The Coolidge examiner., 1935-01-18

ID A.
$3.50 record which makes II unique
among such publications Franklin started Il In
I1g3 published Il annually FOR - years and
often sold as many 1000 copies each year.
I, was the undlsputed "bes, seller" OF It's time
and according TO his hiographer. Bernard Fay.
IN Franklin. The Apostle ~ Modern Times"
UAttle. Brown and Company Il was the plvo,
~ bis commercial success aud of bis popularity
IN America" The lodge. the Junto, the library,
had only local influence. bat the almanac vas
sent all over the country. Although only very
few persons owned Libraries In Elghteenth-cen.
tury America. every one possessed two books.
the Bible and the almanac. The former told you
what 10 worship and what 70 do and the latter.
when and how. The almanac was the guide 10
both the country and the city people Neither
poor nor rich could DO without H. ..
This almanac carried the name and ideas OF
Franklin everywhere. lie had expressly written
this book 20 present his ideas Ia bold and
lively manner. the same IDEAS he expressed Sc
cretly AZ 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 argu-
mentatiye instinct. which dominated his news
paper. was So obvious that II would have been
dangerous 20 publish biting criticism institu.
lions and the Church. but be gave IL 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 inter
national vogue Of this little book cannot be
attributed 20 any other thing"
Although Frankllns Is perhaps the most IN.
nous almanac the world has ever known be
was not. of course the originator OF this form
% literature. Almanacs Of one sort or another
date back 10 the earliest civilization. Both the
Greeks and the Romans are said 20 have had
49, asH nrtfa uff fhaEr fffr4u No
the Thirteenth and Fourteenth centuries
In 1854 a group of London wags chief among
them Robert Herrick. the poet, issued Poor Rob
ms Almanack." burlcsque the astrological
almanacs. filed with clever ridcule and some
very broad jokes such an almanac was an I'm
mediate hit and. although Herrick tired OF II
after few years, its publishers kept II going
for more than century and half AS win
BE- seen later, Poor Robin" was to have an
important bearing on American almanacs
Despite Poor Robins" popularity. II did not
materially affect the fortunes OF the old.style
astrological almanac and by the end OF the
Seventeenth century there we're al least dozen
81 them being published In Great Britain. one
OF them. -Merllnus Llberatus~ started by John
Partridge In 1850. prospered for nearly 30 years
Then most unusual fate overlook IL In l70S
Dean Swift the savage satlrist wrote a solemn
prediction" that Partridge would die on August
- anu on AuElSk ot ne AbAiUWtl llls up uy
publishing a statement that. true TO the predic-
tlon Partridge had indeed died.
Even the astrologer's publishers accepted the
statement as true. In vain. Partridge protested
that he 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 Eng
llsh colonlsts were seeing the beginnings OF what
was to become an Important American institu-
ton According 10 some authorities, the first
American almanac came from the printing press
AZ Harvard college IN 1873. With that Puritan
lcal background. naturally IL a strictly seri.
Gus affair as were others issued In various
places In New England soon thereafter. They
contained mainly astronomical calculations and
scientific items
However. In 1857, John Tully OF Saybrook.
Conn Issued a mildly humorous almanac which
was only fairly successful because the serious
minded New Englanders doubted its usefulness
More satisfactory 10 them the Ames Alma
nae first issued In 1726 by DR.. Nathaniel Ames
He had an inquirIng mind. interest In scien-
tihc matters and some skin In writing poetry,
all OF which were reflected In the almanac which