Produced in the same print shop at the same time I was making my print, this image by Hartmut Austin is of a library or private study. Hartmut sees this library as a repository of remembered images. In the maze of lines that describe the books is the name “Ben”. A mostly self-taught individual, Franklin found in his youth that books were expensive and difficult to obtain. As an adult he helped found the first public library in America  (The Free Library of Philadelphia) out of a desire for civic improvement and to assist those much like himself who were yearning to learn. The name  “Ben” that appears in this print also refers to Hartmut’s young son (also named Benjamin). Here is the desire to place his son in the same world of  knowledge that so profoundly moved and inspired a young Franklin.
Kip Deeds

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