Show th that at Great American institution the ALMANAC A poor richard 17 ardna warel AN t al 1 almana almanacs Al manack 41 17 3 31 mig bats a the first anra aart fan LF YEAR 0 wv f if 11 U iff II 11 1 Ls lift owns is crt c rt r W tf jaaj B w it JIM if n cf ik arafat sm od mi aji 4 51 0 f II 11 awn lifto lat far T tm kai t cart ud kraw kr rW t fillad to the of forty i I 1 wm of F hw wd M janiw acm 11 II 1 d ftc ax nur MK HH arco u cov C iRS it I 1 L A 0 E I 1 maw 3 IK bikih ay w tk mat 4 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON OT the least of 0 the reasons for le ic mem bering the man whose birthday N we celebrate on january 17 Is that he gave us that veritable american ITT institution the almanac although ID C franklin printer was not the first of his ink stained tribe to issue one of these little books in this country his poor richards alma nack set the style for innumerable imitators and successors and it had a record which makes it unique among such publications franklin started it in 1733 published it annually tor for 35 years and often sold as many as copies each year it was the undisputed best seller of its time and according to his biographer bernard fay i in Tr franklin anklin the apostle of modern times little brown and company it was the pivot of his commercial success and of his bis 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 cen wry tury america every one possessed two books the bible and the almanac al manse the former told you what to worship and what to do and the latter when 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 rr franklin anklin everywhere lie ile had expressly written this book to present his ideas in a bold and lively manner the same ideas he expressed secretly at the lodge or the junto or slipped into his newspaper in phrases of double meaning what franklin dare say the good fellow poor richard said for him nis ills ar argumentative n menta tive instinct which dominated his newspaper was so obvious that it would have been dangerous to publish biting criticism on institutions and the church but he gave it tree free rein in his alm almanac nac here in this vulgar environment under the cloak of joking and ribaldry the good man could speak his mind the international vogue of this little book cannot be attributed to any other thing although franklins Is perhaps the most famous almanac the world has ever known he be 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 bad them hem 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 Herr lck the poet issued poor robins Al manack a burlesque on the as astrological prolog ical almanacs filled with clever ridicule and some very broad jokes such an almanac was an immediate ined late 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 robins 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 merrinus Merll Mer linus nus liberatus started by jolin joh n partridge in prospered tor for nearly 30 years then acost unusual fate overtook it IL 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 partridge had indeed died een ei en the astrologers publishers accepted the statement as true in vain partridge protested that 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 be had not cot died and would continue issuing his almanac that eventually he be gave up in despair and suspended its publication I 1 meanwhile over across the atlantic the english colonists were seeing the beginnings of what was to become an important american institution according to some authorities the first american almanac came from the printing press at harvard college in 1030 with that puritanical background naturally it was a strictly serious affair as were others issued in various places in new england soon thereafter they contained mainly astronomical calculations and scientific items however in john tully of saybrook conn issued a mildly humorous almanac which was only fairly successful because the merlou minded new englanders doubted its usefulness more satisfactory to them was the ames almanac first issued in 1720 1726 by dr nathaniel ames lie ile had an inquiring mind an interest in matters and some skill in writing poetry all of which were reflected in the almanac which i P IF dy ma bla Z ars price 15 cents 1 cover of the first issue of franklins poor richards Al manack 11 Z 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 farmers almanac established by robert B thomas in 1792 and still issued annually he and his bis son after him issued for nearly BO 50 years but real almanac history in america begins with benjamin franklin during his bis visit to london 1724 25 he had bad noticed the large sale of these little books had enjoyed equally the wit of poor robins Al manack and the wise maxims of the english apollo a serious and literary almanac issued by a certain richard saunders so when he be 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 tor for J jermann and imported copies of poor robin from england to sell in lis his print shop which was also a book store to economize on the expense of a writer thirty pounds sterling was the price in general he decided to write one himself thus adding the material and moral profits of an author to the galas gains 0 of a printer says fay in deciding upon a name for his book he be 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 al manack for the year of christ 