Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

About this book

The work is an autobiographical account attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the eighteenth‑century American statesman whose life spanned 1706‑1790. It opens with a vivid recollection of Franklin’s early struggles in London, detailing a series of precarious employments, cramped lodgings, and the network of acquaintances he cultivated among printers, booksellers, and scholars. The narrative moves from a secretive letter that entangles Hamilton and Keith, through Franklin’s attempts to break into the theatre and publishing worlds, to his eventual placement in the bustling printing houses of Palmer and Watts. Along the way he describes the financial hardships, the social customs of ale‑drinking workmen, and the eclectic characters, ranging from a milliner to a widowed lady with a Catholic past, who populate his London experience.

The voice is unmistakably that of an eighteenth‑century diarist, mixing formal observation with colloquial asides and occasional humor. Franklin’s prose reflects the period’s epistolary style, replete with long sentences, detailed inventories of daily life, and a candid self‑assessment of his “errata.” Readers who relish historical memoirs, especially those interested in the formative years of a founding father, will appreciate the granular glimpse into the world of print, patronage, and personal ambition that shaped his later public career.