(Colonial Science, Early American Imprints, History of Medicine) SAUNDERS, Richard (pseudonym); FRANKLIN, Benjamin; GREW, Theophilus. POOR RICHARD IMPROVED: BEING AN ALMANACK AND EPHEMERIS . . . FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1750. . . . FITTED TO THE LATITUDE OF FORTY DEGREES, AND A MERIDIAN OF NEAR FIVE HOURS WEST OF LONDON . . .
Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin and D. Hall, [1749]. FIRST EDITION. 12mo - 7" x 4". [36] pp. Original printed self-wrappers, uncut, housed in a later protective binding of brown morocco covered boards with the spine gilt in compartments.
The physical condition of the item is graded FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). Physical anomalies are limited to two minor spots on the front wrapper, minor contemporary spotting on the rear wrapper, a few minor internal spots, and a small marginal loss on a single leaf that has undergone professional paper restoration without loss of text.
Actuarial Public Health and Printer Apologia in Colonial Philadelphia
This 1750 edition of Poor Richard Improved is a significant artifact of Benjamin Franklin's landmark colonial publishing engine. The volume contains Franklin's characteristic prefatory essay, written under his famous pseudonym Richard Saunders, which humorously assigns the blame for various typographical errors in the preceding 1749 edition to his journeymen printers.
Of primary historical and scientific import is the text accompanying the calendar entries for April. This section features an active editorial advocacy for smallpox variolation (inoculation), an early and controversial medical procedure in the American colonies. The text frames the practice using both statistical and theological arguments, stating that while traditional infection loses one in seven individuals, inoculation saves 99 out of 100, concluding it "impious to reject a Method discovered to Mankind by God's good Providence." The ephemeris and astronomical calculations were prepared by the prominent mathematician Theophilus Grew. The work is illustrated with thirteen distinct woodcuts, comprising the traditional "Anatomy of Man's Body" zodiacal man diagram and twelve seasonal calendrical headpieces.
Bibliographic Scarcity and Census
Almanacs served as utilitarian, daily reference ephemera in the eighteenth century and were typically discarded, worn to fragments, or heavily annotated at the conclusion of their calendar year. Complete copies preserved with their full pagination, original self-wrappers, and untrimmed margins are uncommonly scarce. This printing is documented in standard bibliographies of early American imprints, including Evans 6324 and Campbell 423. A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database locates only 6 copies preserved in institutional special collections worldwide.
AN EXCEPTIONALLY PRESERVED, UNTRIMMED PHILADELPHIA IMPRINT FROM THE PRESS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRESERVING A CRITICAL RECORD OF COLONIAL MEDICAL HISTORY AND ENLIGHTENMENT-ERA PUBLIC ADVOCACY, REPRESENTING A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IMPRINTS, EARLY AMERICAN PRINTING, OR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE.
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