A printer's son tells his own life story, from runaway apprentice to famous scientist and statesman. He arrives in Philadelphia at seventeen, eating one bread roll and carrying two more under his arms.
248 pages 4h 49m reading time
The classic American story of the self-made man.
Traces Franklin's rise from runaway printer's apprentice to success and fame through hard work, thrift and steady self-improvement.
Sets out his plan of thirteen virtues, tracked daily on a chart, turning becoming a better person into a practical project.
It shaped the American ideal of rising by your own effort and became a model for the modern autobiography.
First printed in French
It first appeared in France in 1791, a year after he died, and early English editions were translated back.
Written as a letter
Franklin began it in 1771 as a long letter to his son William about their family and his early life.
Never finished
He wrote it in four stretches over nearly twenty years, and the story stops in 1757, decades before his death.
Full text came late
The original manuscript stayed with a French family until 1867, so the first faithful edition came only in 1868.
Benjamin Franklin 1791