THE WRITINGS OF WILLIAM PENN.
An interesting announcement has been made by Albert Cook Myers, of Moylan, Pa., concerning a plan for the publication of the complete works of William Penn. It is noteworthy that there is no edition of Penn’s works which is nearly complete. The fullest edition, that of 1726, is difficult to obtain. The later editions of 1771, 1782 and 1823 contain but a small portion of his works. Yet even the first edition contains but twenty per cent. of the works which were published during Penn’s lifetime. Of the eleven hundred known letters of Penn only one hundred and twenty-five have ever been printed. The aim of Mr. Myers is to obtain a guarantee from members of the Society of Friends and others of a fund amounting to $18,000, which will be sufficient to defray the expense incident to making such a collection. A committee of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has been appointed to co-operate with Mr. Myers in this publication. The committee includes Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, William Brooke Rawle, Charlemagne Tower, John Bach McMaster, Isaac Sharpless, William I. Hull, and William Penn-Gaskell Hall. Persons willing to assist in this work either by the contribution of funds or by the loaning of manuscripts are requested to correspond with Mr. Myers.