THE
STORY OF A FAMOUS BOOK:'Sn';;utunt
OF
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHIY.
BY
SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D.
BOSTON:
FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION.
1871.




CAMBRIDGE:
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.




T E following article originally  appeared  in  the' Atlantic Monthly" for February of this year, under
the title of'" The Story of a Famous Book."- A small
edition is now reprinted, with the consent of the publishers of that magazine, for a few friends of the
writer.
1871.








THE STORY OF A FAMOUS BOOK.
IT is now eighty years since the death of Dr. Franklin, and
during this time his Autobiography has been more extensively
read in this country than any other historical work.  It was,
perhaps, the earliest American book that acquired and sustained
a great popularity.  Other books may have had a greater local
or temporary success, but to this one alone belonged a general
and permanent reputation.  There have been written many
Lives of Washington, but none of them is to be compared in
style and interest with the charming production of the great
philosopher.  Its history as a book has been so eventful, that it
may be of sufficient interest to give some of its bibliographical
details.  The narrative was written at different times and places,
and Franklin himself has given the circumstances under which
he prepared it.
r'he first part, coming down to his marriage, in 1730, was
written at Twyford, England, in 1771, while he was visiting
the family of Dr. Jonathan Shepley, the Bishop of St. Asaph,
with whom he was on terms of close intimacy and friendship.
Franklin, as it might be expected fiom his inquiring mind, took
a deep interest in the genealogy of his family, and while in
England made a journey with his son for the purpose of finding
out the history of his ancestors.  The result of this trip is
given in this portion of the memoirs of his life. TIhe room in




6
which it was written was afterwards known as " Dr. Franklin's
room." The sketch was begun for the gratification of his own
family, and intended for them alone, but afterwards it took a
wider scope, and was evidently meant for publication. It was
not until 1784 that he resumed work upon it, and in the mean
time it had been shown to some of his friends.  Three of them
in particular -Benjamin Vaughan, Abel James, and M. Le
Veillard - made strong appeals to him to go on with it.  Mr.
Vaughan's letter urging him to do so is dated January 31,
1783, and had considerable influence on his taking up again the
story of his life, which he did the next year.
The second part of his memoirs, written while he was living
at Passy, near Paris, is short, and made up mainly of his ideas
on the philosophy of life, rather than the recital of events.
When Franklin began the second part at Passy, he says that he
did not have with him  what had already been written.  It
might have been left at his home in Philadelphia after his
return from England in 1775.  This supposition seems plausible, for he would not have mentioned the fact if the manuscript
had been lent temporarily to some fiiend or neighbor at Passy.
The third part was begun in August, 1788, while Franklin
was at home in Philadelphia, and is brought down to 1757.
This portion ends the Autobiography, as it is always printed,
except in the edition of the Hon. John Bigelow, which we shall
have occasion to notice before the close of this article.  Franklin
writes to Mr. Vaughan:  "To shorten the work, as well as for
other reasons, I omit all facts and transactions that may not have
a tendency to benefit the young reader, by showing him, from
my example, and my success in emerging from  poverty and
acquiring some degree of wealth, power, and reputation, the
advantages of certain modes of conduct which I observed, and
of avoiding the errors which were prejudicial to me."
At the end of Mr. Bigelow's edition is a fourth part, consisting of a few pages, written in 1789, and not to be found elsewhere in English.  These are rather of a political character,
and bring the memoirs down a year later, when they close.  It




