- Way to Wealth
- Highlights
Edition Highlights

This text seems to be a transition from the original form in the Almanack to the form under the title of The Way to Wealth. Even though it appeared under the name of Richard Saunders and not Benjamin Franklin, the fact that it is in such a notable periodical as the Gentleman’s Magazine suggests Franklin’s involvement in its publication and form.
Edition Location
APS
Way To Wealth Author
Anonymous
Way To Wealth Genre
Periodical
Way To Wealth ID
Eng1771.1
Way To Wealth Title
Substance of a preliminary address prefixed to an old Pennsylvania almanac, intitled Poor Richard Improved
Place of Publication
London, England

Elegant Extracts, edited by Vicesimus Knox, was, in contrast to the Pleasing Instructor, an anthology in large format, with, in some editions, more than a thousand pages. First published in 1782, its stated goal was the “improvement of scholars at classical & other schools.” The numerous editions are very rare, which suggests that these books were heavily used. They contained The Way to Wealth, with Franklin’s name attached, and they are an added sign that English schoolchildren were very likely exposed to Franklin’s text.
Edition Location
Issue A (Google Books: Oxford) BL: RB.23.b.3848 (2) BowdoinYale (Beinecke) ; Issue B (ECCO: BL, without shelfmark)
Imprint Note
Pagination/Collation
engr. title; xvi, [8], 512, [2], 513-1019, [1] p.
Way To Wealth Author
Anonymous
Way To Wealth Genre
Anthology
Way To Wealth ID
Eng1790.7
Place of Publication
London, England
Publisher/Printer
Dilly, C.

The Pleasing Instructor, edited by Ann Fisher and initially published in Newcastle by Thomas Slack, her husband, first brought out the “Preliminary address prefixed to the Pennsylvania almanac for 1758: on oeconomy and frugality” in its third edition of 1760; and that form of the text under that title appeared about thirty times up through 1815. Franklin’s name was never associated with it. The subtitle “on oeconomy and frugality” indicates the message that the youthful reader was to take away from the text. Although The Way to Wealth has been associated with the “American Dream” of being able to rise in the world through one’s own efforts, in this widely disseminated form, it is closely followed by another text “On the justice of providence in the distribution of riches.”
Edition Location
ECCO (BL) Yale (Beinecke)
Imprint Note
Pagination/Collation
[4], ix, [3], 368 p. ; 16.5 cm.
Way To Wealth Author
Anonymous
Way To Wealth Genre
Schoolbook
Way To Wealth ID
Eng1768.3
Way To Wealth Title
Preliminary address prefixed to the Pennsylvania almanac for 1758: On oeconomy and frugality
Place of Publication
London, England
Publisher/Printer
Etherington, C.

The mourning that followed Benjamin Franklin’s death in 1790 combined with the subsequent publication of his autobiography to stimulate editions of The Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin. These were not based on the 1779 edition edited by Benjamin Vaughan, and the text of these editions was not settled. A strange omission from the earliest of them in 1793 was The Way to Wealth. It was not included in British editions until 1796.
Edition Location
ECCO (BL) APS BPL LCP
Imprint Note
Pagination/Collation
2v. (I: vi, [ii]; 232 p.; II: [iv], 227 p.) ; 14 cm.
Way To Wealth Author
Franklin, Benjamin
Way To Wealth Genre
Collected Edition
Way To Wealth ID
Eng1796.1
Way To Wealth Title
Poor Richard’s almanack, for the year 1758
Place of Publication
London, England
Publisher/Printer
Dilly, G.

Franklin assisted Jacques Barbeu Du Bourg, the editor of this 1773 French collected edition, by sending him texts. One was Le moyen de s’enrichir, a French literal translation of the new title of The Way to Wealth that Franklin had given it—and of the new form of the text. For the first time, Franklin is here identified as the author.
Edition Location
LCP (4 copies)
Imprint Note
Pagination/Collation
2 v. ill., port. ; 27.5 cm. ; I: [4], xxii, [2], 338 p. front., 5 lvs. of pls. ; II: [4], xiii, [3], 318, [2] p. 7 lvs. of pls.
Way To Wealth Author
Franklin, Benjamin
Way To Wealth Genre
Collected Edition
Way To Wealth ID
Fr1773.1
Place of Publication
Paris, France
Publisher/Printer
Quillau l’Aîné; Esprit