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The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography - By Renee Roberts Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin...in Two Volumes. London: Robinson, 1793 By Renée Magriel Roberts Many booksellers have personal interests in books that become specialties. I was a comparative literature scholar and teacher before I became a bookseller, so I have always been interested in the content and literary scholarship related to the books in my shop and not just their retail value. An interest -- OK, I admit it -- an obsession -- that has developed over time is Benjamin Franklin, who I find endlessly fascinating. Who else has been more responsible for our language, the can-do American psyche, our values, our major institutions, and the culture and freedom we enjoy? And of course his most famous work is the Autobiography, the most famous American autobiography ever written. While it is enough in many cases to see the words, "First Edition" on the copyright page, or to recognize the points of issue in a work to determine the first printing, Franklin's Autobiography presents a somewhat steeper learning curve. To understand it, as a scholar or a bookseller, requires understanding its very curious evolution and its changing content and titles. Without studying the Autobiography's publication history, well beyond its first appearance in print, it is difficult to even understand the material and aesthetic value, as well as the accuracy and importance of any iteration at hand. Unlike works in which the author has supervised publication, Franklin's work is problematic because it was unfinished, published posthumously, published in unauthorized versions, and published in various stages of incompleteness. Moreover its earliest editions went through a translation and retranslation process which did not add to textual accuracy. It is a work now known to exist in four parts: Part One is directly addressed to William, Franklin's son, in 1771 and written at Twyford, England. Franklin sets the work aside and picks it up again in early 1784, in Passy, France, after receiving some encouraging letters to continue the work (Part Two). Again, the work is set aside until 1788, where Part Three is written in Philadelphia. The fourth and last part is written between 1789 and his death on April 17, 1790. The text itself only discusses Franklin's life through 1763. There is also an outline of the work, written by Franklin. Only a copy of this outline exists with notes and corrections in Franklin's hand. The scope of the outline makes it clear that Franklin intended a more complete work which unfortunately remained unfinished at the time of his death. What follows is a list of the more important editions of the work.
The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography - By Renee Roberts The Private Life of Benjamin Franklin, London: Parsons, 1793 1. The first edition of the work in print (outside references made to it by Dr. Henry Stuber in a series of periodical articles on Franklin's life and a condensation of the work by Matthew Carey in another periodical) was of Part One only. This is M?oires de la vie priv? de Benjamin Franklin, ?its par lui-m?e, et addresses a son fils (Jacques Gibelin, translator. Paris: Chez Buisson, 1791). This is what has been called a "free" translation of a poor transcription of an unrevised version of Franklin's work (Lemay)i. So, it is not only incomplete, but also inaccurate. Two other early translations of Part One are in Swedish and German, both in 1792. 2. The next appearance of the work was as a 2-volume set, published by G. G. J. and J. Robinson in London, 1793 entitled Works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of His Life Written by Himself, together with Essays, Humorous, Moral, & Literary. Unfortunately this work was a re-translation from the French, supplemented by Dr. Stuber's account of Franklin's life. It was to become the "standard" for the work until 1868. 3. The second edition in English was another re-translation of Gibelin called The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin (Alexander Stevens, translator. London: J. Parsons, 1793). This single volume appeared some 6 months after the Robinson publication (2.). 4. Not to be outdone by re-translations, the French published a second edition in French translated from Robinson (2.): Jean Henry Cast?a, translator, Vie de Benjamin Franklin, ?rits par lui-m?e, suivie de des Oeuvres. This 2-volume work was published again by Buisson, 1798. There is variance in not only the names, but also the supplemental material appended to the works. 1. through 4., however, are all publications of Part One only, in various forms and accuracies. 5. A fragment of Part Two of the work first appears in a Cast?a-translated periodical article in 1798. According to Lemay, Cast?a took his translation from a ms. translation done by Louis Le Veillard in 1791. 6. The next major addition to the work in print does not occur until 1818 with the publication of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin , 3v. London: Colburn, 1817-18. Part Two appears first time in its complete form here, as well as Part Three. William Temple Franklin, Benjamin's grandson and heir, had the complete 4-part holograph (manuscript entirely in Franklin's hand), but traded it for an incomplete copy, hence the publication of only 3 of the 4 parts of the work. Twentieth-century scholarship has shown that William also altered the work, used the previous retranslations 1. and 2. So, this is, in a manner of speaking, a first thus, still incomplete, and still in an altered state. It is largely from the holograph, however, rather than indirectly from translations or re-translations. 7. We may not ordinarily value collected works as important editions, but Jared Sparks's The Works of Franklin 10v. Boston:Hilliard, Gray & Co., 1836-40 is important in the history of Franklin's work. It is in this edition that the word "Autobiography" by which we still know the work, is first used in the first part of the work in Volume I.
The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography - By Renee Roberts John Bigelow, ed., Life of Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1868 8. The next major leap forward in publishing Franklin's work does not occur until 1868. In that year, international statesman John Bigelow purchases the original holograph from France and prints Part Four for the first time. He also makes revisions to Sparks's publications of Parts One to Three, based on the holograph. This work appears in three volumes as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1868. This is also the first publication of Franklin's Outline of the Autobiography. 9. Thanks to contemporary scholarship we now have a lot more knowledge about the Autobiography. The 18th- and 19th-century printed works have been compared not only to the original holograph and the copy of the Outline, but have been cross-referenced. The three most important critical contemporary scholarly works include Max Farrand, ed., Benjamin Franklin's Memoirs: Parallel Text Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1949); Leonard W. Labaree, et al., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964), the basis for the Norton Critical Edition as well as the Library of America edition; and J. A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall, eds., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text (Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1981). The end result of this scholarship has been the virtual recreation of Franklin's work in his own words, along with extensive textual notes and analysis of the textual variants found in the various editions. So, what constitutes the first edition of the work? If we insist on the author's native tongue and completeness, this does not appear until the 20th century critical editions, or at least arguably until 1868. For collectors and booksellers, my advice in learning about this work is to start by studying the contemporary critical editions and work backwards. An enduring and important work, Franklin's Autobiography will always compellingly bring together the worlds of rare books and literary scholarship.