was Franklin's intention, as may be'inferred fromn his letters, to
continue them further, and perhaps to the end of his life; but
during his last few years he suffered acutely. and much of the
time was hardly in a condition to write for recreation or pleasure, to say nothing of his preoccupation with the public duties
which pressed heavily upon him.
Immediately after Dr. Franklin's death, in 1790, the first
portion of the memoirs was published in French, at Paris.  It
is a singular fact that this work, which was destined to have so
great a popularity, should first see the light in a foreign land
and in a foreign tongue.  It has never been satisfactorily explained how or why this was so.  It is not even certainly known
who made the translation from the English into the French. It
has been suggested that the translation might have been made
from  the copy which Franklin promised Mr. Vaughan, in a
letter dated June 3, 1789.  He there says that his grandson
is copying the memoirs for his old fiiend.  If this copy was sent,
as is probable, although its existence is now unknown, it should
have contained the whole memoirs, and the French version
would have been full and complete.  It has been said that M.
Le Veillard was the translator, but he distinctly denies the
statement, and furthermore declares that he is utterly ignorant
of the manner in which the translator procured the copy.  It is
known that MS. Le Veillard's copy contained the whole Autobiography, which makes it almost certain by circumstantial
evidence that this was not the one from which the translation
was made.  According to the "6 Nouvelle Biographie Gnrierale 
(Paris, 1858), it was translated by Dr. Jaques Gibelin, who is
spoken of in this dictionary as " a physician, naturalist, and
French translator."  He was an experienced translator of English, and moreover it is said that he had had the original' manuscript in his possession.  If this be true, it is very probable that
he was the person who made it, and he may have used a copy
which was obtained surreptitiously, although we have no knowledge of such a one.  At any rate, a copy might easily have been
made at any time between 1771, when the first part was written,




and 1784, when the second part was begun, for we know that
the manuscript had been shown to different persons, and some
of Franklin's friends had read it.  The translator, whoever he
was, states in the Preface that he had a copy of the original
manuscript in his possession, though he should not give the
details - of no importance to his readers - how it came into
his hands.  This statement would rather imply either a slight
irregularity in the manner of his obtaining it, which he did not
wish to make known, or a complication of circumstances which
it might not be easy to explain to his readers. He furthermore
states that the portion in his possession only comprises the first
part of Franklin's life, and this is all that was printed.  The
supposition seems fair that he made a copy, probably unknown
to Franklin or perhaps forgotten by him.  A note is added to
the Preface of this French edition, requesting those who would
like to read the Life of Franklin in English to send their names
to the publisher, and that it would be put to press as soon as
four hundred subscribers should be obtained. It is probable
that this number was never secured, as the edition was never
printed.
In 1793, two years after its publication in Paris, two separate
and distinct translations of it were published in London, - the
one by the Messrs. Robinson, and the other by Mr. J. Parsons.
It seems a little strange that this should have been,so, particularly as they appeared firom the press about the same time.
Perhaps a rivalry between two publishing firms, as sometimes
happens in our days, was at the bottom of it. Probably the
Robinsons' edition appeared first.  Both were noticed in the
"Monthly Review " for 1794 (Vol. XIII. p. 304).  We are
unable to give the names of the translators.  The Robinsons'
edition was edited with more care and is a better translation
than the other.  There is some slight reason for supposing that
the editor had access to the original manuscript, possibly the
one lent to Mr. Vaughan; though if this were so, it would be
difficult to explain why he did not print the original draft, and
the whole of it. Possibly the owner would not allow it. For




9
instance, in the French version Franklin states that he sailed
from Gravesend on the ---- day of July, 1726, and arrived in
Philadelphia on the   -  day of October following.  These
blanks are correctly filled up in the edition of the Robinsons,
with dates that agree with those in the original manuscript,
while in Parsons's edition they are left unfilled.  From  this it
would seem not improbable that the translator of the former
had seen an original copy.
A few slight inaccuracies are also corrected, such as Sooper's
Creek for Cooper's Creek, near Philadelphia, where Franklin
passed a night with his companions on his first visit to the city.
The translator of Parsons's edition speaks of a " school of natation," which is an expression that an Anglo-Saxon would hardly
use. He also makes a singular blunder in calling one of the
ballads that Franklin wrote in his boyhood the " Tragedy of
Pharaoh."   None would recognize under this title the little
song which was known as " The Lighthouse Tragedy."  The
explanation of this droll mistake is found in the fact that the
word for " lighthouse " used in the French copy was Phkare.
The Robinsons' edition has been republished many times in
this country and in England, and was the only one in either
country, till Franklin's grandson, William  Temple Franklin,
published his grandfather's Works in London, the second volume
in 1817, the first and third volumes in 1818.  (The Life appeared in the first volume.)  Even since 1818 the Robinsons'
translation has passed through many editions, and has often
been mistaken for the genuine Autobiography, though it was in
a great measure superseded by the grandson's copy, which had
the apparent stamp of authority.
It is, in fact, an English translation from a French translation
of the original English. It has never to our knowledge fallen
to the lot of any book to pass through such a series of changes
as happened to this; and yet, with the drcawback of these
changes, it has been as charming as a novel to readers of all
ages.  Besides its fascination, it is full  of that sound sense and
practical wisdomi which. were so characteristic of its author.




