Finding Franklin: A Resource Guide

Selected Bibliography

Finding Books by and about Benjamin Franklin:

The Library of Congress online catalog contains more than a hundred subject headings for books related to Benjamin Franklin. To find works on any of these topics, select Basic Search, and enter the words
Franklin Benjamin into the search box; then choose the Subject Browse option. You will get the list of Franklin-related subject headings. Click on any heading to see a list of titles that have that subject heading; and click on any of the titles to access the book's bibliographic record.

From among the hundreds of Franklin-related titles in the Library of Congress collections, the bibliography below highlights the most significant modern editions of works by Franklin and a selection of biographies and other works particularly useful to scholars and general readers embarking on the study of this inexhaustibly intriguing American.

Selected Works by Franklin

Labaree, Leonard W., et al., eds. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. 37 vols. as of January 2006. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959- .
LC call number: E302 .F82 1959 [Catalog Record]

Lemay, J. A. Leo, ed. Benjamin Franklin: Writings. New York: Library of America, 1987.
LC call number: E302 .F82 1987 [Catalog Record]

-----, and P.M. Zall, eds. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. A Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 1986.
LC call number: E302.6.F7 A2 1986a [Catalog Record]

Smyth, Albert Henry, ed. The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. 10 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1905-7.
LC call number: E302 .F82 1907 [Catalog Record]

Selected Biographies of Franklin

Aldridge, Alfred Owen. Benjamin Franklin, Philosopher and Man. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1965.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 A46 [Catalog Record]

Brands, H.W. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Doubleday, 2000.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 B83 2000 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]

Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 I83 2003 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]

Lemay, J.A. Leo. The Life of Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006- .
LC call number: E302.6.F8 L424 2006 [Catalog Record]

Morgan, Edmund S. Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 M86 2002 [Catalog Record]

Parton, James. The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. 2 vols. New York: Mason Brothers, 1864.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 P27 [Catalog Record]

Van Doren, Carl. Benjamin Franklin. 3 vols. New York: The Viking Press, 1938.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 V3 [Catalog Record]

Wood, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 W84 2004 [Catalog Record]

Wright, Esmond. Franklin of Philadelphia. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 W89 1986 [Catalog Record]

Selected Works on Facets of Franklin’s Life

Aldridge, Alfred Owen. Benjamin Franklin and Nature’s God. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1967.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 A45 [Catalog Record]
A study of Franklin’s religious beliefs.

-----. Franklin and His French Contemporaries. 1957; reprint Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 A47 1976 [Catalog Record]
Franklin in relation to French culture.

Buxbaum, Melvin H. Benjamin Franklin: A Reference Guide. 2 vols. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1983-88.
LC call number: Z8313 .B89 1983 E302.6.F8 [Catalog Record]
A bibliography of Franklin scholarship.

Cohen, I. Bernard. Benjamin Franklin’s Science. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990.
LC call number: QC16.F68 C64 1990 [Catalog Record]
Franklin the scientist, and his scientific achievements.

-----. Franklin and Newton: An Inquiry into Speculative Newtonian Experimental Science and Franklin’s Work in Electricity as an Example Thereof. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1956.
LC call number: QC7 .C65 [Catalog Record]
Franklin’s scientific work as an extension of Newtonian principles.

Dray, Philip. Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America. New York: Random House, 2005.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 D69 2005 [Catalog Record]
Franklin’s science in his life, thought, and political career.

Lemay, J.A. Leo, ed. Reappraising Benjamin Franklin: A Bicentennial Perspective. Newark : University of Delaware Press, 1993.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 R29 1993 [Catalog Record]
Scholarly essays on many aspects of Franklin at the bicentennial of his death.

Lopez, Claude-Anne. Mon Cher Papa: Franklin and the Ladies of Paris. Rev. ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 L8 1990 [Catalog Record]
Franklin’s feminine friendships, intellectual, literary, and romantic.

-----, and Eugenia W. Herbert. The Private Franklin: The Man and His Family. New York: Norton, [1975].
LC call number: E302.6.F8 L82 1975 [Catalog Record]
Franklin and his family relationships, broadly defined.

Middlekauff, Robert. Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 M644 1996 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]
Franklin and his political enemies.

Miller, C. William. Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia Printing, 1728-1766: A Descriptive Bibliography. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1974. [Catalog Record]
LC call number: Q11 .P612 vol. 102 Z232.F8
A systematic record of Franklin’s work as a printer in Philadelphia.

Schiff, Stacy. A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. New York: Henry Holt, 2005.
LC call number: E183.8.F8 S35 2005 [Catalog Record]
Franklin the diplomat and cultural icon securing America’s independence.

Sellers, Charles Coleman. Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962.
LC call number: N7628.F7 S4 [Catalog Record]
A comprehensive study of Franklin’s imagery.

Talbott, Page, Richard S. Dunn, and John C. Van Horne, eds. Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 B485 2005 [Catalog Record]
Collection of essays accompanying 2006 Franklin Tercentenary exhibition.

Waldstreicher, David. Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 W25 2004 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]
A study of Franklin’s relationship to slavery and servitude.

Walters, Kerry S. Benjamin Franklin and His Gods. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, c1999.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 W27 1999 [Catalog Record]
A reappraisal of Franklin’s religious beliefs.

Zall, Paul M. Benjamin Franklin’s Humor. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 Z35 2005 [Catalog Record]
A study of the humor in Franklin’s writing and how he used it.

Books for Younger Readers

Adler, David A. A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin. Illustrated by John and Alexandra Wallner. New York: Holiday House, 1990.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 A28 1990 [Catalog Record]

Davidson, Margaret. The Story of Benjamin Franklin: Amazing American. Illustrated by John Speirs. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 1997.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 D233 1997 [Catalog Record]

Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 F55 2003 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]

Fritz, Jean. What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? Illustrated by Margot Tomes. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1976.
LC call number: E302.6.F8 F88 1976 [Catalog Record]

Lawson, Robert. Ben and Me: A New and Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin as Written by His Good Mouse Amos. 1939; rpt. Boston: Little, Brown, 1988. [Catalog Record]
LC call number: PZ7.L4384 Be 1988

Rudy, Lisa Jo, ed. The Ben Franklin Book of Easy and Incredible Experiments. A Franklin Institute Science Museum Book. Illustrated by Cheryl Kirk Knoll. New York: Wiley, 1995.
LC call number: Q182.3 .B46 1995 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]

Schanzer, Rosalyn. How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
LC call number: QC16.F58 S33 2003 [Catalog Record] [Publisher’s description]