1733 being the first after leap year wherein Is contained the Lu nations eclipses judgment of the weather spring tides planets motions and mutual aspects sun and moons rising and setting length of days times of high water fairs courts and observable days fitted to the latitude of forty degrees 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 Ric liard saunders philom philadelphia printed bad and sold by benjamin franklin at the new printing loftlee near the market the almanac had a promising start for says fay 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 rukes st it was an adequate of this country where the people worked hard and economized penny by penny where the great happenings of the year were the snow enow in december the freezing weather neather in january the harvests of september and an occasional daran daring joke on the minister when his back was turned ue ile further guaranteed the success oi his venture by a typical franklin stunt in ID starting his bis almanac he be was entering into competition with another pennsylvania almanac publisher titan leeds who ho had succeeded his father daniel leeds ikeda remembering dean swifts prediction of the death of unlucky john partridge franklin in announcing the forthcoming almanac lit in his newspaper the gazette included la 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 leeds knows it very well too this was the reason why poor richard who was not rich and had bad to make a living had taken up the pen to issue an almanac il manac manae oi 0 course leeds was furious al ai luis giu esome N B prophecy and much to franklins delight played into his bis rivals hands by answering him it was the best sort of 0 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 cut but by that time poor richards almanac was well started on the road to the amazan amazing success which it enjoyed for the next quarter of a century begun as a 21 24 page booklet and sold at three shillings sixpence six pence per dozen seven cents a copy after 1747 it was increased to 30 pages page decorated with pretty wood cuts given a more and more elegant tone and called poor richards Jui improved proved since the price was not increased even with these improvements franklins little book defied all competition and it I 1 Is not to be wondered at that it sold as many as copies annually of course it had plenty of imitators a veritable host of poor josephs poor wills poor toms poor jobs poor rogers and poor thomass one almanac publisher of philadelphia called his book abraham weather wise and a new york printer brought out a book called copernicus Weather guesser one of these early almanacs deserves lasting fame it if for no other reason than that it was the first publication to give currency to tons title of the father of ills country IZ in 1779 an almanac published in german and issued by francis bailey in lancaster pa appeared with a frontispiece printed from a crude woodcut wood cut in which were depleted depicted several symbolic figures in the upper lefthand left hand haud corner of the drawing was shown faroe fame as an angel bearing in one band a medallion of washington with a laurel wreath upon his head and in the other a trumpet from which comes the words des landes vater the father of uis his country although almanacs increased la in number during 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 common people less dependent upon the almanac as a source of information but there Is one survivor of the colonial tradition which has had an unbroken existence of more inore than years and which Is today the nearest approach we have to poor richards almanac that Is the old farmers almanac established in 1792 1702 by robert ealley bailey thomas who was said to have resembled franklin in the profession and practice of a certain homely philosophy of life franklin to be sure was a genius and thomas was simply a man of talent who knew how to make the most of the talents lie he had the farmers almanac was the first to exclude fro from in its pages the man of signs or the moons man the figure of anatomy that hitherto adorned all almanacs each sign of the zodiac governed an organ or part or of the body and in selecting a day to treat any aliment ailment or to let blood it was necessary to kii know ow whether or not the moon was in that sign As time went on the theory of the close relation between mans body and the signs of the zodiac fell into disrepute and the anatomy became a laughingstock still the people demanded their time honored monstrosity and al manae manac makers until the farmers appeared continued to include the moons man but often with apology published in boston the old farmers almanac Is still a family bible in many a new england home it lias has a cicula circulation tiOn of more than where the coining of the little yellow backed book at the beginning of each year la is an event to he be looked forward to the cover design has remained but latte changed change through the years it bears the portrait of its founder robert thomas displayed in an arabesque opposite that of benjamin franklin similarly exhibited hibi ted and tho the familiar liar pictures of plowing haying baying lia resting and watering the stock at a frozen watering trough are sho shonn n in th to represent the four seasons just as they havo have for generations 0 by western newspaper union |