom in the colony. Once out of office, his supporters sent him back to London to continue his earlier effort. However, soon after his arrival in England, he became embroiled in the controversy over the Stamp Act. Published in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. L. W. Labaree, vol.10 pp. 147-8. Provenance: sold by the descendants of Lord Kames, Christie's, 29 June 1995, lot 508.
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE ROGER D. JUDD COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL LETTERS, DOCUMENTS & MANUSCRIPTS
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Time, Location
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