Posts tagged ‘benjamin franklin’
Patriot Improvers Vol. 1-3, Members of the American Philosophical Society (APS), by Whitfield Bell
Patriot Improvers Vol. 1-3, Members of the American Philosophical Society (APS), by Whitfield Bell
When Benjamin Franklin adopted John Bartram’s 1739 idea of bringing together the “virtuosi” of the colonies to promote inquiries into “natural secrets, arts and syances,” the result was, in 1743, the founding of the American Philosophical Society (APS).
Read more about Dr. Whitfield Bell’s definitive three-volume set of biographical sketches of early APS Members, many of whom were important historical figures in colonial Philadelphia.
The three-volume set is a worthy testament to a much loved member of the APS and a handsome addition to bookshelves.
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume One: 1743-1768
(Memoir 226)
(Hardcover, 531 pages, 1997, $40.00)
Includes biographies of the Society’s best known members such as Franklin, David Rittenhouse, John Bartram, Benjamin Rush, John Dickinson, Thomas Hopkinson and lesser known merchants, artisans, farmers, physicians, lawyers and clergymen with familiar surnames such as Biddle, Colden and Morris. Illustrations. Read more >>
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume Two: 1768 (Memoir 227)
(Hardcover, 425 pages, 1999, $40.00)
This is the 2nd of 3 volumes of sketches that represent, “the first systematic attempt to collect and preserve data on the lives of [the Society’s first] members” and add much to our knowledge of the history and culture of 18th-century America. Contents: Sketches of Members inducted from 8 April-20 Dec. 1768; History of the Medical Society 1766-1768 and Sketches of Members; and Portraits of 31 Members. Read more >>
Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society: Volume Three: 1767-1768: Memoirs, APS (vol. 228)
(Hardcover, 696 pages, 2010, $60.00)
The long-anticipated third volume of Patriot-Improvers brings to an end the important work of Dr. Whit Bell, who started in 1997 to put together “biographical sketches of members of the American Philosophical Society elected between 1743, when Franklin proposed it, and 1769, when it was established on its present foundation by the union of several earlier institutions.” Work on this third volume was completed by APS Librarian Charles Greifenstein after the death of Dr. Bell in early 2009. Read more >>
Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society: Volume Three: 1767-1768: Memoirs, APS (Vol. 228)
Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society: Volume Three: 1767-1768: Memoirs, APS (Vol. 228)
by Whitfield J. Bell (American Philosophical Society)
(Hardcover, 696 pages, 2010, ISBN: 0871692287, $60.00)
The long-anticipated third volume of Patriot-Improvers brings to an end the important work of Dr. Whit Bell, who started in 1997 to put together “biographical sketches of members of the American Philosophical Society elected between 1743, when Franklin proposed it, and 1769, when it was established on its present foundation by the union of several earlier institutions” (Patriot-Improvers, Volume One, p. xiii).
Work on this third volume was completed by APS Librarian Charles Greifenstein after the death of Dr. Bell in early 2009. The three-volume set is a worthy testament to a much loved member of the APS and a handsome addition to bookshelves.
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume Two: 1768 (Memoir 227)
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume Two: 1768 (Memoir 227)
by Whitfield J. Bell (American Philosophical Society)
(Hardcover, 425 pages, 1999, ISBN: 0871692279, $40.00)
When Benjamin Franklin adopted John Bartram’s 1739 idea of bringing together the “virtuosi” of the colonies to promote inquiries into “natural secrets, arts and syances,” the result was, in 1743, the founding of the American Philosophical Society. Bell, records the early years of the Society through sketches of its first members, those elected between 1743 and 1769.
This is the second of three volumes of sketches that represent, “the first systematic attempt to collect and preserve data on the lives of [the Society’s first] members” and add much to our knowledge of the history and culture of 18th-century America. Contents: Sketches of Members inducted from 8 April-20 Dec. 1768; History of the Medical Society 1766-1768 and Sketches of Members; and Portraits of 31 Members.
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume One: 1743-1768 (Memoir 226)
Patriot-Improvers: Members of the American Philosophical Society, Volume One: 1743-1768 (Memoir 226)
by Whitfield J. Bell (American Philosophical Society)
(Hardcover, 531 pages, 1997, ISBN: 0871692260, $40.00)
When Benjamin Franklin adopted John Bartram’s 1739 idea of bringing together the “virtuosi” of the colonies to promote inquiries into “natural secrets, arts and syances,” the result was, in 1743, the founding of the American Philosophical Society.
Read the 
of this book before you purchase it.
Bell records the early years of the Society through sketches of its first members, those elected between 1743 and 1769. This volume includes biographies of some of the Society’s best known members such as Franklin, David Rittenhouse, John Bartram, Benjamin Rush, John Dickinson, Thomas Hopkinson and many lesser known merchants, artisans, farmers, physicians, lawyers and clergymen with familiar surnames such as Biddle, Colden, and Morris. Illustrations.
