The life of Dr. Benj. Franklin / written by himself. And continued by Dr. Stuber.

  • Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790. Autobiography
Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life of Dr. Benj. Franklin / written by himself. And continued by Dr. Stuber. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    first acquisition’ was Bunyan’s Collection, in small separate volumes. ‘These. I afterwards sold, in order to. buy an historical collection, | by R. Burton, which consisted of small cheap volumes, amounting in all to about forty or fifty. My father’s little library was princi- pally made up of books of practical and pole- mical theology. } read . the greatest part of them.’ I have since often ‘regretted, that at a time when Ivhad so greata thirst’ for know- _ ledge, more eligible books had not fallen into my hands, as it was then a -point-decided that There was also among my father’s books Plu-- tarch’s lives, in whicli I read continually, and J still regard,: as: advantageously employed, the time J devoted to them. . I found besides a work of De Foe’s, entitled an Essay on Pro- jects, from which, perhaps, I derived imptes- sions that have since influenced some of the principal events of my life. | My inclination for books at last Hsipriidtted my tatherto make me a printer, though he had already ason in that profession. My brother had returned from England:in 1717, with a press and types, in order to establish a print- ing-house at Boston. The business pleased me much better'than that of my father, though I had still a predilection for the sea. To] pre- vent the effects which” might result from this inclination, my: father was am pati as to see me engaged with my brother. I held back for some time; at length, however, I suffered my- welts to +s citacilibe i signed my. inden
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