FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autograph letter signed ("B Franklin") TO HIS GRANDSON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE (at school in Geneva); Passy [France], 2 May l783. 2 pages, 4to, integral blank with recipient's contemporary docket: "Grandpappa Passy...B.F.B. Geneva May 24th 1783," and recipient's later docket. Fine condition. A CHIDING LETTER FROM "GRANDPAPPA" FRANKLIN: "I CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE GOLD WATCHES TO CHILDREN" A delightful letter from Franklin to his 13-year-old grandson and namesake. Dr. Franklin, who was serving as U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France and commissioner to negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain, brought the youth with him to Europe and enrolled him in a boarding school in Geneva. Bache also worked for a short time in the printing house of Franklin's Paris friend, Didot. The present letter dates from the period of hiatus between the diplomats' agreement on the terms of a treaty terminating the American Revoution (reached in November 1782), the actual cessation of hostilities (ordered by Great Britain on 4 February 1783) and the formal signing of the final treaty in Paris on 3 September of that year. Here, Franklin replies in an affectionate but chiding tone to Bache, who has apparently asked for a medal and a gold watch. "I have received several Letters from you, and in the last a Specimen of your Drawing, which I was pleas'd with, as well as your Letters. I am not going yet to England, as you supposed. When I do go there, I shall certainly take you with me. I send you the Medal you desire; but I cannot afford to give gold Watches to Children. When you are more of a Man, perhaps, if you have behaved well, I may give you one or something that is better. You should remember that I am at a great expence for your Education, to pay for your Board & Cloathing and Instruction in Learning that may be useful to you when you are grown up, and you should not tease me for expensive things that can be of little or no Service to you. Your Father and Mother and Brothers were all well when I last heard from them: and I am ever Your affectionate Grandfather...." In a postscript, Franklin adds: "Your young friends the Morris's [children of Robert Morris accompanying their father] go to Geneva by this Opportunity, and I recommend them to all your Civilities, and to those of Mr. Cooper, to whom I send my Love." Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769-1798), son of Franklin's only child, Sarah, enjoyed a distinguished career in years to come. In 1790 he founded the Philadelphia General Advertiser (later the Aurora ) which became an influential Republican journal (Jefferson was a subscriber), famous for the vitriol of its anti-Federalist editorials. Bache's journal was the first to publish the text of John Jay's treaty of 1795, which provoked widespread controversy and bitter debate; in 1798 Bache's paper was one of the unspoken targets of the Federalists in the Sedition Acts, and he was arrested under the provisions of that Act in June, but soon released on parole. He died of yellow fever in September 1798.
FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN. Autograph letter signed ("B Franklin") TO HIS GRANDSON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHE (at school in Geneva); Passy [France], 2 May l783. 2 pages, 4to, integral blank with recipient's contemporary docket: "Grandpappa Passy...B.F.B. Geneva May 24th 1783," and recipient's later docket. Fine condition. A CHIDING LETTER FROM "GRANDPAPPA" FRANKLIN: "I CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE GOLD WATCHES TO CHILDREN" A delightful letter from Franklin to his 13-year-old grandson and namesake. Dr. Franklin, who was serving as U.S. Minister Plenipotentiary to France and commissioner to negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain, brought the youth with him to Europe and enrolled him in a boarding school in Geneva. Bache also worked for a short time in the printing house of Franklin's Paris friend, Didot. The present letter dates from the period of hiatus between the diplomats' agreement on the terms of a treaty terminating the American Revoution (reached in November 1782), the actual cessation of hostilities (ordered by Great Britain on 4 February 1783) and the formal signing of the final treaty in Paris on 3 September of that year. Here, Franklin replies in an affectionate but chiding tone to Bache, who has apparently asked for a medal and a gold watch. "I have received several Letters from you, and in the last a Specimen of your Drawing, which I was pleas'd with, as well as your Letters. I am not going yet to England, as you supposed. When I do go there, I shall certainly take you with me. I send you the Medal you desire; but I cannot afford to give gold Watches to Children. When you are more of a Man, perhaps, if you have behaved well, I may give you one or something that is better. You should remember that I am at a great expence for your Education, to pay for your Board & Cloathing and Instruction in Learning that may be useful to you when you are grown up, and you should not tease me for expensive things that can be of little or no Service to you. Your Father and Mother and Brothers were all well when I last heard from them: and I am ever Your affectionate Grandfather...." In a postscript, Franklin adds: "Your young friends the Morris's [children of Robert Morris accompanying their father] go to Geneva by this Opportunity, and I recommend them to all your Civilities, and to those of Mr. Cooper, to whom I send my Love." Benjamin Franklin Bache (1769-1798), son of Franklin's only child, Sarah, enjoyed a distinguished career in years to come. In 1790 he founded the Philadelphia General Advertiser (later the Aurora ) which became an influential Republican journal (Jefferson was a subscriber), famous for the vitriol of its anti-Federalist editorials. Bache's journal was the first to publish the text of John Jay's treaty of 1795, which provoked widespread controversy and bitter debate; in 1798 Bache's paper was one of the unspoken targets of the Federalists in the Sedition Acts, and he was arrested under the provisions of that Act in June, but soon released on parole. He died of yellow fever in September 1798.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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