(AMERICAN REVOLUTION) | "Unite or Die" political cartoon in the masthead of The Pennsylvania Journal; and the Weekly Advertiser, No. 1675. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by William and Thomas Bradford, Wednesday, January 11, 1775 

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

(AMERICAN REVOLUTION)

"Unite or Die" political cartoon in the masthead of The Pennsylvania Journal; and the Weekly Advertiser, No. 1675. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by William and Thomas Bradford, Wednesday, January 11, 1775 

Folio, 4 pages (16 1/8 x 10 1/8 in.; 410 x 258 mm) on a full sheet of laid paper, four woodcut vignettes of sailing ships among the advertisements, text in three columns; wax stain in upper right corner, some marginal discoloration, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot.

America's first and most famous political cartoon repurposed for the foment of Revolution. Benjamin Franklin created the image of a snake dissected into separate segments to illustrate the disunity of the thirteen colonies during the French and Indian War, and first published it in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. Franklin's fellow Philadelphia printers William and Thomas Bradford appropriated the image for the cause of Independence and featured it in the masthead of The Pennsylvania Journal from July 12, 1774, through October 18, 1775. The Bradfords added a ninth segment to the tail of the snake in order to represent Georgia, which Franklin had neglected to do. The New England states remain represented by a single segment.

The news in this issue, as well as the cartoon, portrays the tensions of the time. A letter to "The inhabitants of Berks County" from the Reading, Pennsylvania, Committee of Correspondence warns, "The affairs of America grow every day more serious, and our unhappy disputes hasten to a conclusion." And a report from Newport states that "General Gage has sent a number of spies into the country." Benjamin Franklin's election as president of the American Philosophical Society is also published, while a front-page advertisement by Robert Bell announces an auction of books by "Authors of great excellence, both ancient and modern," which he expects to last for five or six evenings.