1722 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Interest. Very Rare on Psalmody and Worship Controversy. Bay Psalm Book, &c.

A wonderfully preserved scarce imprint and a distinctively American artifact.  Printed officially by James Franklin, Benjamin Franklin's older brother, Benjamin not only would have had a hand in its production, but may have actually been its primary printer. How so? In 1719, James Franklin was replaced by Samuel Kneeland as the printer of the Boston Gazette. In response, James and Benjamin started what was perhaps the first truly independent press in America, The New England Courant, in 1721. It was a press not beholden to the pressures of politician or pulpit. . . and it became the bane of many . . . often compared to the "hellfire club," long rumored to exist in England.  This had two results, both of which add interest to the present document: First, The New-England Courant freely criticized public policy, including perceived governmental ineptitude, government overreach, misdoings of the clergy and churches, and dissenting opinions. One of these, historians are undecided about whic