Evening star., 1937-01-23

THE first printed almanac was
issued in Vienna, In 1457, by an
astronomer named Purbach. One of
his pupils, Regiomontanus, went him
one better and produced the first
volume to give astronomical informa-
ton for 81 years in advance.
Rabelais Is said to have brought
out the first almanac devoted to the
year Of issue. in 1888. 1t was this
volume that definitely established the
publication.
The fashion Of Incorporating predic-
tions OF coming events into almsnacs,
which was frowned on by many
Old World authorities, was started
by Nostradamus. In publication of
l774 the "Almanach Liegeois" earned
undying fame by predicting that in
April of that year royal favorite
would play her last part. Nine. du
Barry worried greatly over this proph-
ecy, assuming that she was the person
intended, and, as a matter of fact
toward the end Of April Louis XIV
contracted the illness from which he
died, so that the career Of the iavor;te
was started toward its close in that
month.
Throughout this period almanacs
were said to have been, for the most
part, horrible examples of ignorance,
superstition and coarse humor. that
were put over" on the guileieSs
public In shameless quantity Dis
gusted with the situation. nnally. the
Society for the Diffusion of Knowl-
edge, in England. brought out in the
year ITS, The British Almanac
which became the parent of all the
scholarly and respectable publications
today.
1T IS said that in Colonial America,
where good books were few and
far between, the almanac assumed its
most important role. 1t was the lit
erary event of every year, and shared
honors with the family Bible in each
household. Its weather predictions
were gravely consulted on all occa-
sions and its jokes and anecdotes
formed the only comedy relief avail
able to those early settlers.
The first American almanac was
printed by Stephen Daye at Cambridge,
Mass, in 1899, under the title AN
Almanac Calculated for New England,
by Mr. William Pierce. Mariner" The
earliest almanac in Boston was con-
piled by John Foster in 1876; in New
York by John Clapp in 1887: in
Philadelphia by Samuel Aitkin in 1855.
This last was entitled "Kalendarium
PennSilviense.
The dear and familiar Poor Richard
Almanac" which Benjamin Franklin
first printed in 1923, was named more
or less for its older English contem-
porary, Poor Robins Almanac" The
terse proverbs and witty sayings in
Franklin's publication endeared it TO
every one. and it rapidly became tre-
mendously popular all over the COL
onies. There were many other in
teresting almanacs of the time, both
here and abroad, but there is not
enough space to mention all OF them.
China claims the Oldest almanac,
in their calendar, drawn up every
year from time immemorial by the
astronomers of Pekin. 1t contained
a complete record of the days and
months of the year, official matters,
festivals, lucky and unlucky days.
Transactions suitable for every day
were named, and information given
as to the best times for undertaking
new projects.
Truly magnificent history for
the almanac! Today it has gone en-
tirely over to the side Of dignity. ac-
curacy and information. AS such, it
is a terribly valuable piece of liter
ature. But I still miss the naive pre-
dictions, well-worn jokes and astound-
ing facts that we used to find in the
funny little ones at the village store!