HKB
which Smyth does not include, but which may have been written by Franklin. Includes many valuable letters to Franklin. For reviews see North American Review, LIX, 446, and LXXXIII, 402.)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Edited from his Manuscript, with Notes and an Introduction, by John Bigelow. Philadelphia: 1868. (To quote Ford: "This is not only the first appearance of the autobiography from Franklin's own copy, but also the first publication in English of the four parts, and the first publication of the very important 'outline' autobiography. It is therefore the first edition of the autobiography" [p. 199].)
The Life of Benjamin Franklin, written by himself. Now first edited from original manuscripts and from his printed correspondence and other writings, by John Bigelow. 3 vols. Philadelphia: 1874. (Bigelow text of Autobiography and extracts from Franklin's other works.)
The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin including his private as well as his official and scientific correspondence, and numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed with many others not included in any former collection, also the unmutilated and correct version of his autobiography. Comp. and ed. by John Bigelow. 10 vols. New York: 1887-1889. (Corrects many of Sparks's errors and adds "some six hundred new pieces." For first time works are chronologically arranged.)
*The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, collected and edited with a Life and Introduction, by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York: 1905-1907. (The standard edition. It is unfortunate that the editor has omitted pieces which are either too Rabelaisian or too metaphysically radical, such as the Dissertation of 1725, or are, in his mind, probably not written by Franklin.)
II. COLLECTIONS AND REPRINTS
No attempt has been made to include the learned journal articles which reprint occasional letters not in Smyth. Letters which aid in understanding Franklin's mind have been referred to in the Introduction and Notes.
Chinard, Gilbert. Les amitiés américaines de Madame d'Houdetot, d'après sa correspondance inédite avec Benjamin Franklin et Thomas Jefferson. Paris: 1924.
Diller, Theodore. Franklin's Contribution to Medicine. Brooklyn: 1912. (Able collection of Franklin's letters bearing on medicine. Franklin is described "as one of the greatest benefactors, friends, and patrons of the medical profession as well as a most substantial contributor to the science and art of medicine.")
[Franklin, Benjamin.] A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. Reproduced from the first edition, with a bibliographical note by Lawrence C. Wroth. The Facsimile Text Society, New York: 1930. (Although A. H. Smyth omitted this work from his Writings of Benjamin Franklin, suggesting that "the work has no value," it is difficult to see how a study of the modus operandi of Franklin's mind could be thoroughly made without it. Parton in his Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin*, and I. W. Riley in his *American Philosophy: The Early Schools have reprinted it in appendices.)
Franklin, Benjamin. Poor Richard's Almanack. Being the Almanacks of 1733, 1749, 1756, 1757, 1758, first written under the name of Richard Saunders. With a foreword by Phillips Russell. Garden City, N. Y.: 1928. ("First facsimile edition of a group of the Almanacks to be published.")
Franklin, Benjamin. The Prefaces, Proverbs, and Poems of Benjamin Franklin Originally Printed in Poor Richard's Almanacs for 1733-1758. Collected and ed. by P. L. Ford. Brooklyn: 1890. (Best collection of its kind; in addition contains account of popularity and function of almanacs in colonial period.)
Franklin, Benjamin. Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania. Facsimile reprint, with an introduction by William Pepper. Philadelphia: 1931. (Franklin's notes omitted in Smyth. Proposals also reprinted by the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan: 1927; "though not a facsimile reprint," it does include the notes. Thomas Woody in his Educational Views of Benjamin Franklin [New York: 1931] reprints it with the notes.)
Franklin, Benjamin. The Sayings of Poor Richard, 1733-1758. Condensed and ed. by T. H. Russell. N.p.: n.d. (Best aphorisms chronologically arranged.)