Details
[FRANKLIN PRINTING.] Six complete issues of The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1 November 1764, No. 1871; 20 December 1764, No. 1878; 27 December 1764, No. 1879; 3 January 1765, No. 1880; 10 January 1765, No. 1881; 14 March 1765, No. 1890. All Philadelphia: B. Franklin Postmaster and D. Hall. Together 24 pages, folio, removed, scattered staining and age toning, wear at center folds.
SPIRITED NEWSPAPER WARS OVER FRANKLIN'S APPOINTMENT TO LONDON
A fine series of key issues of the Gazette that clearly document--in Franklin's own paper--his apppointment as Provincial Agent for the Pennsylvania Assembly in London. The 1 November issue announces Franklin's appointment: "to embark immediately for Great-Britain, to join with, and assist the present agent in transacting the Affairs of this Province for the ensuing year." On 20 December, Franklin's ally John Hughes answers an anonymous attack on Franklin--which Hughes thinks comes from Chief Justice William Allen--and demands that the authors "avow their performance to the public." He further promises to pay five pounds to the Provincial Hospital "for every falsehood or gross misrepresentation" that Allen's attack "shall be proved to contain," and 10 pounds for every truthful statement. Hughes's targets cling to their anonymity in the 27 December issue, and mock his 10-5 odds bet. The following week, 3 January, Hughes ridicules their unwillingness to name themselves: "their bravo, I find, Indian like, keeps himself concealed behind the bush, and from thence, with his usual effrontery, endeavours (as far as his contaminating pen will reach) to blast Mr. Franklin's public as well as private reputation." Hughes promises--and delivers--a lengthier riposte in the 10 January issue. His response takes up nearly four full columns and constitutes a fine example of 18th century political invective. Behind all this, of course, lay the bitter battle between Franklin's Quaker faction and the Penn proprietors, for Franklin was in London to lobby for the dissolution of the Penn charter and the imposition of a royal governor instead. The 14 March 1765 issue contains a dispatch from London announcing that "the ingenious Dr. Benjamin Franklin arrived here from Philadelphia." That same month, the announcement of the new Stamp Act would inject a new level of vitriol into Colonial politics. ISSUES OF THE GAZETTE PRINTED BY FRANKLIN AND HALL ARE SCARCE; from 21 November 1765 the paper carried no imprint until 6 February, when the partnership was dissolved and Hall's name alone appears in the imprint. Evans 9788; Miller 814, 842; Brigham, American Newspapers II, 933-937. (6)
SPIRITED NEWSPAPER WARS OVER FRANKLIN'S APPOINTMENT TO LONDON
A fine series of key issues of the Gazette that clearly document--in Franklin's own paper--his apppointment as Provincial Agent for the Pennsylvania Assembly in London. The 1 November issue announces Franklin's appointment: "to embark immediately for Great-Britain, to join with, and assist the present agent in transacting the Affairs of this Province for the ensuing year." On 20 December, Franklin's ally John Hughes answers an anonymous attack on Franklin--which Hughes thinks comes from Chief Justice William Allen--and demands that the authors "avow their performance to the public." He further promises to pay five pounds to the Provincial Hospital "for every falsehood or gross misrepresentation" that Allen's attack "shall be proved to contain," and 10 pounds for every truthful statement. Hughes's targets cling to their anonymity in the 27 December issue, and mock his 10-5 odds bet. The following week, 3 January, Hughes ridicules their unwillingness to name themselves: "their bravo, I find, Indian like, keeps himself concealed behind the bush, and from thence, with his usual effrontery, endeavours (as far as his contaminating pen will reach) to blast Mr. Franklin's public as well as private reputation." Hughes promises--and delivers--a lengthier riposte in the 10 January issue. His response takes up nearly four full columns and constitutes a fine example of 18th century political invective. Behind all this, of course, lay the bitter battle between Franklin's Quaker faction and the Penn proprietors, for Franklin was in London to lobby for the dissolution of the Penn charter and the imposition of a royal governor instead. The 14 March 1765 issue contains a dispatch from London announcing that "the ingenious Dr. Benjamin Franklin arrived here from Philadelphia." That same month, the announcement of the new Stamp Act would inject a new level of vitriol into Colonial politics. ISSUES OF THE GAZETTE PRINTED BY FRANKLIN AND HALL ARE SCARCE; from 21 November 1765 the paper carried no imprint until 6 February, when the partnership was dissolved and Hall's name alone appears in the imprint. Evans 9788; Miller 814, 842; Brigham, American Newspapers II, 933-937. (6)