Dear Doctor Franklin: E-mails to a Founding Father about Science, Medicine and Technology
Dear Doctor Franklin:
E-mails to a Founding Father about
Science, Medicine and Technology
by Stuart A. Green (Friends of Franklin)
(Paperback, 320 pages, 2008, ISBN: 1422394700, $24.95)
In this unique book on the history of science, Green writes emails to Benjamin Franklin, who died in 1790 but whom Green imagines coming back to life, about developments over the past two centuries.
Author Stuart A. Green writes: “I have written these emails assuming that you carried out the wish you described in 1773: ‘I should prefer to any ordinary death, being immersed in a cask of Madeira wine . . . to be later recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country.’”
These emails inform Franklin of progress in science, medicine and technology from his time until now. Includes more than 70 portraits of Franklin’s friends and relatives, and of those researchers who have led medical and scientific advances during the past two centuries. Illustrations.
Children’s Book Week Special: Lane Smith’s John, Paul, George and Ben, New York Times Best Seller and Best Illustrated Book of 2006
Weekly Book Special: May 11th-May 17th
This week is Children’s Book Week, a nationwide celebration of reading. To commemorate, this week’s special is:
John, Paul, George and Ben
By Lane Smith (Hardcover, 38 pages, 2006, $17.00)
“Witty text and full-color illustrations bring new life to a few old chestnuts, depicting the Fab Four of the American Revolution — John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin — through the founding myths we know them by,” writes The New York Times.
“Early American typefaces, parchment grounds, and vestiges of 18th-century life evoke a sense of the time,” writes Library Journal. “A true-and-false section in the back separates fact from fiction. While children will love the off-the-wall humor, there is plenty for adult readers to enjoy.”
Author Lane Smith, who also wrote “The Stinky Cheese Man,” won more than 20 awards for this New York Times bestseller, including The Times’ Best Illustrated Book of 2006. Reinforced library binding makes the book able to be read many times. Exercise your freedom to pick this one up!
Purchase this book for $17.00:
Weekly Book Special: Forget not Mee and My Garden . . . : Selected Letters, 1725-1768, of Peter Collinson, F.R.S. (American Philosophical Society)
March 15th-21st Weekly Half-Price Book Special
Warm weather and buds on the trees means only one thing: spring is right around the corner! Coinciding with the season, this week’s special is:
Forget Not Mee and My Garden:
Selected Letters, 1725-1768, of Peter Collinson, F.R.S.
by Alan W. Armstrong (Hardcover, 300 pages, 2002, $60.00)
English-style gardens around the world, from suburban yards to large parks, owe their foundations to businessman Peter Collinson.
Flowers and plants in these gardens are descended from the hundreds of seeds that Collinson imported from celebrated American botanist John Bartram in the 1700s.
This limited-edition book published by the American Philosophical Society, in shrinkwrap, features Collinson’s nearly 200 letters to the colonial world’s top scientists, including Batram, Carl Linnaeus and Benjamin Franklin, and features more than 100 full-color illustrations.
My favorite spread is of the Chestnut, Dogwood and Fringe Trees (click to enlarge):
“All letters in this volume are Collinson’s; they’re fully footnoted, and all correspondents are well-introduced,” writes Book News. “The color plates of correspondents, flora, and fauna make this a beautiful, as well as informative, read.”
“[The] deft match of text and image and [the] superb but unobtrusive editing,” writes historian Eugenia Herbert, “leave no doubt the Quaker merchant’s seminal role in the grand Enlightenment project of mapping the natural world.”
Weekly Special: Ben Franklin’s Art of Eating Cookbook with Colonial Recipes
Weekly Book Special: January 11th-17th
Benjamin Franklin on The Art of Eating:
Together with the Rules of Health and Long Life and the Rules to Find out a Fit Measure of Meat and Drink, with Several Recipes
by Benjamin Franklin and Gilbert Chinard, introduction by Roy Goodman
(Paperback, 72 pages, 2006, $10.00)
This week we commemorate the birth of Benjamin Franklin on January 17th. Franklin, who would be turning 303 years old this coming weekend, was one of the United States’ Founding Fathers: a scientist, politician, printer, diplomat and inventor. He also had an insatiable curiosity for cooking.
“Let the gentleman who seems ignorant of the matter do us the honour of a visit in America, and I will engage to breakfast him every day in the month with a fresh variety,” Franklin told an anonymous letter writer who criticized American food.
Chefs will find a splendid collection of colonial-era recipes and food tidbits discovered in Franklin’s private journals. Written in English and French with illustrations, the book sheds new light on the man who founded electricity and had a sweet tooth.
Our affiliate the American Philosophical Society, a scholarly organization that Franklin founded in 1743, originally published the book in 1958. In 2006, the Society reprinted it in a special edition to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Franklin’s birth.
My favorite recipe is for the delicious punch Orange Shrub:
This book also contains an essay on “Benjamin Franklin On the Art of Eating” by Gilbert Chinard; a collection of Franklin’s “Rules [for Eating] and Recipes” and an introduction by Roy Goodman, assistant librarian and curator of printed materials at the American Philosophical Society.
Student bloggers at Colorado State University have more of Franklin’s excerpts.
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