One of the most prominent Founding Fathers of the United States (1706-1790), Franklin was a leading printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and activist he, more than anyone, developed the idea of an American nation. As a diplomat during the American Revolution, he secured the French alliance that made independence possible. ALS signed “Your truly affectionate brother, B. Franklin,” three pages on two sheets, 8.25 x 13, May 30, 1757. Franklin replies to a series of letters from his favorite sister, Jane Mecom, on crises of the Franklin clan in New England. In full: “I have before me yours of the 9th & 16th Inst. I am glad you have resolved to visit Sister Douse oftener; it will be a great comfort to her, to find she is not neglected by you, and your Example may, perhaps, be followed by some other of her relations. As Neddy [Jane’s son] is yet a young Man, I hope he may get over the Disorder he complains of, & in time wear it out. My love to him & his wife, & the rest of your Children. It gives me Pleasure to hear that Eben [another of Jane’s sons] is like to get into business at his trade. If he will be industrious and frugal, ’tis ten to one but he gets rich, for he seems to have Spirit & Activity. [Franklin had written in Poor Richard’s Almanack years earlier, “Industry, perseverance, and frugality make fortune yield.”] I am glad that Peter [another of Jane’s sons] is acquainted with the Crown Sope [sic] Business, so as to make what is good of the kind. [Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin and sixteen other children, perfected the recipe to make hard soap, and made famously fine bars of soap with a crown stamped on them—Crown soap. The formula was a strict family secret, the source of family discord when one sister let it out.] I hope he will always take care to make it faithfully, never slight the Manufacture, or attempt to deceive by Appearances. Then he may boldly put his Name & Mark, and in a little time it will acquire as good a Character as that made by his late Uncle, or any other person whatever. I believe his Aunt at Philadelphia, can help him to sell a good deal of it; and I doubt not of her doing every thing in her power to promote his interest in that way. Let a Box be sent to her (but not unless it be right good) & she will immediately return the ready money for it. It was beginning once to be in Vogue in Philadelphia, but Bro. John sent me one box, an ordinary sort, which checked its progress. I would not have him put the Franklin’s arms on it; but the Soapboilers Arms he has a right to use, if he thinks fit. The other would look too much like an attempt to counterfeit. In his advertisements, he may value himself on serving his time with the original maker, but put his own Mark or Device on the Papers, or any thing he may be advised to as proper; only on the Soap, as it is called by the Name of Crown Soap, it seems necessary to use a Stamp of that sort, and perhaps no Soapboiler in the King’s Dominions has a better right to the Crown than himself. Nobody has wrote a syllable to me concerning his making use of the Hammer, or made the least complaint of him or you. I am sorry however that he took it without leave. It was irregular, &, if you had not approved of his doing it, I should have thought it indiscreet. Leave they say is light, and it seems to me a piece of Respect that was due to his Aunt to ask it, and I can scarce think she would have refused him the favour. I am glad to hear Johny [yet another of Jane’s sons] is so good and so diligent a workman; if he ever sets up at the Goldsmith’s business, he must remember that there is one accomplishment without which he cannot possibly thrive in that trade, (i. e. to be perfectly honest). [“Honesty is the best policy” is one of Franklin’s most-quoted maxims.] It is a business that though ever so uprightly managed, is always liable to suspicion; and if a man is once detected in the smallest fraud it soon becomes publick and every one is put upon their guard against him; no one will venture to try his Wares, or trust him to make up their Plates; so at once he is ruin’d. [One of Franklin’s most famous sayings was that “it takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”] I hope my nephew will therefore establish a Character as an honest & faithful, as well as skillful workman, and then he need not fear employment.” Franklin’s brotherly patience begins to wear thin when he responds to Jane’s previous suggestion that he use his authority as colonial postmaster general to remove Tuthill Hubbart, the stepson of his older half-brother John Franklin, and replace Hubbart with Jane’s son, Benjamin: “And now as to what you propose for Benny I believe he may be, as you say, well enough qualified for it, and when he appears to be settled, if a vacancy should happen, it is very probable he may be thought of to supply it; but it is a Rule with me, not to remove any officer that behaves well, keeps regular Accounts, and pays duly; and I think the Rule is founded on Reason & Justice. I have not shown any Backwardness to assist Benny, where it could be done without injuring another. But if my Friends require of me to gratify not only their Inclinations, but their Resentments, they expect too much of me. Above all things I dislike Family Quarrels, and when they happen among my relations, nothing gives me more pain. If I were to set myself up as a Judge of those subsisting between you & Brother’s Widow & Children, how unqualified must I be, at this distance, to determine rightly, especially having heard but one side? They always treated me with friendly and affectionate regard, you have done the same. What can I say between you? but that I wish you were reconcil’d, and that I will love that side best that is most ready to forgive & oblige the other. You will be angry with me here, for putting you and them too much upon a footing, but I shall nevertheless be…” The letter is addressed in Franklin’s hand on the reverse of the second page, “To Mrs. Jane Mecom, Boston.” This is the last of only three surviving letters Franklin wrote to his sister Jane while he waited in New York for the ship that would take him to England as the Pennsylvania Assembly’s colonial agent to in 1757, a position he held until 1775. The letter was published in A Collection of Familiar Letters of Benjamin Franklin (1833) by historian Jared Sparks. In his 1995 reference History Comes to Life, Kenneth Rendell writes: “Autograph material of Benjamin Franklin ... is now much rarer. His letters have been very aggressively collected by institutions.... Franklin material is seen less and less often.” Institutions housing Franklin letters include Yale University, Tufts University, the State Library of Pennsylvania, and the Library of Congress. The letter has not been offered for sale in more than two decades. In very good condition, with irregular right edge to second page (affecting a few words of text), scattered light toning and damp staining, and scattered light paper loss along folds. An astoundingly revealing letter from this most central and coveted of American historical figures—and likely the last opportunity to obtain a document of such depth, character, and interest for some time to come! Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA..
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