Bickerstaff's genuine Boston almanack or Federal calendar, for 1793. ..
Edition: Third edition.
Series: Early American imprints -- no. 46388
Publisher: Printed by E. Russell, cheap to travelling-traders and others.
Published: 1792
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 24
Notes: Title vignette, with edition statement printed vertically at its left.

In this edition, as is the second, the contents of p. [3] are changed in part from those in the first. The contents of p. [24], replaced in the second edition, have been restored as in the first. On p. [23] the list of roads to Bedford has been replaced by those to Newport and Providence, which had been introduced on p. [24] of the second edition. Other material displaced in the changes is inserted on p. [6-8].

The Bickerstaff almanacs published by Russell for the years 1783-1793 are attributed to Benjamin West by Evans, the Dictionary of American biography, and C.L. Nichols, Notes on the almanacs of Massachusetts (1912). The attribution is traditional, because of West's association with the Bickerstaff pseudonym; but most of these issues can be shown to be the probable work of other calculators.

The present almanac is not in the style of Wests's earlier productions, including those in this series for 1786-88. The phases of the moon are included among the astronomical notes in the third column on the calendar pages, rather than being grouped in a table at the top as was usual in almanacs. The pages for Feb. and May include calculations for the southing of "Yd. L." (Yard and Ell, or the belt of Orion). The Yard, common in almanacs by Mass. calculators, is never found in those of West. The calculator of the present almanac cannot be identified.

Signatures: [A]⁴ B-C⁴ (signature letter B preceded by "Bickerstaff, 1793.")

Advertisement, p. [24].

Bristol B7933

Shipton & Mooney 46388

Drake, M. Almanacs, 3490