Poor Richard's Almanack

Ben Franklin, "the first civilized American," did a whole lot of important things in his life. Publishing Poor Richard's Almanack (1732 to 1757) was one of those things. It is still the best known American almanac to date.

Franklin was a well known printer in Philadelphia. He wasn't excessively rich at the time, but he wasn't poor. He decided to start this almanac with the target audience of Philadelphians. He would eventually become quite rich thanks to Poor Richard's Almanack. At its height, 10,000 copies a year were being published.

Ben Franklin was a heavy user of pseudonyms. Poor Richard's Almanack is probably the best case of this. Ben wrote as the poor man Richard Saunders (actually a 17th century British astronomer.) Poor Richard was writing the almanack for a good cause, a wife nagging him for money.

Franklin mixed up practical knowledge, proverbs, weather and astronomical predictions and everything else in Poor Richard's Almanack. Until 1948, Franklin contributed to the maxims, writing many and collecting the majority of them, often adopting (or adapting) a quote from someone like John Swift or Francis Bacon. When you hear somebody attribute a quote to Ben Franklin, chances are it's coming from Poor Richard's Almanack. There's a good chance he didn't actually write the quote you hear himself, but got it from somewhere else. And he never actually said "A penny saved is a penny earned." but rather "A penny saved is two pence clear."

Franklin hoaxed the public by predicting rival almanac creator Titan Leeds' death in the first (1733) version of Poor Richard's. Titan Leeds took the astrological predictions he wrote in his own almanac seriously. Franklin was a man of science; he knew better. Franklin managed to create an almanac-selling controversy with his fake prediction. Saunders declared Leeds dead in a later edition. Titan Leeds had to argue with people to convince them that he was actually alive.

Intro to 1733 edition:

Courteous Reader,

I might in this place attempt to gain thy Favor, by declaring that I write Almanacks with no other View than that of the public Good; but in this I should not be sincere; and Men are now a-days too wise to be deceived by Pretenses how specious so ever. The plain Truth of the Matter is, I am excessive poor, and my Wife, good Woman, is, I tell her, excessive proud; she cannot bear, she says, to sit spinning in her Shift of Tow, while I do nothing but gaze at the Stars; and has threatened more than once to burn all my Books and Rattling-Traps (as she calls my Instruments) if I do not make some profitable Use of them for the good of my Family. The Printer has offered me some considerable share of the Profits, and I have thus begun to comply with my Dame's desire.

Indeed this Motive would have had Force enough to have made me publish an Almanack many Years since, had it not been overpowered by my Regard for my good Friend and Fellow-Student, Mr. Titan Leeds, whose Interest I was extremely unwilling to hurt: But this Obstacle (I am far from speaking it with Pleasure) is soon to be removed, since inexorable Death, who was never known to respect Merit, has already prepared the mortal Dart, the fatal Sister has already extended her destroying Shears, and that ingenious Man must soon be taken from us.

He dies, by my Calculation made at his Request, on Oct. 17, 1733, 3:29 P.M., at the very instant of the conjunction of the Sun and Mercury: By his own Calculation he will survive till the 26th of the same Month. This small difference between us we have disputed whenever we have met these 9 Years past; but at length he is inclinable to agree with my Judgment; Which of us is most exact, a little Time will now determine.

As therefore these Provinces may not longer expect to see any of his Performances after this Year, I think my self free to take up the Task, and request a share of the public Encouragement; which I am the more apt to hope for on this Account, that the Buyer of my Almanack may consider himself, not only as purchasing an useful Utensil, but as performing an Act of Charity, to his poor

Friend and Servant
R. SAUNDERS.