10
Mr. Bigelow has fallen into a singular mistake, when he says
that the Parsons edition is the one that has been republished,
"not only in Europe, but in America, under the impression
that it is both genuine and complete "; on the contrary, it is the
only one that has never been reprinted in either country.
After the death of Franklin, his papers and manuscripts,
including the original text of the memoirs, came into the possession of William Temple Franklin, then in Philadelphia, who
began to arrange them and to prepare for their publication.  To
this end he wrote to M. Le Veillard, a few weeks afterwards,
announcing the fact and requesting him to allow nobody to see
the copy then in his hands, unless it should be the person who
was to give the eulogy before the French Academy. A few
months later he went to London, and there kept up a correspondence with M. Le Veillard about the preparation and publication of the memoirs.  He was evidently apprehensive that
an English edition would be published, as a French one and two
English translations had already been, which would materially
hurt the sale of the one on which he was engaged.  From
these letters to AlM. Le Veillard, it appears that there resulted a
slight misunderstanding between them, which brought the correspondence to an end.
The preparation of the work which Franklin's grandson put
forth in 1817 and 1818 attracted the attention of the literary
world, and when it finally appeared it was received with great
favor.  It is destined, however, to yield to Mr. Bigelow's edition, which gives the ilpsissi'ma ver6a, of Franklin.
The history of the manuscript is full of interest, and can be
traced very closely.  It seems that a copy of the memoirs was
made in 1789, for M. Le Veillard, by Benjamin Franklin
Bache, a grandson of Franklin, at that time a young man of
twenty years of age.  The copy was made partly at the instigation of M. Le Veillard, and was of course highly prized by
hilm.  It remained in his family - for he lost his life on the
scaffold during the Revolution, in 1794 - during some years,
when it was exchanged with William Temple Franklin, at his




11
request, for the original manuscript, as he thought it would
make a cleaner copy for the printer. In this way the autograph passed from the grandson's possession into the hands of a
daughter of M. Le Veillard, and after her death, in 1834, it
came into the possession of her cousin, M. de Senarmont,
"whose grandson delivered it, on the 26th January, 1867, to
Mr. John Bigelow, late Minister of the United States at Paris."
It will now be understood how the copy made by Benjamin
Franklin Bache passed back into the Franklin family, and
furnished the draft for the printers of the first authorized edition. On a careful collation with this editio princeps, Mr.
Bigelow finds that there are more than twelve hundred variations from the autograph text. Some of these, it is true, are
slight and unimportant, but others are very material ones. It
is possible that Franklin may have suggested some 6f them himself, while supervising the copy made by his young grandson,
but the probability is that they were prompted wholly or mainly
by the taste of William Temple Franklin. The language of
the original consists of stronger expressions than the corrected
copy, and in the greater use of colloquial terms. The statement
of facts is also fuller, - entire phrases being sometimes left out
of the copy, which might happen from the want of care in
making it.  But it is fair to put the burden of these changes on
the shoulders of the editor of the work.
It is a fortunate circumstance for American literature that this
valuable manuscript should have fallen into the hands of one
who fully appreciated its value and ilnportance, as Mr. Bigelow
did.  In 1868, the year after it was obtained, Mr. Bigelow published it, and this is the first and the only edition that has the
stamp of authority.  If one wishes to, read the Autobiography
of the philosopher in his own words, he must read this one.
Mr. Bigelow has done his part of the work with care and discrimination, and has added some notes which throw light on
the text, besides giving an interesting account of its eventful
history.  He has sometimes slipped into inaccurate statements,
and in one place makes a suggestion which the context does not




