In response to a correspondent, let’s say S.S. writing to M.M., I’ve located the letter from A.A. regarding fire protection. This document happens to be the source of a famous Franklin phrase, An ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, which was the subject of another recent inquiry.
Franklin wrote over the pseudonym A.A. to his own newspaper, and published the letter in the Pennsylvania Gazette. The letter is published in the Papers, and thereby Founders Online: On Protection of Towns from Fire, 4 February 1735
Looking for the Pennsylvania Gazette Online
S.S. is looking into Franklin’s type fonts, and wanted an image of the original. I do not find one comprehensive online source for images of the Pennsylvania Gazette, but was able to find the issue in question.
- LOC index to the Pennsylvania Gazette: Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) – Library of Congress Research Guide
- The State Library of Pennsylvania seems to have issues from 1746-1796, and sporadically after that to 1806: The Pennsylvania Gazette Collection (All Titles) – State Library of Pennsylvania
- The Hathi Trust has images of the Gazette from 1735-37 (January 2, 1735 – October 27 1737). This is digitization of a 1968 Reprint Edition in cooperation with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by Microsurance of Philadelphia: #39 – The Pennsylvania gazette v.3 1735-37. – Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library
- The exact solution to both inquiries is this: Image 39 of 604 is the issue of January 28 – February 4, 1735, with the A.A. letter on the front page. Gazette January 28 – February 4, 1735
There is a slight discrepancy in the dates, as the Papers sets it as February 4, 1735, but the published issue is for the date range of January 28 – February 4, 1735. I will assume that this is in accordance with the policy set in advance for the Papers from the beginning, but I would personally consider January 28, 1735 to be the publication date.
Regarding fonts: S.S. suggested there was a change of font as of 1737, and I’d be happy to know more about this change. The font I’ve been most involved with is his Caslon font, digitized, that I used in my Keep Thy Shop window and more recently in the Read With a Pen:
Regarding the Ounce and Pound
While January 1735 is the earliest publication date by Franklin, he referred to this saying as “an old Saying” when writing to Samuel Johnson fifteen years later:
I am sorry to hear of your Illness: If you have not been us’d to the Fever and Ague, let me give you one Caution. Don’t imagine yourself thoroughly cur’d, and so omit the Use of the Bark too soon. Remember to take the preventing Doses faithfully. If you were to continue taking a Dose or two every Day for two or three Weeks after the Fits have left you, ’twould not be amiss. If you take the Powder mix’d quick in a Tea Cup of Milk, ’tis no way disagreable, but looks and even tastes like Chocolate. ’Tis an old Saying, That an Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure, and certainly a true one, with regard to the Bark; a little of which will do more in preventing the Fits than a great deal in removing them.
Source: Founders Online, from Benjamin Franklin to Samuel Johnson, 13 September 1750 (Papers 4:64-64).
I would not be surprised if Franklin referred to his own invention as “an old Saying” after fifteen years, but the italics in the 1735 Gazette publication suggests that it was already an established proverb. I’d appreciate knowing any earlier source for this expression.
See Also
- Franklin Gazettes online (here)