Printed Promissory Note for Pennsylvania Hospital

1754. [FRANKLIN IMPRINT]. Printed Promissory Note for Pennsylvania Hospital. [Phila.: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, n.d., but circa 1754]. 4 x 6-3/8 inches. Scissored for accomplishment. Very good. MILLER 598 variant. These notes were found by Miller only in the holdings of the Pennsylvania Hospital itself. A rare survival of Benjamin Franklin's printing, this is a printed promissory note for the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital established in the British colonies in North America, and an institution of which Franklin was one of the founders. Franklin co-founded the hospital in 1751 with Dr. Thomas Bond and, according to Miller, the firm of Franklin and Hall printed several items for it, including this blank promissory note. This note is made out to "Jacob Brown of the City of Philadelphia Stove and Sickle maker," who agreed to pay "[Hugh Roberts] Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Hospital" "[ten pounds] current money of Pennsylvania" "by the First Day of April," binding himself, his heirs, executors, and administrators to "the penal Sum of [Ten Pounds]" should he forfeit. The form is dated 28 march1768. This certificate is witnessed by James Pemberton. The cornerstone for the hospital was laid in 1755, and these promissory notes were no doubt part of the campaign to raise funds for its construction. The survival of any of these notes is a rarity of colonial American medical and printing history.