The Rare Book & Special Collections Division’s Benjamin Franklin Collection was established in 1882 with the purchase of Henry Stevens’ collection of volumes printed by or relating to Franklin. The 204 lots in Stevens’ catalogue for the sale of his collection on July 11th, 1881 by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge include some of the works Franklin was involved with as a printer in 1720s London, as well as the post-mortem biographies of Franklin that William Temple Franklin intermittently completed. The earliest piece dates from 1724, when 19-year-old Franklin’s essay, "The Infallibility of Human Judgment," was included in a book by a surgeon named Lyons (who introduced him to notable contemporary authors such as Bernard Mandeville and Henry Pemberton).

In Whitfield J. Bell Jr.’s essay, “Henry Stevens, his Uncle Samuel, and the Franklin Papers,” he describes the journey of Franklin’s papers from the death of William Temple Franklin in 1823 to their acquisition by Congress in 1883. In 1849 Henry Stevens purchased the cache of Franklin papers, which had failed to be acquired by either the British or American governments, and pledged to sell them to Congress for over $25,000 (about $800,000 today). Unfortunately, Stevens’ dedication to his trade—i.e., a tendency to use the Franklin papers as security against debts—and sense of both perfectionism and territorialism about the collection mean that only in 1878 was the U.S. formally involved as a buyer.

By 1881, as the government dragged its feet in agreeing to the price and voting on necessary appropriations, Stevens moved to have the collection sold at Sotheby’s, hoping to prod Congress into action. He distributed the catalogue to numerous wealthy buyers as a “final warning” to the government. Again, the sale was stopped in the nick of time, when the Secretary of State promised that this year, definitely, they would buy the collection. Finally, after regional historical societies and the Librarian of Congress lobbied for the government to acquire the material, and Stevens threatened to raise the price, the appropriations bill was passed in 1882. In January 1883, the papers and books were packed at the British Museum and shipped to New York, and subsequently shipped to Washington, D.C. on January 31st. The next day, the cargo pier at which the boxes had been stored on arrival in New York burned completely.

After the Stevens acquisition, the Benjamin Franklin Collection grew to encompass all books in the division’s collections printed by, written by, or about Franklin (or his family), including items from the collections of Joseph Meredith Toner and Peter Force. George Brinley’s enormous five-part sale of his Americana collection—which Henry Stevens, as his agent, had helped build—included 135 books in a special Franklin collection sold in 1880 and many more Franklin-adjacent titles, of which the library now holds at least 39. Brinley’s books can be identified by a modest label in the inside upper left of the cover, marked ‘BRINLEY’ and with numbers in ink that correspond to his sale catalogues.

Books in this collection can be found by searching the Library of Congress Online Catalog for "Benjamin Franklin Collection (Library of Congress)" as a phrase.

In addition, there is a Finding Aid that provides in-depth descriptions of the manuscript portions of the collection:

• Finding Aid to Benjamin Franklin Papers [online finding aid]

  The papers of statesman, publisher, scientist, and diplomat Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) consist of approximately 8,000 items spanning the years 1726 to 1907, with most dating from the 1770s and 1780s. The collection's principal strength is its documentation of Franklin's diplomatic roles as a colonial representative in London (1757-1762 and 1764-1775) and France (1776-1785), where he sought to win recognition and funding from European countries during the American Revolution, negotiated the treaty with Britain that ended the war, and served as the first United States minister to France. The papers also document Franklin's work as a scientist, inventor, and observer of the natural world, and his relations with family, friends, and scientific and political colleagues.