Poor Richard's Almanack
'Poor Richard's Almanack' Summary
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.
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." 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.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1732Author
Benjamin Franklin
United States
Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first Unit...
More on Benjamin FranklinDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
Chronicles of Canada Volume 04 - Jesuit Missions: A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness by Stephen Leacock
These little books were designed to cover Canadian history in a scholarly and readable fashion. This volume, as suggested in the title, follows the Je...
London Labour and the London Poor Volume III by Henry Mayhew
London Labour and the London Poor is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of...
Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago by Hannah Trager
Hannah Trager published Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago in 1926, so the book is a portrait of day to day life for a Jewish family in Jeru...
The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of is an 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as T...
Early Greek Philosophy and Other Essays by Friedrich Nietzsche
The essays contained in this volume treat of various subjects. With the exception of perhaps one we must consider all these papers as fragments. Writt...
Curiosities of Olden Times by Sabine Baring-Gould
This book is a collection of 17 gems of random knowledge, such as what women are made of and the philosopher's stone, written in Baring-Gould's own st...
Domestic Manners of the Americans by Frances Trollope
Domestic Manners of the Americans is a 2-volume 1832 travel book by Frances Milton Trollope, which follows her travels through America and her residen...
The Golden Bough by James Frazer
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (retitled The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion in its second edition) is a wide-ranging,...
The Book of Halloween by Ruth Edna Kelley
This book is intended to give the reader an account of the origin and history of Hallowe'en, how it absorbed some customs belonging to other days in t...
Japan and Korea by Frank G. Carpenter
"Embark on an immersive journey through the enigmatic heart of the East with 'Japan and Korea' by Frank G. Carpenter. Step into a world where traditio...
Reviews for Poor Richard's Almanack
No reviews posted or approved, yet...