Poor Richard's Almanack (sometimes Almanac) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold exceptionally well for a pamphlet published in the Thirteen Colonies; print runs reached 10,000 per year.[1]
Franklin, the American inventor, statesman, and accomplished publisher and printer, achieved success with Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacks were very popular books in colonial America, offering a mixture of seasonal weather forecasts, practical household hints, puzzles, and other amusements.[2]Poor Richard's Almanack was also popular for its extensive use of wordplay, and some of the witty phrases coined in the work survive in the contemporary American vernacular.[3][full citation needed]
History
A nineteenth-century print based on Poor Richard's Almanack, showing the author surrounded by twenty-four illustrations of many of his best-known sayings
On December 28, 1732, Benjamin Franklin announced in The Pennsylvania Gazette that he had just printed and published the first edition of The Poor Richard, by Richard Saunders, Philomath.[4] Franklin published the first Poor Richard's Almanack on December 28, 1732,[5][full citation needed] and continued to publish new editions for 25 years, bringing him much economic success and popularity. The almanack sold as many as 10,000 copies a year.[6] In 1735, upon the death of Franklin's brother, James, Franklin sent 500 copies of Poor Richard's to his widow for free, so that she could make money selling them.[5]
Contents
The Almanack contained the calendar, weather, poems, sayings and astronomical and astrological information that a typical almanac of the period would contain. Franklin also included the occasional mathematical exercise, and the Almanack from 1750 features an early example of demographics. It is chiefly remembered, however, for being a repository of Franklin's aphorisms and proverbs, many of which live on in American English. These maxims typically counsel thrift and courtesy, with a dash of cynicism.[7]
In the spaces that occurred between noted calendar days, Franklin included proverbial sentences about industry and frugality. Several of these sayings were borrowed from an earlier writer, Lord Halifax, many of whose aphorisms sprang from, "... [a] basic skepticism directed against the motives of men, manners, and the age."[8] In 1757, Franklin made a selection of these and prefixed them to the almanac as the address of an old man to the people attending an auction. This was later published as The Way to Wealth, and was popular in both America and England.[9]
Poor Richard
Franklin borrowed the name "Richard Saunders" from the seventeenth-century author of Rider's British Merlin, a popular London almanac which continued to be published throughout the eighteenth century. Franklin created the Poor Richard persona based in part on Jonathan Swift's pseudonymous character, "Isaac Bickerstaff". In a series of three letters in 1708 and 1709, known as the Bickerstaff papers, "Bickerstaff" predicted the imminent death of astrologer and almanac maker John Partridge. Franklin's Poor Richard, like Bickerstaff, claimed to be a philomath and astrologer and, like Bickerstaff, predicted the deaths of actual astrologers who wrote traditional almanacs. In the early editions of Poor Richard's Almanack, predicting and falsely reporting the deaths of these astrologers—much to their dismay—was something of a running joke. However, Franklin's endearing character of "Poor" Richard Saunders, along with his wife Bridget, was ultimately used to frame (if comically) what was intended as a serious resource that people would buy year after year. To that end, the satirical edge of Swift's character is largely absent in Poor Richard. Richard was presented as distinct from Franklin himself, occasionally referring to the latter as his printer.[10]
In later editions, the original Richard Saunders character gradually disappeared, replaced by a Poor Richard, who largely stood in for Franklin and his own practical scientific and business perspectives. By 1758, the original character was even more distant from the practical advice and proverbs of the almanac, which Franklin presented as coming from "Father Abraham," who in turn got his sayings from Poor Richard.[11]
Serialization
One of the appeals of the Almanack was that it contained various "news stories" in serial format, so that readers would purchase it year after year to find out what happened to the protagonists. One of the earliest of these was the "prediction" that the author's "good Friend and Fellow-Student, Mr. Titan Leeds" would die on October 17 of that year, followed by the rebuttal of Mr. Leeds himself that he would die, not on the 17th, but on October 26. Appealing to his readers, Franklin urged them to purchase the next year or two or three or four editions to show their support for his prediction. The following year, Franklin expressed his regret that he was too ill to learn whether he or Leeds was correct. Nevertheless, the ruse had its desired effect: people purchased the Almanack to find out who was correct.[12] (Later editions of the Almanack would claim that Leeds had died and that the person claiming to be Leeds was an impostor; Leeds, in fact, died in 1738, which prompted Franklin to applaud the supposed impostor for ending his ruse.)
