The Franklin Affair - first US edition

by Jim Lehrer - signed

Reginald Raymond Taylor, PhD -- "R" to his friends is a Benjamin Franklin scholar who sits on a committee investigating plagiarism charges against another historian, who has in turn threatened to expose the committee members' own lapses in attribution. Exacerbating R's conflicted feelings is the questionable authorship of his beloved mentor's magnum opus. To top it off, he has received a cache of 18th-century documents that seem to incriminate Franklin in the murder of his illegitimate son's mother. The scholarly sleuthing procedural offers cover for Lehrer's temperate satire of academic rivalries, as he takes a stab at how historical imagination works. A slightly stiff academic thriller geared to history buffs, packed full of Franklin facts.

Book has beige boards quarter-bound in brown cloth, title printed in gold on the spine. Signed on the title page.