From Benjamin Franklin to William Temple Franklin, 29 August] 1784
To William Temple Franklin
ALS: Seth Kaller, Inc., White Plains, New York (2006)
Passy, Aug. 29.[—September 1,] 1784.—
Dear Child,
I received last Night your Letter from Calais,6 and was glad to hear you were so far safe.—
When I liv’d in London, there was a Letter-founder of the Name of Moore who liv’d somewhere near Moorfields. He made Printing-Presses of a new Construction, which I lik’d much, and bought one for Lord le Despencer.7 I have undertaken to procure one for a Friend here,8 and desire you would buy it, & send it to Calais by the Stage from London first to Dover; or, which is better, by some Vessel to Rouen.— That which I bought cost I think but 5 Guineas: perhaps they may now be cheaper.—
M. le Veillard is better, & gets up.— I think I am better too. I din’d yesterday at Auteuil with Mr. Adams. Made. Helvetius took me there in her Coach, & Mr Hartley brought me home; and I suffer’d no Inconvenience.9
Aug. 30. I intended this for the Post of this Day, but have been prevented.— I shall try to write some others to send with it by Mr Hartley’s Courier on Thursday—
Bring with you two or three small Pencils, black Lead, for my Pencil Case. They must not be bigger in Diameter than this Circle 
I am ever Your affectionate Grandfather
B Franklin
Sept. 1. I have not had time to write any other Letters, the Commrs. meeting every Day at my House—
All well.— M. Le Veillard excepted; but he is better.—
WT.F.—
Notation: B. Franklin 29. Apl. 1784.
6. Above, Aug. 25.
7. In 1771 the typefounder Isaac Moore patented, with his partner William Pine, a lever-and-fulcrum press and a screw press with a detachable fly weight. It is not known which of these BF bought for Baron Le Despencer (Sir Francis Dashwood). Moore established himself in Bristol, but by 1768 he was operating in Upper Moorfields, on the outskirts of London, and subsequently moved to Drury Lane. He died in the spring of 1781: Talbot B. Reed, A History of the Old English Letter Foundries …, ed. A. F. Johnson (London, 1952), pp. 298–301; Patents for Inventions. Abridgments of Specifications relating to Printing … (London, 1859), p. 88; James Moran, Printing Presses: History and Development from the Fifteenth Century to Modern Times (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1973), pp. 40, 74, 229, 230; Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser, June 2, 1781.
8. Anisson fils; see his letter of Nov. 8 and BF’s reply of Nov. 10.
9. According to Abigail Adams’ journal, the dinner hosted by her father on Aug. 28 also included John Paul Jones and “the three abbés”—Arnoux, Chalut, and Mably. BF invited the Adams family to dine at Passy on Sept. 1. On that day, Abigail noted the guests as “a number of gentlemen, and Madame Helvetius,” a woman of whom she disapproved: [Caroline A. Smith de Windt, ed.], Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams … (2 vols., New York and London, 1841–42), 1, 17; Taylor, J. Q. Adams Diary, 1, 210.