The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

- By Renee Roberts

Works of the late Doctor Benjamin Franklin...in Two Volumes. London: Robinson, 1793

By Renée Magriel Roberts

Many booksellers have personal interests in books that become specialties. I was a comparative literature scholar and teacher before I became a bookseller, so I have always been interested in the content and literary scholarship related to the books in my shop and not just their retail value. An interest -- OK, I admit it -- an obsession -- that has developed over time is Benjamin Franklin, who I find endlessly fascinating. Who else has been more responsible for our language, the can-do American psyche, our values, our major institutions, and the culture and freedom we enjoy? And of course his most famous work is the Autobiography, the most famous American autobiography ever written.

While it is enough in many cases to see the words, "First Edition" on the copyright page, or to recognize the points of issue in a work to determine the first printing, Franklin's Autobiography presents a somewhat steeper learning curve. To understand it, as a scholar or a bookseller, requires understanding its very curious evolution and its changing content and titles. Without studying the Autobiography's publication history, well beyond its first appearance in print, it is difficult to even understand the material and aesthetic value, as well as the accuracy and importance of any iteration at hand.

Unlike works in which the author has supervised publication, Franklin's work is problematic because it was unfinished, published posthumously, published in unauthorized versions, and published in various stages of incompleteness. Moreover its earliest editions went through a translation and retranslation process which did not add to textual accuracy.

It is a work now known to exist in four parts: Part One is directly addressed to William, Franklin's son, in 1771 and written at Twyford, England. Franklin sets the work aside and picks it up again in early 1784, in Passy, France, after receiving some encouraging letters to continue the work (Part Two). Again, the work is set aside until 1788, where Part Three is written in Philadelphia. The fourth and last part is written between 1789 and his death on April 17, 1790. The text itself only discusses Franklin's life through 1763.

There is also an outline of the work, written by Franklin. Only a copy of this outline exists with notes and corrections in Franklin's hand. The scope of the outline makes it clear that Franklin intended a more complete work which unfortunately remained unfinished at the time of his death. What follows is a list of the more important editions of the work.

