[ALMANACKS.]
A bound collection of seven almanacks for 1818. London, the Company of Stationers, 1817.
Seven works in one vol., 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, Ἄτλας οὐράνιος: pp. 48; printed in red and black; bound together in contemporary red straight-grained morocco, gilt roll-tool border, spine gilt with a phoenix device, edges gilt, vellum tabs with printed titles before each work; a little rubbed and scuffed, spine worn at head; orange bookseller’s label (oxidised to grey) of Byfield & Son, Charing Cross, to front pastedown.
A collection of seven almanacks for 1818 printed for the Stationers’ Company.
The Company’s ‘English Stock’ list comprised twenty-five titles by 1801, and they issued a standard annual collection of almanacks, finely bound, always commencing with The Gentleman’s Diary from the 1740s on.
The Gentleman’s and Ladies’ Diary both include enigmas and sets of mathematical questions (along with the answers to last year’s questions); Vox stellarum and Merlinus liberatus concentrate on astrology and astronomy; Old Poor Robin, crude and satirical, provides amusing verse and prose extracts; Speculum anni includes historical and geographical observations; and the Ἄτλας οὐράνιος comprises tables.
See Swetz, The Impact and Legacy of ‘The Ladies’ Diary’ (1740–1840): a Woman’s Declaration (2000).