The Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin
- Hardcover
- San Francisco: Arion Press, 2006
San Francisco: Arion Press, 2006. Hardcover. Fine. Hardcover. Number 293 of 400 numbered copies for sale, with 26 lettered copies printed for complimentary distribution. This title was printed in celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin. The work was more commonly known as the Autobiography, but it was published here under the title Franklin himself used in referring to his manuscript. Unpublished at the time of his death, it has since become the most widely read memoir of all time. The prospectus continues to describe the mysterious path of the memoirs. considered lost for several decades after Franklin's death, and not published from his original manuscript until it was discovered by John Bigelow, the American minister to France in that country in 1867. Despite his many achievements during his illustrious life, Franklin asked to be remembered as a printer. The inscription he wrote for his tombstone reads: "B. Franklin, Printer." He believed in the trade of printing as indispensable to the spread of knowledge and self-governance. It seemed fitting to the Arion Press proprietor, Andrew Hoyem, that an American printer celebrates the three hundredth anniversary of Franklin's birth with a new design and printing of the Memoirs.
The Arion Press opted for a straightforward typographic presentation of Franklin's text without introduction, illustrations, or notes. However, the Press made its own distinctive contribution to the history of printing in the United States. Hoyem took advantage of 21st century technologies to revive what is believed the first type family cut and cast in America in 1800. The type was used by Jane Aitken, daughter of Robert Aitken, the famous printer of the American revolution, for the first printing of the first American translation of the Bible in 1808. Bound in full brown goatskin, with titling on the spine and an oval silhouette of Franklin in profile stamped in gold, adapted from a postage stamp. Printed on Somerset Book, an English mouldmade paper. There is a frontispiece portrait of Franklin, taken from the one-hundred dollar bill. Accompanied by the prospectus, but does not include the Press keepsake "Franklin's Memoirs Lost and Found. In fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 9 inches. 188 pages. PRI/110424.
The Arion Press opted for a straightforward typographic presentation of Franklin's text without introduction, illustrations, or notes. However, the Press made its own distinctive contribution to the history of printing in the United States. Hoyem took advantage of 21st century technologies to revive what is believed the first type family cut and cast in America in 1800. The type was used by Jane Aitken, daughter of Robert Aitken, the famous printer of the American revolution, for the first printing of the first American translation of the Bible in 1808. Bound in full brown goatskin, with titling on the spine and an oval silhouette of Franklin in profile stamped in gold, adapted from a postage stamp. Printed on Somerset Book, an English mouldmade paper. There is a frontispiece portrait of Franklin, taken from the one-hundred dollar bill. Accompanied by the prospectus, but does not include the Press keepsake "Franklin's Memoirs Lost and Found. In fine condition. Measures 6.5 x 9 inches. 188 pages. PRI/110424.