Library chair ladder plans

Benjamin Franklin is perhaps best known for being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was also what is knows as a ‘polymath’, meaning he loved to learn about a broad range of subjects, including philosophy, statemanship, printing and even science.

In addition to being one of the names to sign the Declaration of Independence, he was also the first postmaster general.

He went from one success to another, really, and his invention of the modern library as we know it today is no different.

Ben franklin inventions library chair for sale Send Message. The Library Company Unfortunately for him, Benjamin Franklin lived in a time when books were so expensive that often people could not afford to develop a habit of reading. In amongst the collection were books, novels, plays, philosophy texts, scientific journals, and books and poetry. Like this story?

To find out more about how this founding father shaped book lending, read on!

Benjamin Franklin Loved Literature

It is no secret to anyone who has read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography that the Founding Father absolutely loved reading and literature. Despite having only a handful of years of formal education, Franklin adored reading.

In his autobiography, he mentions that he loved reading so much that any money he received as a child would go directly toward books.

Franklin in fact loved reading as a hobby to the point that when he was a teenager and responsible for buying his own food, he went vegetarian in order to save more money for books.

He found that lentils, vegetables, and pulses were significantly cheaper than meat, leaving him with a much more book-buying budget!

By the time of Benjamin Franklin’s death in , he had amassed an impressive private book collection. It is estimated to have included 4, books in total.

He Worked as a Printer’s Apprentice and Publisher

When Benjamin Franklin was just a boy, he found work as a printer’s apprentice working for his brother in Boston.

Developing his skills and knowledge there, he eventually left and worked for himself as a publisher. During this time, he published the local paper the Pennsylvania Gazette, as well as books and the annual Poor Richard’s Almanack which became very popular.

The Library Company

Unfortunately for him, Benjamin Franklin lived in a time when books were so expensive that often people could not afford to develop a habit of reading.

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This meant that lots of people simply went without that kind of education.

Franklin had always been a big reader and a fan of self-improvement and education on the whole. He founded a group called Junto, a mutual improvement club where they’d meet and discuss contemporary issues. When they could, the group would read together.

However, due to the prices of books, this was not always possible.

Discussing this with his fellow Junto members, Franklin suggested that they pool their money in order to purchase books that they could then all share as a collective. These books would then be theirs and would come at a fraction of the price of purchasing them all individually.

Ben franklin accomplishments The Library Company of Philadelphia. Franklin was the first person to petition congress to abolish slavery in , two months before his death. When Franklin died the French National Assembly declared a day of mourning. During his printing experience he observed in that prolonged exposure to lead would cause sickness to those who handled lead printing molds.

Eventually, the collection became The Library Company of Philadelphia, North America’s first-ever library subscription. In amongst the collection were books, novels, plays, philosophy texts, scientific journals, and books and poetry.

When the library first started, it was only accessible to shareholders. However, after a while, the library opened its access to anyone, so long as they were able to leave a small deposit.

It was officially founded on July 1st, , charging members 40 shillings each and a 10 shilling annual contribution to new books, which they imported from England. The library was open for lending one day a week for lending, and any books that didn’t make it back were fined at twice the cost of the book!

This system is considered to be the blueprint for modern libraries, as whilst other libraries did exist at the time, they were not lending libraries in the same way.

Many of them had their books chained to the shelves. This was the case in a lot of British libraries, in order to stop theft.

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The library also differed from British and other libraries as 90% of its content was in English rather than in Greek or Latin.

The Library Company did so well that within the next two decades, there were over 40 libraries following the same structure across the United States, and it is very clear how that structure has informed the libraries that we are familiar with today.

In his autobiography, Franklin noted that his work had done well to ‘improve the general conversation of Americans’ and connected literacy and libraries to upholding democracy.

The library that Franklin was responsible for still stands as an independent library for research today, which is a testament to not only Franklin’s idea but the importance and value of libraries.

Other Libraries

Ever the bibliophile, The Library Company wasn’t the only library founding Franklin was involved in!

Benjamin Franklin was also a key part in the establishment of multiple other large libraries across the United States, including the Library of Pennsylvania Hospital and the Pennsylvania State Library, as well as The Library of the American Philosophical Society and the Library of the University of Pennsylvania.

Library-Related Inventions

Known for his inventions, Benjamin Franklin did not only create the blueprints for libraries as we know them today.

He also created an object he dubbed the ‘library chair’ that was a comfortable seat that converted into a step ladder to allow the user to reach the highest bookshelves.

We wonder whether it looked something like today’s step ladder chairs…