How Benjamin Franklin's subscription library worked

Benjamin Franklin helped create a shared subscription library

Benjamin Franklin’s subscription library idea pooled members’ money to buy books that everyone could use. It created the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731 instead of requiring each person to own an entire collection.

Paper reached Samarkand before the battle said to have brought it there

A traditional story says Chinese prisoners brought papermaking to Central Asia after the Battle of Talas in 751. But archaeologists have found paper in Samarkand from decades earlier. Chinese and Central Asian paper was also made with different materials and methods.

French and Latin supplied over half of English words

About 56%

French and Latin supplied about 56 per cent of Modern English words. Yet English kept Germanic grammar and sound patterns, along with most of its basic everyday words. A language’s words can therefore come largely from one source while its structure and common vocabulary come from another.

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How Benjamin Franklin's subscription library worked

Benjamin Franklin helped create a shared subscription library

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