{"product_id":"1750-poor-richard-improved-almanac-benjamin-franklin-hall","title":"Poor Richard Improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris . . . for the Year of our Lord 1750. . . . Fitted to the Latitude of Forty Degrees, . . .","description":"\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"10\"\u003e(Franklin, Benjamin) 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]. \u003cstrong\u003eFIRST EDITION\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"11\"\u003e12mo - 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"12\"\u003eThe structural and surface condition of the almanac is FINE. 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 data-path-to-node=\"13\"\u003eActuarial Public Health and Printer Apologia in Colonial Philadelphia\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"14\"\u003eThis 1750 edition of \u003ci data-path-to-node=\"14\" data-index-in-node=\"21\"\u003ePoor Richard Improved\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"15\"\u003eOf primary historical and scientific import is the text accompanying the calendar entries for April. This section features an active editorial advocacy for \u003cb data-path-to-node=\"15\" data-index-in-node=\"156\"\u003esmallpox variolation\u003c\/b\u003e (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 \u003cb data-path-to-node=\"15\" data-index-in-node=\"729\"\u003e\"Anatomy of Man's Body\" zodiacal man\u003c\/b\u003e diagram and twelve seasonal calendrical headpieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 data-path-to-node=\"16\"\u003eBibliographic Scarcity and Census\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"17\"\u003eAlmanacs 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 institutional search via \u003cstrong\u003eWorldCat\u003c\/strong\u003e locates \u003cb data-path-to-node=\"17\" data-index-in-node=\"504\"\u003eonly six copies in permanent public collections worldwide\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-path-to-node=\"18\"\u003e\u003cb data-path-to-node=\"18\" data-index-in-node=\"0\"\u003eAN EXCEPTIONALLY PRESERVED, UNTRIMMED PHILADELPHIA IMPRINT FROM THE PRESS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, PRESERVING A CRITICAL RECORD OF COLONIAL MEDICAL HISTORY AND ENLIGHTENMENT-ERA PUBLIC ADVOCACY.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e#001101\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wallace \u0026 Clark, Booksellers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41820547252373,"sku":"001101","price":29500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0459\/2589\/2245\/products\/poorrichard1750.01.20220121.jpg?v=1642867495","url":"https:\/\/wallaceandclark.com\/products\/1750-poor-richard-improved-almanac-benjamin-franklin-hall","provider":"Wallace \u0026 Clark, Booksellers","version":"1.0","type":"link"}