The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

- By Renee Roberts

The Private Life of Benjamin Franklin, London: Parsons, 1793

1. The first edition of the work in print (outside references made to it by Dr. Henry Stuber in a series of periodical articles on Franklin's life and a condensation of the work by Matthew Carey in another periodical) was of Part One only. This is M?oires de la vie priv? de Benjamin Franklin, ?its par lui-m?e, et addresses a son fils (Jacques Gibelin, translator. Paris: Chez Buisson, 1791). This is what has been called a "free" translation of a poor transcription of an unrevised version of Franklin's work (Lemay)i. So, it is not only incomplete, but also inaccurate. Two other early translations of Part One are in Swedish and German, both in 1792.

2. The next appearance of the work was as a 2-volume set, published by G. G. J. and J. Robinson in London, 1793 entitled Works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: Consisting of His Life Written by Himself, together with Essays, Humorous, Moral, & Literary. Unfortunately this work was a re-translation from the French, supplemented by Dr. Stuber's account of Franklin's life. It was to become the "standard" for the work until 1868.

3. The second edition in English was another re-translation of Gibelin called The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin (Alexander Stevens, translator. London: J. Parsons, 1793). This single volume appeared some 6 months after the Robinson publication (2.).

4. Not to be outdone by re-translations, the French published a second edition in French translated from Robinson (2.): Jean Henry Cast?a, translator, Vie de Benjamin Franklin, ?rits par lui-m?e, suivie de des Oeuvres. This 2-volume work was published again by Buisson, 1798. There is variance in not only the names, but also the supplemental material appended to the works. 1. through 4., however, are all publications of Part One only, in various forms and accuracies.

5. A fragment of Part Two of the work first appears in a Cast?a-translated periodical article in 1798. According to Lemay, Cast?a took his translation from a ms. translation done by Louis Le Veillard in 1791.

6. The next major addition to the work in print does not occur until 1818 with the publication of Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin , 3v. London: Colburn, 1817-18. Part Two appears first time in its complete form here, as well as Part Three. William Temple Franklin, Benjamin's grandson and heir, had the complete 4-part holograph (manuscript entirely in Franklin's hand), but traded it for an incomplete copy, hence the publication of only 3 of the 4 parts of the work. Twentieth-century scholarship has shown that William also altered the work, used the previous retranslations 1. and 2. So, this is, in a manner of speaking, a first thus, still incomplete, and still in an altered state. It is largely from the holograph, however, rather than indirectly from translations or re-translations.

7. We may not ordinarily value collected works as important editions, but Jared Sparks's The Works of Franklin 10v. Boston:Hilliard, Gray & Co., 1836-40 is important in the history of Franklin's work. It is in this edition that the word "Autobiography" by which we still know the work, is first used in the first part of the work in Volume I.

The Curious Evolution of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography

- By Renee Roberts

John Bigelow, ed., Life of Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1868

8. The next major leap forward in publishing Franklin's work does not occur until 1868. In that year, international statesman John Bigelow purchases the original holograph from France and prints Part Four for the first time. He also makes revisions to Sparks's publications of Parts One to Three, based on the holograph. This work appears in three volumes as The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1868. This is also the first publication of Franklin's Outline of the Autobiography.

9. Thanks to contemporary scholarship we now have a lot more knowledge about the Autobiography. The 18th- and 19th-century printed works have been compared not only to the original holograph and the copy of the Outline, but have been cross-referenced. The three most important critical contemporary scholarly works include Max Farrand, ed., Benjamin Franklin's Memoirs: Parallel Text Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1949); Leonard W. Labaree, et al., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964), the basis for the Norton Critical Edition as well as the Library of America edition; and J. A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall, eds., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Genetic Text (Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, 1981). The end result of this scholarship has been the virtual recreation of Franklin's work in his own words, along with extensive textual notes and analysis of the textual variants found in the various editions.

So, what constitutes the first edition of the work? If we insist on the author's native tongue and completeness, this does not appear until the 20th century critical editions, or at least arguably until 1868. For collectors and booksellers, my advice in learning about this work is to start by studying the contemporary critical editions and work backwards.

An enduring and important work, Franklin's Autobiography will always compellingly bring together the worlds of rare books and literary scholarship.