Criticism
For some writers the content of the Almanack became inextricably linked with Franklin's character—and not always to favorable effect. Both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville caricatured the Almanack—and Franklin by extension—in their writings, while James Russell Lowell, reflecting on the public unveiling in Boston of a statue to honor Franklin, wrote:
... we shall find out that Franklin was born in Boston, and invented being struck with lightning and printing and the Franklin medal, and that he had to move to Philadelphia because great men were so plenty in Boston that he had no chance, and that he revenged himself on his native town by saddling it with the Franklin stove, and that he discovered the almanac, and that a penny saved is a penny lost, or something of the kind.[13]
The Almanack was also a reflection of the social norms and social mores of his times, rather than a philosophical document setting a path for new-freedoms, as the works of Franklin's contemporaries, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Thomas Paine were. Historian Howard Zinn offers, as an example, the adage "Let thy maidservant be faithful, strong, and homely" as indication of Franklin's belief in the legitimacy of controlling the sexual lives of servants for the economic benefit of their masters.[14]
At least one modern biographer has published the claim that Franklin "stole", not borrowed, the name of Richard Saunders from the deceased astrologer-doctor. Franklin also "borrowed—apparently without asking—and adapted the title of an almanac his brother James Franklin was publishing at Newport: Poor Robin's Almanack (itself appropriated from a seventeenth-century almanac published under the same title in London)".[15]
Cultural impact
Louis XVI of France gave a ship to John Paul Jones who renamed it after the Almanack's author—Bonhomme Richard, or "Goodman (that is, a polite title of address for a commoner who is not a member of the gentry) Richard" (the first of several US warships so named).[16] The Almanack was translated into Italian, along with the Pennsylvania State Constitution (which Franklin helped draft) at the establishment of the Cisalpine Republic.[17] It was also twice translated into French, reprinted in Great Britain in broadside for ease of posting, and was distributed by members of the clergy to poor parishioners. It was the first work of English literature to be translated into Slovene,[18] translated in 1812 by Janez Nepomuk Primic (1785–1823).[19]
The Almanack also had a strong cultural and economic impact in the years following publication. In Pennsylvania, changes in monetary policy in regard to foreign expenses were evident for years after the issuing of the Almanack. Later writers such as Noah Webster were inspired by the almanac, and it went on to influence other publications of this type such as the Old Farmer's Almanac.[20]
Sociologist Max Weber considered Poor Richard's Almanack and Franklin to reflect the "spirit of capitalism" in a form of "classical" purity." This is why he filled the pages of Chapter 2 of his 1905 book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism with illustrative quotations from Franklin's almanacks. [21]
Numerous farmer's almanacs trace their format and tradition to Poor Richard's Almanack; the Old Farmer's Almanac, for instance, has included a picture of Franklin on its cover since 1851.
Arch, Stephen Carl (July 1995). "Writing a Federalist self: Alexander Graydon's memoirs of a life". William and Mary Quarterly. 3rd Series. 52 (3). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 415–432. doi:10.2307/2947293. JSTOR2947293.
Dauer, Manning J. (August 1976). "The impact of the American independence and the American Constitution: 1776–1848; with a brief epilogue". The Journal of Politics. 38 (3). Cambridge University Press: 37–55. doi:10.2307/2129573. JSTOR2129573. S2CID154053226.
Hancock, David (Autumn 1998). "Commerce and conversation in the eighteenth-century Atlantic: The invention of Madeira wine". Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 29 (2): 197–219. doi:10.1162/002219598551670. S2CID143289729.
Franklin, Benjamin (2005). Lemay, J.A. Leo (ed.). Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard: Autobiography, Poor Richard, and Later Writings. New York: Library of America. ISBN1-883011-53-1.
Lena, Alberto (30 January 2003). "Poor Richard's Almanack". The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
Miles, Richard D. (Summer 1957). "The American image of Benjamin Franklin". American Quarterly. 9 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 117–143. doi:10.2307/2710628. JSTOR2710628.
Miller, C. William (1961). "Franklin's "Poor Richard Almanacs": Their Printing and Publication". Studies in Bibliography. 14. Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: 97–115. JSTOR40371300.
Mulder, William (December 1979). "Seeing 'New Englandly': Planes of Perception in Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost". The New England Quarterly. 52 (4). The New England Quarterly, Inc.: 550–559. doi:10.2307/365757. JSTOR365757.
Newcomb, Robert (November 1957). "Benjamin Franklin and Montaigne". Modern Language Notes. 72 (7). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 489–491. doi:10.2307/3043511. JSTOR3043511.
Newcomb, Robert (June 1955). "Poor Richard's debt to Lord Halifax". PMLA. 70 (3). Modern Language Association: 535–539. doi:10.2307/460054. JSTOR460054. S2CID163553029.
Pasles, Paul C. (June–July 2001). "The lost squares of Dr.Franklin: Ben Franklin's missing squares and the secret of the magic circle". The American Mathematical Monthly. 108 (6). Mathematical Association of America: 489–511. doi:10.2307/2695704. JSTOR2695704.
