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Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
From Joseph Duplessis Copy, 1935-1939. National Archives and Records Administration.
A year after Benjamin Franklin's death his autobiography entitled "Memoires De La Vie Privee...," was published in Paris in March of 1791. The first English translation, "The Private Life of the Late Benjamin Franklin, LL.D....Originally Written By Himself, And Now Translated From The French," was published in London in 1793. (Please see the title page at the left) Known today as "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin," this classic piece of Americana was originally written for Franklin's son William, then the Governor of New Jersey. The work portrays a fascinating picture of life in Philadelphia, as well as shrewd observations on the literature, philosophy and religion of the time. Franklin wrote the first five chapters of his autobiography in England in 1771, resumed again thirteen years later (1784-85) in Paris and later in 1788 when he returned to the United States. Franklin ends the account of his life in 1757 when he was 51 years old.
Franklin's Autobiography is one of the most famous works in American literature. He started it as a private collection of anecdotes for his son, but soon it was transformed into a work of history, both personal and national, revealing Franklin as the man who, as Herman Melville said, possessed "deep worldly wisdom and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian unaffectedness".
Read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin, ca. 1794-1802
Considered to be the greatest autobiography produced in Colonial America, Franklin's Autobiography is published here in 14 chapters.
Read Chapter: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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