The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-01-18

record WHICH NakSS
among such publications. Franklin started Il n
17S3, published Il annually for IS years and
often sold Is many ss 10000 copies each year.
Il vas the uodispu1ed best seller" Of It's tine,
and. according 70 his biogrspher, Bernard Fay,
IN Franklin, The Apostle Of Modern Times"
little, Brown and Company, II was the pivot
Of his commercial success and OF his popularity
n America" The lodge the Juuto, the library,
had only local influence but the almanac vas
sent al over the country. Although only very
few persons owned Libraries in Eghtesnth-cen-
TRY America. every one possessed rwo books,
me Bible and the almanac The former told you
what 70 worship and what 10 do and the latter,
when and how The almanac was the guide 70
both the country and the city people Neither
poor nor rich could do without Il -
This almanac carried the name and ideas Of
Franklin everywhere He had expressly written
this book 70 present his ideas In q bold and
lively manner, the same ideas he expressed Sc
cretIy n the lodge or the Junto. or slipped into
his newspaper n phrases Of double meaning.
-. What Franklin didn't dare say, the good
fellow, Poor Richard, said for him His argp-
Dentative instinct which dominated his news
paper, was SO obvious that II would have been
dangerous 70 publish biting criticism fnsLru-
lions and the Church, but he gave IL free rein
q his almanac =. Here N this vulgar environ
neut under the cloak of joking and ribaldry,
LoS goOQ L1GC cODl1 SPEAK MS NINA Inc inter-
national vogue Of this little book cannot be
attributed 20 any other thing No doubt, Frank
Lin introduced new and original elements which
prolonged the favor Of the public but IN the
beginning II was the bold tone he assumed
which Won him the appreciation Of the shrewd
American farmers, scattered over their solitary
farms and On the borders Of virgin forests
at began its conquest among the lowly and
humble but II ended by conquering the edu-
Gated world-a unique fact in the Eighteenth
century. Then, too. il presented character for
whom the world had been waiting, q character
difficult 70 define: q Straightforward man who
could do good without being embarrassed or
forced, and who az the same time could yet
make bargain"
Although FrRnkHns is perhaps the most IA
nous almanac the world has ever known he
WIS not Of course the originator Of This form
Of literature Alnanacs Of one sort OF another
date back 10 the earliest civilization Both the
Greeks and the Romans said TO have had
them and there are records Of their use during
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries. Il Is
believed that Purbach. the astronomer, pub
Eshed the first printed almanac IN 1850 Three
or four decades later Johannes Muller the Ger
man mathematician and astronomer, was max
ing considerable money printing them for sea
captains In fact that daring Genoese, Christie
pher Columbus, is said 70 have paid ten gold
c-CWLS Tor one OF MLQSr Eln2lHcS before SG1l-
ing westward across the Sea Of Mystery"
In 1893 Guy Marchant who had print shop
IN the Rue St Jacques In Paris had a bright
idea The Germans had printed almanacs for
scholars He would print one for the common
people. The result was The Kalendar and Com
post OF Shepherds" designed primarily for
shepherds and farmers but handy volume
which anyone could use The book was fmme-
diatsly popular and within q few years every
printer IN Europe was publishing Msrchants
-kalendsr," there being no copyright laws 70
prevent 'pi-zring"
Since the Sixteenth century was q time Of
Increasing political discussion the almanac max
ers went IN heavily for political predictions
which they called judicial astrology." In 1850
the French asrrologer, Noscradanus. started an
almanac n which one Of his sayings was inter-
preted rs foreteIIng the death Of King Henry Il
Alarmed a. such occurrence, King Henry II
issued edict in 1873 which prohibited alma
nac-nakers from printing prophecies about gov
ernmentRl matters
II 1864 group OF London ways chief among
them Robert Hs-rick, the poet issued poor Rob
ms A1manack" burlesque the astrological
elranacs, filed with clever ridicule and some
very broad jokes. Such an almanac WIS an i'm
mediate hit and, although Herick tired Of IL
after few years IFS publishers kept II going
for more than century and half As VIII
be seen later, Poor Robin" was 10 have an
important bearing On almanac history in Amer
lea
Despite Poor Robins" popularity II did not
materially affect the fortunes OF the old-sryle
astrological almanac and by the end Of the
Seventeenth century there were 81 least q dozen
Of them being published In Great Britain One
of them, ~Merifnus Liberatrss started by John
Partridge in 1850 prospered for nearly 30 years
Then q most unusual tate overlook Il In 170s