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Show lhat Great American Institution the ALMANAC It was the undisputed "best seller" of its time ! Thomas ' and, according to his biographer, Bernard Fay,' mjf ff the old 'iSSSJl almanac ) Vfgfff In "Franklin, The Apostle of Modern Times" dlsfci. Sgsg, a gBM prophecy and, much to Franklin's delight, played (Little, Brown and Company), it "was the pivot k&3iSlJ sss SllSsS into his rival's hands by answering him. It was of his commercial success and of his popularity Is Cent the Dest sort of advertising for the new venture in America." The lodge, the Junto, the library, ' 3) I and Franklin took care to keep the controversy By ELMO SCOTT WATSON tmmm OT the least of the reasons for re- I T" membering the man whose birthday J 11 we celebrate on January 17 is that he gave us that veritable American freraEj Institution the almanac. Although Ehaya "B. Franklin, Printer" was not the first of his Ink-stained tribe to ls- IlilllP s'"' ""' "' these little oooks In this I TV ft r country, his "Poor Richard's Alma- I'WftJp "" u ' -SGt the stvle for innumerable I CTSs( Imitators and successors and it had mMHUmtm a record which makes it unique among such publications. Franklin started it in 1733, published it annually for 35 years and often sold as many as 10.000 copies each year. It was the undisputed "best seller" of its time, and, according to his biographer, Bernard Fay,' In "Franklin, The Apostle of Modern Times" (Little, Brown and Company), it "was the pivot of his commercial success and of his popularity in America." The lodge, the Junto, the library, had only a local influence, but the almanac was sent all over the country. Although only a very few persons owned libraries In Eighteenth-century America, every one possessed two books, the Bible and the almanac. The former told you what to worship and what to do and the latter, wh,en and how. The almanac was the guide to both the country and the city people. Neither poor nor rich could do without it. . . "This almanac carried the name and ideas of Franklin everywhere. He had expressly written this book to present his Ideas in a bold and lively manner, the same ideas he expressed se- prophecy and, much to Franklin's delight, played into his rival's hands by answering him. It was the best sort of advertising for the new venture and Franklin took care to keep the controversy alive. It lasted for eight years and ended only when Leeds did finally die. But by that time "Poor Richard's Almanac" was well started on the road to the amazing success which it enjoyed en-joyed for the next quarter of a century. Begun as a 24-page booklet and sold at three shillings, six-pence per dozen (seven cents a copy), after 1747 it was increased to 30 pages, decorated with pretty wood-cuts, given a "more and more elegant tone" and called "Poor Richard's Rich-ard's Improved." Since the price was not Increased In-creased even with these improvements, Franklin's Frank-lin's little book defied all competition and it is 1. Cover of the first issue of Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack." 2. Frontispiece of the Pennsylvania German almanac issued in 1779 by Francis Bailey at Lancaster, Pa., which is said to contain the first reference to Washington as "The Father of His Country." 3. Cover of "The Old Farmer's Almanac," established by Robert B. Thomas in 1792, and still issued annually. not to be wondered at that it sold as many as 10,000 copies annually. Of course, it had plenty of imitators a veritable veri-table host of "Poor Joseph's," "Poor Will's" "Poor Tom's," "Poor Job's," "Poor Roger's" and 'Poor Thomas's." One almanac publisher of Philadelphia called his book "Abraham Weather wise" and a New York printer brought out a book called "Copernicus Weatherguesser." One of these early almanacs deserves lasting fame if for no other reason than that it was the first 5 ?bi"p glve currecy to Washington's title of 'The Father of His Country." in 1779 an almanac, published in German and Issued bv Francis Bailey In Lancaster, Pa., appeared with a frontispiece printed from a crude wood-cut. In which were deputed several symbolic figures In the upper left-hand corner of the drawing was shown Fame as an angel, bearing in one hand a medallion of Washington with a laurel wreath upon his head and in the other a trumpet from which comes the words "De Landes Vater" (The Father of His Country) Although almanacs increased in number dur-ng dur-ng the early days of the republic, many of them passed out of existence after a brief career because better educational facilities and a more widespread scientific knowledge made the com mon people less dependent upon the almanac as a source of informn tir.n . ,u,luac "s cretiy at the lodge or the Junto, or slipped into his newspaper in phrases of double meaning. . . . What Franklin didn't dare say, the good fellow, Poor Richard, said for him. His argumentative argu-mentative instinct, which dominated his newspaper, news-paper, was so obvious that it would have been dangerous to publish biting criticism on institutions institu-tions and the Church, but he gave it free rein in his almanac. . . . Here in this vulgar environ, ment, under the cloak of joking and ribaldry, the good man could speak his mind. The international inter-national vogue of this little book cannot be attributed to any other thing." Although Franklin's is perhaps the most famous fa-mous almanac the world has ever known, he was not, of course, the originator of this form of literature. Almanacs of one sort or another date back to the earliest civilization. Both the Greeks and the Romans are said to have had them and there are records of their use during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries. In 1664 a group of London wags, chief among them Robert Herrick, the poet, issued "Poor Robin's Rob-in's Almanack," a burlesque on the astrological almanacs, filled with clever ridicule and some very broad jokes. Such an almanac was an immediate im-mediate hit and, although Herrick tired of it after a few years, its publishers kept it going for more than a century and a half. As will be seen later, "Poor Robin" was to have an important bearing on American almanacs. Despite "Poor Robin's" popularity, it did not materially affect the fortunes of the old-style astrological almanac and by the end of the Seventeenth century there were at least a dozen of them being published in Great Britain One of them, "Merlinus Liberatus," started by John Partridge in 1680, prospered for nearly 30 years Then a most unusual fate overtook it In 1708 Dean Swift, the savage satirist, wrote a solemn "prediction" that Partridge would die on August 29 and on August 30 he followed this up by publishing a statement that, true to the prediction, predic-tion, Partridge had indeed died. Even the astrologer's publishers accepted the statement as true. In vain, Partridge protested tha he was very much alive. But Swift came back at him with a long and laudatory obituary . Poor Partridge was so harassed by the task of convincing people he had not died and would continue issuing his almanac that eventually he gave up in despair and suspended Its publication ! Meanwhile, over across the Atlantic, the English Eng-lish colonists were seeing the beginnings of what was to become an important American institution. institu-tion. According to some authorities, the first American almanac came from the printing press at Harvard college in 1639. With that Puritan ical background, naturally it was a strictly seri ous affair, as were others issued in various places In New England soon thereafter. Thev contained mainly astronomical calculations and scientific items. However, in 1087, John Tully of Saybrook Conn., issued a mildly humorous almanac which was only fairly successful because the seriou minded New Engenders doubted its use u ness More sa isfactory to them was the Ames Alma nac first issued in 1726 by Dr. Nathanie Ames He had an inquiring mind, an interest in scTen t l ie matters and some skill in writing poetry all of which were reflected In the almanac wh ch v ? he, and his son after him, issued for nearly 50 years. But real almanac history in America begins with Benjamin Franklin. During his visit to London (1724-25) he had noticed the large sale of these little books, had enjoyed equally the wit of "Poor Robin's Almanack" and the wise maxims max-ims of "The English Apollo," a serious and literary lit-erary almanac issued by a certain Richard Saunders. Saun-ders. So when he returned to America and founded his own printing shop in Philadelphia, he had his partner, Thomas Godfrey, write an almanac which he published for three years from 1729 to 1731. He also printed an almanac for J. Jermann and imported copies of "Poor Robin" from England to sell in his print shop which was also a book store. "To economize on the expense of a writer-thirty writer-thirty pounds sterling was the price in general-he general-he decided to write one himself, thus adding the material and moral profits of an author to the gains of a printer," says Fay. In deciding upon a name for his book he "borrowed" from two English almanacs which had Impressed him most -"Poor Robin" and "Richard Saunders" and the result was a little volume which bore this pretentious title: "Poor Richard, 1793. An almanack for the year of Christ 1733, being the first after Leap-year, Leap-year, wherein is contained the Lunations Eclipses, Judgment of the Weather, Spring Tides Planets Motions and Mutual Aspects, Sun and Moon's Rising and Setting, Length of Davs Times of High Water, Fairs, Courts and observ-' able Days. Fitted to the Latitude of forty degrees de-grees and a meridian of five hours West from London, but may without sensible Error serve all the adjacent places, even from Newfoundland to South Carolina. By Richard Saunders Philom Philadelphia. Printed and sold by Benjamin ranklin at the New Printing Oflice near the -Market. The almanac had a promising start, for says I' ay, "Franklin gave his verve free rein Rude picturesque and rich In humor, his almanac described the life and preoccupations of the American colonies in raw colors and bold strokes It was an adequate expression of this country where the people worked hard and economized penny by penny, where the great happening of the year were the snow In December, the freezing weather in January, the harvests of September and an occasional daring joke on the minister' when his back was turned." He further guaranteed the success 01 his ven ture by a typical Franklin "stunt." In startin-his startin-his almanac he was entering into competition h another Pennsylvania almanac-publisher, Titan Leeds, who had succeeded his father Dan iel Leeds. Remembering Dean Swift's prediction predic-tion of the death of unlucky John Partridge I-ranklin in announcing the forthcoming almanac iu his newspaper, the Gazette, Included in its contents a "Prediction of the Death of his Friend Mr. Titan Leeds," which "the stars had made known to him beyond a doubt, and Mr. u knows t very well, too." This was the reason why "Poor Richard" who was not rich and had IraSn takCn "epentod,sr Ol course, Leeds was furious at una gruesome 1 ,M- UlrQ is onp stir. vivor of the colonial tradition which has had an unbroken existence of more than 140 years and which is today the nearest approach we have to "Poor Richard's Almanac." That is "the Old Farmer's Almanac," established in 179' v Rober Bailey Thomas, who was said to have resembled Frank.in in "the profession and niac tlce of a certain homely philosophy of life Franklin, to be sure, was a genius Tand Thomas was simply a man of talent who knew how to make the most of the talents he had " "The Farmer's Almanac" was the first to ev- zodiac "governed" an organ or nart nf , 1 V&STl " C",y t0 tre;,t any . or T2K& or n'TetwTn1 2nZ thei "? the zodiac fell into disrepute 'and tile I'?" "cun a mug iirigs ock smi 11,., , -landed their time-honored t manac-makers (until the Farmers appears "d) eon wraptr-'0 the "moon,a -fts lOngland home (It has c W , uio 7" " NeW 250000) where the eomlnt ofTe UUeTeSw backed book at the beginning of each I an event to be ied forward to T Uesign has remained but little changed u T the years. It bears the , J- ' ' Robert Thomas, displayed In , 'r I '''''' "'lt of na!',y"r Wblted, and the familiar plcturea o haying, harvesting ami water, ng ,e t , ! ozen watering (rough, are shown , , " by Woslern Now.papur Union. |