Ross, John F. (September 1940). "The character of Poor Richard: Its source and alteration". PMLA. 55 (3). Modern Language Association: 785–794. doi:10.2307/458740. JSTOR458740. S2CID163353553.
Smith, Mark M. (February 1996). "Time, slavery and plantation capitalism in the ante-bellum American south". Past and Present. 150: 142–168. doi:10.1093/past/150.1.142.
Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath, a leading writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.
1732 (MDCCXXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1732nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 732nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 32nd year of the 18th century, and the 3rd year of the 1730s decade. As of the start of 1732, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
An almanac is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and other tabular data often arranged according to the calendar. Celestial figures and various statistics are found in almanacs, such as the rising and setting times of the Sun and Moon, dates of eclipses, hours of high and low tides, and religious festivals. The set of events noted in an almanac may be tailored for a specific group of readers, such as farmers, sailors, or astronomers.
In South Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil, also known as the Leeds Devil, is a legendary creature said to inhabit the forests of the Pine Barrens in South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The common description is that of a bipedal kangaroo-like or wyvern-like creature with a horse- or goat-like head, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, legs with cloven hooves, and a forked or pointed tail. It is also said that it has a strange elongated body and a thick tail. It has been reported to move quickly and is often described as emitting a high-pitched "blood-curdling scream".
Isaac Bickerstaff Esq was a pseudonym used by Jonathan Swift as part of a hoax to predict the death of then-famous Almanac-maker and astrologer John Partridge.
Whitaker's is a reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom. It was originally published by J Whitaker & Sons from 1868 to 1997, next by The Stationery Office until 2003 and then by A & C Black, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bloomsbury Publishing in 2011. The publication was acquired by Rebellion Publishing in 2020, with the 153rd edition appearing on 15 April 2021. In mid-2022, Rebellion announced that there would not be a 2022 edition.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin appears to have called the work his Memoirs. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.
Ann Smith Franklin was an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband, James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin. She published the Mintunt, printed an almanac series. She was the country’s first female newspaper editor, the first woman to write an almanac, and the first woman inducted into the University of Rhode Island's Journalism Hall of Fame.
The Pennsylvania Gazette was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to British colonial rule, especially to the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. The newspaper was headquartered in Philadelphia.
The Way to Wealth or Father Abraham's Sermon is an essay written by Benjamin Franklin in 1758. It is a collection of adages and advice presented in Poor Richard's Almanack during its first 25 years of publication, organized into a speech given by "Father Abraham" to a group of people. Many of the phrases Father Abraham quotes continue to be familiar today. The essay's advice is based on the themes of work ethic and frugality.
Titan Leeds (1699–1738) was an 18th-century American almanac publisher.
"For want of a nail" is a proverb, having numerous variations over several centuries, reminding that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences.
Nathan Daboll was an American teacher who wrote the mathematics textbook most commonly used in American schools in the first half of the 19th century. During the course of his career, he also operated a popular navigation school for merchant mariners, and published a variety of almanacs during the American Revolution period.
Rev. Nehemiah Strong was an American astronomer and meteorologist who was the first Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Yale College from 1770 and produced a series of annual ephemerides, the astronomical element in almanacs, which were printed in Hartford, Connecticut, and in New Haven.
James Franklin was an early American printer, publisher and author of newspapers and almanacs in the American colonies. James published the New England Courant, one of the oldest and the first truly independent American newspapers, and the short lived Rhode Island Gazette.
Ames' Almanack (almanac) was the first almanac printed in the British North American colonies. While Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack is more widely known, the Ames' Almanack had a much larger readership. Franklin's publication had a circulation of 10,000 copies compared to 60,000 for the Ames' Almanack.
A tradition of almanacs published for the purposes of North America began in New England in the 17th century. A New World's dwelling would seldom be found without the latest print of North American almanac and The Pilgrim's Progress.
Richard Huck-Saunders was an English physician.
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin is a collaborative effort by a team of scholars at Yale University, American Philosophical Society and others who have searched, collected, edited, and published the numerous letters from and to Benjamin Franklin, and other works, especially those involved with the American Revolutionary period and thereafter. The publication of Franklin's papers has been an ongoing production since its first issue in 1959, and is expected to reach nearly fifty volumes, with more than forty volumes completed as of 2022. The costly project was made possible from donations by the American Philosophical Association and Life magazine.
This is a comprehensive list of primary and secondary works by or about Benjamin Franklin, one of the principal Founding Fathers of the United States. Works about Franklin have been consistently published during and after Franklin's life, spanning four centuries, and continue to appear in present-day publications. Scholarly works that are not necessarily subject-specific to Franklin, yet cover his life and efforts in significant measure, may also be included here. In contrast, this bibliography does not include the numerous encyclopedia articles and short essays about Franklin..
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
