NachlassbibliothekFrancis Hopkinson

Will; original in Philadelphia County, PA Probate Records (dated 13 August 1790); published in George Everett Hastings, The Life and Works of Francis Hopkinson, Univ. of Chicago Press, (1926), p. 450

Music books listed in Oscar G.T. Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson: The First American Poet-Composer (1737-1791), Da Capo Press, (1967), pp. 31-34.

Extant copies (University of Pennsylvania; use phrase "PRO Hopkinson, Francis")

Assorted auction lots, &c.

Caroline Richards; "An Eighteenth Century Music Collection." University of Pennsylvania Masters Thesis (1964)

Will: "I give to my Son Joseph all my Books, Manuscripts and Philosophical Apparatus. And also the sum of One hundred and fifty Pounds towards purchasing a Law Library."

Andrew Baxter, Matho. London, (1765). Signed by Hopkinson on title page; bookmarks laid in. Auction record eBay auction lot for same

William Haley, Plays of three acts: written for a private theatre. London, (1784). "Period calf, covers worn and detached, last signature loose, lacks front endpaper, minor chipping to prelim page, otherwise good; signed by Francis Hopkinson, designer of American flag and signer of Declaration of Independence. John K. King 71-115 1994 $395.00." BPI 48:807. Listed similarly in BPI 58:924 at same price. Listed in Brick Row Book Shop Catalog 149 (Fall 2007) for $2,500, noting "Signed at top of title-page ... (“F.Hopkinson”)."

From Charles Goodrich, Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1829): "He possessed a library, which contained the most distinguished literary productions of the times; and in his library room was to be found a collection of scientific apparatus, with which he amused himself in his leisure hours, and added greatly to his stock of knowledge, The following anecdote furnishes evidence of the estimation in which he was held, as a philosopher, and a man of letters. Sometime during the revolutionary war, Bordentown, the place where Mr. Hopkinson and family resided, was suddenly invaded by a party of Hessians. The family had hardly time, to escape before the invaders began the plunder of the house. After the evacuation of Philadelphia, by the British, a volume, which had been taken from the library of Mr. Hopkinson, at the above period, fell into his hands. On a blank leaf, the officer, who took the book, had written in German an acknowledgment of the theft, declaring that although be believed Mr. Hopkinson to be an obstinate rebel, the books, and philosophical apparatus of his library were sufficient evidence, that he was a learned man."