On November 8, 1739, the Gazette noted the arrival in Philadelphia of a young evangelist. The Reverend George Whitefield, a 25-year-old Anglican priest, was preaching his way from Rhode Island to Georgia, everywhere drawing unprecedented crowds. His fire-and-brimstone sermons were igniting a religious revival movement that would shake the political and social foundations of the mainland British colonies while at the same time greatly enhancing Franklin's fortune.

Whitefield had arrived in colonial America from Great Britain already so popular that few churches could safely accommodate his legion of listeners.

The normally tightfisted Franklin attended one of Whitefield's Philadelphia sermons. In his autobiography, Franklin recalled that he was well aware beforehand of the evangelist's mission to raise funds to build an orphanage in Georgia:

Franklin recognized a business opportunity, and printer and preacher met before Whitefield concluded his first visit to Philadelphia. Together, the two men forged a mutually beneficial publishing partnership.

The itinerant evangelist went off preaching all the way to Georgia while Franklin rushed to publish his sermons. In addition, Franklin contracted to publish American editions of Whitefield's Journals and Sermons, as well as any other books he would write in America.

In November 1739, Franklin announced in the Gazette his first printing of the Whitefield sermons. Within days, orders for 200 complete sets poured in. Whitefield's style, a blend of autobiography, Christian discourse and travelogue written in plain English, proved an instant success. Soon Franklin was shipping boxes of the books up and down the Atlantic Coast and deep into the hinterland to general stores, bookstores and print shops. Between 1739 and 1741, Franklin printed 110 Whitefield titles.

The profits from Franklin's association with the evangelist outstripped those from his own bestselling Almanack. In 1740 alone, the sales of Whitefield's writings and printed sermons accounted for 30% of all works published in America.

To read the complete issue, see:
https://fhmagazine.org/financial-history-140-winter-2022/0575201001647345652

For more information on the Museum of American Finance, see:
https://www.moaf.org/