ALMANACKS FOR LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
[ALMANACKS.]
A bound collection of seven almanacks for 1816.
London, The Company of Stationers, 1816.
Seven works in one volume, 12mo: The Gentleman’s Diary pp. 48; The Ladies’ Diary pp. 48; Vox Stellarum pp. 48; Merlinus Liberatus pp. 48; Old Poor Robin pp. 48; Speculum Anni pp. 48; Ατλας Ουρανιος pp. 48; printed in red and black; bound together in contemporary red morocco, gilt roll-tool border, spines gilt with a phoenix device, front board detached, covers soiled; vellum sectional tabs with manuscript captions.
A standard collection of seven almanacks printed for the Company of Stationers.
The Company issued a standard annual finely bound collection of almanacks, always commencing with The Gentleman’s Diary, from the 1740s on. By 1801 the Company’s ‘English Stock’ list comprised twenty-five titles, including psalters and primers as well as almanack.
The Gentleman’s and Ladies’ Diary both included enigmas and sets of mathematical questions (along with the answers to last year’s questions); Vox Stellarum and Merlinus Liberatus concentrated on astrology and astronomy; Old Poor Robin, crude and satirical, provided amusing verse and prose extracts; Speculum Anni included historical and geographical observations; and the Atlas Coelestis comprised tables.
See Swetz, The Impact and Legacy of ‘The Ladies’ Diary’ (1740–1840): a Woman’s Declaration (2000).
