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ALS signed “B. Franklin,” one page, 4.5 x 7.5, July 24, 1785. Addressed from “Southampton in England,” a handwritten letter from Benjamin Franklin to “M'r Grand,” believed to be Rodolphe-Ferdinand Grand, the Swiss-born Protestant banker in Paris who served as the principal financial agent for the United States during the American Revolutionary War. Written upon Franklin's arrival in England following nearly a decade as American minister to France, the letter reads, in full: “We arrived here very well at 8 o'Clock this Morning, after a Voyage of 45 Hours. I find my Self better for the Journey, by Land, and Passage by Sea, instead of being fatigued as I apprehended. I send this by Way of London; and shall write you more fully by the Return of the Pacquet Boat that brought us here. My Love to your good Family, & to all our Friends and Neighbours that enquire after us. We have brought with us the Part of our Baggage that came in the Roulier to Havre. The Part by the Boat from Rouen was not arriv’d.” Franklin adds a brief postscript: “M. le Veillard is here with us very well. My Children present their Respects.” The integral second page is detached but present. In fine condition, with faint intersecting folds and a repaired short tear to the lower left corner. Accompanied by a custom blue cloth presentation folder with gilt-lettered spine, featuring a mounted engraved portrait of Franklin to the inside front cover.
Provenance: Charles Hamilton, 24 July 1975, lot 133; Christie’s 2026, with a photocopy of original authenticity letter from Peter Klarnet, Christie's Senior Specialist, Manuscripts.
Franklin wrote this letter during one of the defining transitions of his life. After nearly nine years as America's minister to France, he had concluded the diplomatic mission that helped secure American independence and was beginning his journey home. Appointed in 1776 to seek French support for the American cause, Franklin became the young nation's most celebrated diplomat abroad, negotiating the 1778 Treaty of Alliance that brought France into the Revolutionary War and serving as one of the American commissioners who concluded the 1783 Treaty of Paris, formally recognizing American independence. By the summer of 1785, with his diplomatic service complete, Franklin had departed his longtime residence at Passy and reached Southampton on July 24th, where he penned this letter to his trusted Paris banker, Rodolphe-Ferdinand Grand.
Grand had served as the principal financial agent for the United States in France throughout much of the Revolutionary War, managing loans, payments, and other financial affairs on behalf of the American commissioners. Writing immediately after his arrival in England, Franklin reports favorably on his 45-hour journey, notes that part of his baggage had yet to arrive from Rouen, sends greetings to mutual friends in Paris, and mentions his close friend Louis-Guillaume Le Veillard, who accompanied him on the final stage of his departure from France.
Within weeks of writing this letter, Franklin sailed aboard the London Packet for Philadelphia, arriving on September 14, 1785, to a hero's welcome. He would soon be elected President of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council and, two years later, become the eldest delegate to the Constitutional Convention, where he helped shape the framework of the United States Constitution.
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