Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and the City of Philadelphia

1742. [FRANKLIN IMPRINT]. (PENNSYLVANIA). The Charters of the Province of Pensilvania and the City of Philadelphia. [bound with:] A Collection of All the Laws of the Province of Pennsylvania. [bound with:] An Appendix; Containing a Summary of Such Acts of Assembly as Have Been Formerly in Force within This Province.... Phila.: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, 1742 [i.e. 1743]. Three parts bound in one volume. 30;562; iv,24,xi pp. Folio. Original suede, blind-tooled with fillet along spine edge and edges chamfered in blind, raised spine bands, paper spine labels in manuscript. Old waterstain to head of front free endpapers, early owner's name crossed off first titlepage, occasional tanning. Very good overall. Miller 288. Evans 5033. Sabin 59973, 59982. Hildeburn 755a-c. Campbell 237a-c. An important volume of the Charters and Laws of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, printed by Benjamin Franklin, for which he billed the Assembly ?261. The last complete edition of Pennsylvania laws had been printed in 1728 by Andrew Bradford, and the need for a corrected edition led to the appointment in 1739 of Kinsey, Speaker of the Assembly and Attorney General of the Province, to prepare a new edition. Kinsey completed a revised edition in 1741 and turned it over to Franklin, who required two years to complete the job. He finished presswork for the volume in the spring of 1743, the year after the date of imprint. Included are laws on slavery, roads, maritime issues, timber, blasphemy, witchcraft, debt, brandy and ales, Native Americans, and much more. Miller notes bindings very similar to this, which is done in his roll 23 by Joseph Goodwin who bound a number of copies of this work. One of the most extensive and important early Franklin imprints.