I found a job as a printer and saved enough money to return to Philadelphia in October 1726. There I worked for a time as a sales clerk but soon went back to Keimer's print shop.
In 1728, when I was 22, I started my own print shop with a partner, Hugh Meredith. The two of us published a weekly newspaper called The Pennsylvania Gazette. In 1730 I bought Meredith's share of the business.
I married Deborah Read, the daughter of my first landlady, in 1730. She was an uneducated woman who did not share my interest in books and science. She was devoted to me, however, and was a cheerful and thrifty wife. I had three children: Francis Folger, who died in childhood of smallpox; Sarah, who married a merchant; and William, who became governor of New…show more content… I was made official printer for Pennsylvania. By 1734 I was public printer for New Jersey and Delaware as well. Later I became Maryland's official printer.
My most popular publication was 'Poor Richard's Almanack', which first appeared in 1732. The 'Almanack' was a calendar and weather forecast for the year, and it contained amusing stories, jokes, and proverbs. The homely sayings, which I published under the pen name Richard Saunders, made me famous as a rustic philosopher. It was "Poor Richard" who said:
Early to bed, early to rise Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Other examples of Poor Richard's simple wisdom are: "Three may keep a secret if two of them are dead" and "Fish and visitors smell in three days." Soon 10,000 copies were sold every year.
Hard-working, I ignored my own advice about going to bed early. I taught myself several languages and was awake late every night studying English, French, and German scientific books. I enjoyed good conversation and in 1727 organized a debating club called the Junto, which in 1743 became the American Philosophical Society. The club was made up of young men interested in new ideas. Backed by this group, I started, in 1731, the first circulating library in
