Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital
Item #78733
[FRANKLIN, Benjamin]. Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital; From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754. [With related period letter]. Phila.: B. Franklin and D. Hall, [1754]. Small 4to (245 x 181 mm), original stiff tan wrappers, stab-sewn, manuscript annotations on front and back wrappers reading "Hospital" and "Pennsylvania Hospital." 40 pp. Collation: A-E4. [with] Laid-in autograph letter to Thomas Worth signed by John Smith and John Reynell, Philadelphia, 1 August 1754, 8vo bifolium, 1 p. Threads broken or wanting, spine perished, covers nearly detached, some minor chipping or chewing at spine, no loss to text. Letter with some loss to letters in words along lower right side, but no loss of sense. Evans 7197. Miller 587. Streeter Sale 956. Howes F-331, "b." Austin 794; Hildeburn 1363; Campbell 519. An account of the founding and initial operation of the first proper hospital established in the English colonies, with an autograph letter of transmittal and solicitation to one Thomas Worth signed by Hospital managers John Smith and John Reynell. Written by Franklin at the request of the Hospital trustees, the Account "describes the plan on which the hospital was founded, rules for admission, rules for the choice of staff, and an 'Abstract of Cases Admitted'" (Streeter). Franklin completed the manuscript on 28 May 1754. 1500 copies "were ordered off the press," as noted by Miller, but the actual number printed is unknown. "Franklin was a prime force in founding the institution, its first secretary, and later chairman of its trustees; in his Autobiography.he wrote that he could remember no maneuver the success of which gave him at the time more pleasure than that of persuading the citizens and assembly to contribute matching funds to start the hospital initially." (Miller) The letter to Thomas Worth provides excellent evidence of the fundraising methods of those working on behalf of the hospital as well as the means by which at least some copies of the pamphlet were distributed. It reads as follows: "Phila. 8th month 1754. Loving Friend, At the desire of the managers of the Pennsilvania Hospital we now enclose thee one of the Books lately published giving an Accott of the rise and present state thereof, A Scheme designd for the relief of our miserable fellow Creatures, many of whom as thou.
Price: $27,500.00