112 images chosen for "At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin" : A Brief History of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Printed for the Library Company of Philadelphia by York Graphic Services Inc., 1995).
Built to house a gift of scientific glassware from John Penn, which Franklin used in his electrical experiments. It is the earliest surviving piece of architectural furniture in the Palladian style made in America.
This atlas was taken as a prize from a British brig and was used by the Continental Congress during the Revolution., Provenance: Gift of Joseph Parker Norris, 1824.
The pencilled shelfmark, C113 N20, on the pastedown endpaper was the key to Edwin Wolf's reconstruction of Franklin's library., Provenance: Mackenzie bequest, 1828.
Daguerreotype. Gift of John A. McAllister, 1896. This view of militia gathering in the wake of an anti-Catholic riot is Philadelphia's first news photograph.
Purchased 1823 at the sale of the library of Benjamin Smith Barton. Barton previously lent this copy to Meriwether Lewis, who took it on the famous expedition. Inscription on fly-leaf by Meriwether Lewis, Philadelphia, May 7, 1807.