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Some Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital; From its first Rise, to the Beginning of the Fifth Month, called May, 1754.
Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall, [1754]. Small 4to (245 x 181 mm), original stiff tan wrappers, stab-sewn, manuscript annotations on front and back wrappers reading “Hospital” and “Pennsylvania Hospital.” 40 pp. Collation: A-E4. CONDITION: Threads broken or wanting, spine perished, covers nearly detached, some minor chipping or chewing at spine, no loss to text. An important account of the founding and initial operation of the first hospital established in the English colonies in America, written and printed by Benjamin Franklin. Compiled at the request of the Hospital trustees, Franklin’s report “describes the plan on which the hospital was founded, rules for admission, rules for the choice of staff, and an ‘Abstract of Cases Admitted’” (Streeter). Franklin completed the manuscript on 28 May 1754. 1500 copies “were ordered off the press,” as noted by Miller, but the actual number printed is unknown. “Franklin was a prime force in founding the institution, its first secretary, and later chairman of its trustees; in his Autobiography…he wrote that he could remember no maneuver the success of which gave him at the time more pleasure than that of persuading the citizens and assembly to contribute matching funds to start the hospital initially” (Miller). A second part, Continuation of the Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital covering the history of the hospital from 1754 to 1761, was published in 1761, and was also printed by Franklin. A landmark colonial medical imprint, representing a major advance in medical treatment in North America, both written and printed by one of the great American Enlightenment figures. REFERENCES: Evans 7197; Miller 587; Streeter Sale 956; Howes F-331; Austin 794; Hildeburn 1363; Campbell 519.
Item #10632
Price: $20,000.00
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