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DOCUMENTS101 Philadelphia. 15,000 copies distributed to schools, etc., by Dr. James N. Rule, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa. William Penn. By Lucy B. Roberts. Issued by the Friends and distributed by Dr. Rule. Map of Chester as William Penn Knew It, 1701. By Chester F. Baker. Published by Friends' Historical Association, 1932. Map of Upland (Chester) as William Penn Found It, 1682. By Chester F. Baker. Map of New Castle as Penn Saw It. In preparation by Leon de Valinger, Jr., State Archives Department, Dover, Delaware. Map of Philadelphia as Penn Saw It, 1684. Prepared by William Wilson Pollock (in historical collaboration with Albert Cook Myers). Three Etchings. By Arnold Anderson, 721 Walnut Street, 1931 (in historical collaboration with Albert Cook Myers), as follows: (1)"William Penn's First Landing in America, at New Castle, Delaware, October 28 (O.S.), 1682." (2)" William Penn's First Arrival in Pennsylvania, on the Ship Welcome, at Upland (now Chester), October 28 (O.S.), 1682." (3)" The Blue Anchor Inn, Philadelphia, Spring of 1683." DOCUMENTS PENN'S " EXCELLENT PRIVILEDGE " Under date of 6 mo. 17, 1932, the Representative Meeting of Philadelphia (Arch Street) transmitted to Haverford College by the hand of J. Henry Bartlett a copy of William Penn's The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty & Property, Being the Birth-Right of the Free-born Subjects of England. It is the only complete copy of the original pamphlet known to exist, although there is one, lacking only the last leaf, in Friends Library, London. A beautiful facsimile edition was published in 1897 by the Philobiblon Club, of Philadelphia, copies of which are in many libraries. The unique original remains the property of the Representative Meeting but is placed in the Haverford Quaker collections in order to make it more available for inspection by scholars and other interested persons. William Penn's name does not appear on the title page nor elsewhere in this publication. The Foreword, as reprinted below, is signed " Philopolites," which may be translated " Lover of his fellow citizens." The authorship is, however, well assured. In a 102 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION political pamphlet 1 issued in Philadelphia in 1728 by several prominent citizens, reference is definitely made to William Penn as the author of " a small Treatise " entitled The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property. There is also an authentic quotation from page 40 of the " Treatise." Neither the publisher nor the date of publication is given in Penn's pamphlet. Yet there is light on these points in An Almanack For the Year of Christian Account 1687. By Daniel Leeds, Student in Agriculture. " Printed and Sold by William Bradford, near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, pro Anno 1687." The following note appears at the bottom of this broadside Almanac : " There is now in the Press, The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property ." Thus the publisher of Penn's pamphlet becomes known, and the approximate date of publication, viz., late in 1686 or early in 1687, Old Style. This would mean about Second or Third Month, 1687, New Style. A guess might be ventured as to why so few copies of this important pamphlet have survived. About the date of publication Penn, again in England, was having his first great period of discouragement and disillusionment as to the working of democracy in his " fresh new Country." Officials were derelict and the Assembly obstinate and selfish. In a letter, dated Worminghurst, Twelfth Month first, 1686 (O.S.), he even threatened to dissolve the " Frame " or Charter of Pennsylvania.2 Therefore, one may surmise that Penn was not keen at such a moment to distribute widely his pamphlet containing a copy of the " Frame " and other documents on the rights and liberties of Englishmen. Perhaps the Proprietor distributed only a few to some of his close friends. The copy at Haverford, as indicated on the title page, was the property of Phineas Pemberton, a contemporary and friend of William Penn. The list of documents included in Penn's pamphlet is on the title page reproduced above. Some inquirers have asked why Magna 1 A Defence of the Legislative Constitution of the Province of Pennsylvania . July the 8th, 1728. Signed by John Swift...

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