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Document Signed on printed receipt form. 1 page + docketing on verso. Approximately 8¾x7¾".

Called "the first American-born and American-trained architect", Asher Benjamin was certainly the most influential architectural writer in the United States before the Civil War. His Country Builder's Assistant, the first of his seven classic handbooks for architects and craftsmen appeared in 1797 and the last in 1843. Financially troubled throughout early life, unable to earn a living from his architectural work and writings, especially after the largest building in Boston, which he had designed, was linked to a financial swindle, Benjamin opened a building-supply store in Boston in 1810. He ran the business for 14 years, supporting his family by selling paints, brushes and glass to the building trades - until he went bankrupt in 1824, two years after he signed this receipt for a glass shipment. Not until his last years would Benjamin receive proper recognition for his enormous influence on generations of American architects. A very rare early American signature.