Poor Richard Illustrated

Samuel A. Allen and Thomas R. Holland
Poor Richard Illustrated. Lessons for the Young and Old on Industry, Temperance, Frugality &c by Benjamin Franklin.
Boston: 1859
Lithograph
Prints & Photographs Division (26A.6)

The enduring popularity of Poor Richard's Almanac is emphasized in this print published nearly seventy years after Franklin's death. Of the publication, Franklin wrote in his autobiography: "In 1732 I first published my Almanack under the Name of Richard Saunders; it was continu'd by me about 25 Years, commonly call'd Poor Richard's Almanack. I endeavour'd to make it both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such Demand that I reaped considerable Profit from it, vending annually near ten Thousand." The twenty-four oval vignettes surrounding Franklin's portraits illustrate Poor Richard's most enduring proverbial sayings.