Working draft of a letter to William Strahan (1715-1785).

£655 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

The writer’s retained draft of the final episode in a saga of an unpaid bookseller’s bill, which lasted half a century, involved Benjamin Franklin directly, and outlived not only creditor and debtor but the Province of Pennsylvania itself. Read, known familiarly as Jimmy or Jemmy, cousin of Benjamin Franklin, lawyer and one-time bookseller: his shop was immediately next door to that of Benjamin Franklin. As a young man of a prominent family Read came to London in 1739, partly to continue legal studies. When in London he befriended the botanist Peter Collinson, the evangelist Charles Wesley, and William Strahan, the young and ambitious Scottish publisher who had recently set up business in London. The two ambitious young men got on well, and appeared set for a mutually beneficial friendship: the well-connected Philadelphia bookseller needed stock, and the ambitious Strahan needed export markets. A certain amount of business took place between them, but the more momentous event was the introduction between Strahan and Franklin that Read made in 1744, which itself was in order to introduce Strahan’s young employee David Hall, who wished to make his fortune in the Colonies. The introduction was successful, and Hall became a partner of Franklin, later succeeding to part of his business. Franklin and Strahan maintained a friendship and business relationship for the rest of their lives, which just survived the War of Independence: Franklin’s letter ending their friendship is a celeb

• Binding: Hardcover

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