12
justify.  On Franklin's first visit to London, whither he had
gone on the representations of Sir William Keith, Governor of
Pennsylvania, he had expected to take some letters of recommendation and a letter of credit for buying a press and types,
but had been disappointed in receiving them either from the
Governor in person or from his secretary.  IHe was told that
they should be put into the bag of letters that was to go on
board of the ship. After reaching the English Channel, he
got leave fiom the captain to search the bag for the desired
documents, but without the expected result.  He says: "I
found none upon which my name was put as under my care.
I picked out six or seven, that, by the handwriting, I thought
might be the promised letters, especially as one of them was
directed to Basket, the king's printer, and another to some
stationer."  In the first line of this quotation, Mr. Bigelow
suggests that some was evidently intended instead of none,
though there appears, as it seems to us, no reason for making
the suggestion. Franklin undoubtedly meant what he wrote,
and the sense is as complete as it would be with some. Moreover, the French edition of 1791 has given it as none: " Je
n'en trouvai aucune sur laquelle mon nom fdit 6crit."
It is a curious fact in bibliographical history, that these memoirs should have been printed in English four different times,
in four different texts, each one differing from  the other in
almost every line, thus making great and decided changes
throughout the book.  We give below the first two sentences
of the Autobiography, as they appear in each of the four,
though these are hardly fair specimens of the variations to be
seen throughout the volumes, the differences often being
greater:"My dear son, I have amused myself with some little anecdotes of my family. You may remember the inquiries I made,
when you were with me in England, among such of my relatives
as were then living; and the journey I undertook for that purpose." -- obinsons' edition, 1793.
"My dear son, I have lately amused myself with collecting




13
some little anecdotes concerning our family.  You must remember the inquiries that I made among such of my relations
as remained alive, when you were with me in England, as well
as the journey I undertook for that purpose." - Parsons's edition, 1793.
"Dear son, I have ever had a pleasure in obtaining any little
anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries
I made among the remains of my relations, when you were
with me in England, and the journey I undertook for that purpose." -  }Villica n T. 7Franklin's edition, 1818.
"' Dear son, I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little
anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries
I made among the remains of my relations when you were with
me in England, and the journey I undertook for that purpose."
- _Mri. Bigelow's edition, 1868.
It is also a curious fact in the history of this book, that there
are no less than five editions in French, all distinct and different
translations. The first one which has been spoken of appeared
in 1791.  This brought Franklin's life down to 1730, being
that portion of the Autobiography which was written in 1771.
The next edition was the one translated by Castera, and published in 1798, with other papers of Franklin in two volumes.
At the end of the second volume is given most of the second
portion of the Autobiography. It seems singular that this was
never printed in English until 1818. It was copied at Philadelphia from the manuscript which had been lent to Citizen
Delessert.  Perhaps the first portion of the Autobiography,
about which there is so much obscurity, was copied in the same
way after it had been lent to some friend. The Robinsons' edition was evidently used in the translation. The third edition in
French, published anonymously, was taken from the London
edition of 1818 (William T. Franklin's) and appeared the same
year. This is attributed to Mr. Charles Malo. The fourth
edition was that of M. Renouard, and was published in 1828.
The translator had access to the original manuscript, then in the
possession of the Le Veillard family, as he gives what we have




14
called the fourth portion of the Autobiography, which appears
in English in Mr. Bigelow's edition only.  The fifth and last
is the version of Mil. Laboulaye, which appeared in 1866, and
followed Mir. Sparks's edition.  These five editions were all
published in Paris.
M. Laboulaye speaks.Qf still another that was printed in
Paris in 1841, which was " a new translation from the last
edition published in New York."  We have never seen this
edition.
Those who have not read the Autobiography since their
childhood we should advise to read it anew.  It will be found
to have charms that few books possess, besides giving an insight
into the influences that shaped Franklin's character, and showing
the motives that guided him through life.  The book has passed
through many editions among all civilized nations, and the
demand for it still continues.