The very first almanacs were produced in the second millennium BC in the Near East, providing information such as favourable and unfavourable days and how to deal with each of them. Almanacs were published annually in London from the 1600s, became wildly popular in the following century, were still produced into Victorian times and still survive today in the form of Old Moore’s or Whitaker’s Almanack.
Early English almanacs were sold either as a broadsheet, the precursor of the modern calendar, or as a pocket almanac like this one. They contained astronomical data such as the number of days of the full moon (useful for travelling in the days before street lighting) and often weather forecasts which were vital for both agriculture and commerce (e.g. when deciding the movement of ships). Almanacs then began to be aimed at different groups such as farmers who got planting data, or Londoners who needed municipal information such as lists of City officials and public holidays, and in this way almanacs became very important to the economy.
Our example is tiny, at 3 cm square it is smaller even than a matchbox. It has a burgundy leather cover with a metal clasp but the leather fastener is missing. There is a metal plate under the fastener with enough space for someone’s initials, though ours is not engraved. Inside there are twenty gilt-edged leaves plus text pasted to the reverse of the front and rear marble endpapers. There is a tiny pocket inside the upper cover, big enough for a small coin.
Engraved throughout, the title page contains the arms of the livery company of Stationers with a second coat of arms on the reverse of the second leaf with a handwritten note: ‘T.W for E.W’.
The data inside includes a month by month summary of 1794 with festivals and sun/moon rising/setting times. Following this is a fascinating table of kings and queens which describes the Tudor line as ‘The families united’ and the Stuart line as ‘The union of the two crowns’.
Details of past Lord Mayors and sheriffs follow and here Thomas Wright is represented in both lists.
Finally we have a list of annual holidays and a table of current coins by weight. It is possible Thomas Wright printed this almanac as Wright & Gill derived a part of their income from printing almanacs and he was an eminent member of the Stationers’ Company, for whom this almanac was printed, having represented them as lord mayor in 1785.