An almanack for the year of our Lord God 1668

London : Printed by T. R. [probably Thomas Ratcliffe the Elder] for the Company of Stationers, [1667]

1 volume ; 92 mm

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Great Britain -- England -- London, -- publication place.

272902

From dealer's description: "GOLDSMITH, John. An Almanack for the year of our Lord God 1668. London: Printed by T. R. [probably Thomas Ratcliffe the Elder] for the Company of Stationers, [1667]. Not much is known about John Goldsmith, whose almanacs first appeared in the late 1650s, and whose name was attached to editions printed well into the 19th century. The series were almost always produced in small format, and editions from the 18th century often found their way into deluxe bindings, which are avidly collected today. 17th-century editions are scarcer: none occur in more than four copies, and a few years have no surviving witnesses. The earliest editions, like ours, usually bore two woodcuts. The first is of homo sigorum, the so-called Zodiac Man, which is accompanied by an explanation of the relationship between the sectors of the sky and the parts of the body. The second woodcut illustrates a hand— palm up—and numbered like a clock face, holding a length of straw between thumb and forefinger, with instructions on how to use this ever-ready, ad-hoc sundial. English almanacs were first produced with regularity in 1557, when a royal charter was granted to the Stationers' Company, who produced hundreds of thousands during the last two months of every year in London, Cambridge, Oxford, and in lesser numbers provincially, including the Colonies since at least 1647. Most almanacs contained at least some medical advice (even if just ads for cure-alls), but Goldsmith's Almanack was essentially for farmers and husbandmen, with much on climate, farm-to-market roads, and agricultural fairs. Our book has seven blank endleaves, on which are penned contemporary notes on purchases, loans, tidal charts, plus a remark that localizes the use of the almanac to Manchester, specifically the borough of Wigan, and the nearby village of Aspull (here spelled Alspools). The first gathering is interleaved with 13 blanks, a few of which bear additional manuscript notes, and a cursorily sketched plat map or floor plan. The first half of the almanac comprises the calendar, each month containing a short weather prediction, typeset with a word or two on each line, forming what look and sound a bit like E. E. Cummings poems. For example, the forecast for October in our almanac reads: clouds, raising rain fair for the most part these days wind and clouds variable inclining to moisture and unconstancy clearCrispine ing clouds rain-like temperate and good. A single copy of our edition located, at the British Library. 24mo, 94 x 58 x 16 mm (binding), 93 x 57 x 13 mm (text block). A-B12, [48] pp., first gathering interleaved. Contemporary calf, worn, with head cap chipped away, loss of leather to spine and upper board, bronze clasp wanting (but catchplate on lower board present), one lower free end wanting. Interior: Leaves toned, minor foxing. Provenance: Notes on preliminary blank endleaves suggest localization to the borough of Wigan and the village of Aspull. ESTC R236770. Not in Wing. Bosanquet, Eustace F. "English Printed Almanacks and Prognostications . . . to 1600," Bibliographical Society Illustrated Monographs, No. 17. London: Chiswick Press, 1917; Blagden, Cyprian. The Stationers' Company, a History, 1403-1959, Cambridge: HUP, 1960. p. 188." Ordered from W.S Cotter Rare Books D9716, 2024-02-27, email quote.

272902