Poor Richard's Almanack (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Benjamin Franklin and Andrew S. Trees

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading.   Poor Richard's Almanack is one of Benjamin Franklin's most charming creations. He delighted in cloaking his writing behind a variety of literary personas, and Richard Saunders remains one of his most beloved, although some critics have complained that Poor Richard reveals the shallow materialism at the heart of Franklin's homespun philosophy and, by extension, at the heart of America itself. The Almanack holds a central place in understanding Franklin and his evolution from humble tradesman to founding father as well as providing a fascinating window into colonial America. Franklin's sharp wit still retains its ability to surprise and delight readers today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Mar 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781411466487

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an American writer, printer, politician, postmaster, scientist, and diplomat. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Franklin found success at a young age as editor and printer of the Pennsylvania Gazette, a prominent Philadelphia newspaper. From 1732 to 1758, Franklin published Poor Richard’s Almanack, a popular yearly pamphlet that earned Franklin much of his wealth. An influential Philadelphian, Franklin founded the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which would become the University of Pennsylvania, in 1751. In addition, Franklin founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, as well as the city’s first fire department. As revolutionary sentiment was on the rise in the thirteen colonies, Franklin traveled to London to advocate on behalf of Americans unhappy with British rule, earning a reputation as a skilled diplomat and shrewd negotiator. During the American Revolution, his relationships with French officials would prove essential for the war effort, the success of which depended upon munitions shipments from France. Over the next few decades, he would serve as the first postmaster general of the United States and as governor of Pennsylvania while maintaining his diplomatic duties. A dedicated and innovative scientist, Franklin is credited with important discoveries regarding the nature of electricity, as well as with inventing the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove. A slaveowner for many years, Franklin eventually became an abolitionist. Although he failed to raise the issue during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, he led the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society and wrote essays on the subject of slavery, which he deemed “an atrocious debasement of human nature.”

Book preview

POOR RICHARD’S ALMANACK

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

INTRODUCTION BY ANDREW S. TREES

Introduction and Suggested Reading © 2004 by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

This 2012 edition published by Barnes & Noble, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

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ISBN: 978-1-4114-6648-7

INTRODUCTION

POOR RICHARD’S ALMANACK IS ONE OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S MOST beguiling creations. He delighted in cloaking his writing behind a variety of literary personas, and Richard Saunders remains one of his most beloved, although some critics have complained that Poor Richard reveals the shallow materialism at the heart of Franklin’s homespun philosophy and, by extension, at the heart of America itself. The Almanack holds a central place in understanding Franklin and his evolution from humble tradesman to founding father as well as providing a fascinating window into colonial America. And Franklin’s sharp wit as it found expression through his literary alter ego still retains its ability to surprise and delight readers today.

Franklin (1706-1790) was a man of many roles—printer, author, philosopher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and politician to name only a few. He lived a wide and varied life and found himself at the center of virtually every major event involving America during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was so successful as a businessman that he was able to retire at the age of forty-two. He proved equally adept at science, and his experiments in electricity made him the most famous American in the colonies. Politics and diplomacy took up much of the latter half of his life, and he showed himself a master of these as well, perhaps most importantly by securing the support of France during the American Revolution. And his Autobiography made him the role model for countless future generations who hoped to emulate his rags-to-riches story. To understand Franklin is, to a large extent, to understand early America.

Born in Boston as the eighth child of ten to a pious Puritan family, Franklin knew from an early age that success would come only from his own efforts. After some initial indecision about his career, he was apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. The choice was a fortunate one. The profession would give Franklin an influence far beyond that of almost any other trade. Franklin chafed under what he considered his brother’s overbearing manner, and he eventually broke his indentures and ran away to Philadelphia in 1723 where he soon found a job with another printer. He opened his own printing shop a few years later. In 1729, he acquired a newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. He also did most of the public printing in the colony and served as the postmaster for Philadelphia.

In 1732, Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack, which played an important role in establishing his wealth. Franklin had originally published others’ almanacs, but in the waning months of 1732 he found himself without one to publish. Rather than lose the lucrative business, he decided to write his own, lifting the name Richard Saunders from the deceased astrologer-doctor and appropriating the title of his brother James’ almanac, Poor Robin’s Almanac.

After the Bible, the book most likely to be found on the shelves of colonial Americans was an almanac. Among the earliest known publications in many parts of the world, almanacs usually include a calendar, as well as a variety of data, including the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the phases of the moon, the positions of heavenly bodies, eclipses, high and low tides, holy days, holidays, and other miscellaneous information. This was essential knowledge for people in the eighteenth century. Sailors and fisherman relied on the information about the tides. Farmers used the book to determine when to plant crops and when to harvest them. And knowing the phases of the moon was useful for travelers in an era when there was little artificial light at night.

One almanac was a great deal like another, however, so style was essential to differentiate one’s self from the crowd. And style was something that Franklin was almost effortlessly able to command. Although his format followed that of other almanacs, Franklin created a distinctive voice through the character of Poor Richard and showed a knack for marketing his new creation. In the first edition of 1733, Franklin, speaking as Poor Richard, frankly avowed his pecuniary motives for publishing an almanac (perhaps an echo of Franklin’s own belief that honesty was the best policy) and also flattered his audience, something at which Franklin was always a master. Courteous Reader, I might in this place attempt to gain thy favour by declaring that I write almanacks with no other view than the public good; but in this I should not be sincere, and men are nowadays too wise to be deceived by pretenses how specious soever. Instead, Saunders readily admitted his lack of money: The plain truth of the matter is, I am excessively poor, and my wife, good woman, is, I tell her, excessive proud. With that introduction, Poor Richard had established himself as a man much like his almanac readers, an adept common touch that was always a hallmark of Franklin’s writing.

Franklin also relied on an elaborate hoax to promote his almanac. Borrowing a stratagem from Jonathan Swift, Saunders solemnly predicted the exact hour of the death of one of the leading almanac writers in America. When the other writer took the bait and complained in his own almanac about Saunders’ falsehood, Franklin continued to elaborate on the hoax in ways that furthered the notoriety and popularity of Poor Richard. Although Poor Richard’s Almanack never became the best-selling almanac in America, it developed a loyal following and sold an average of approximately ten thousand copies a year.

Franklin’s almanac was different from others in one further way. Every almanac offered wit and wisdom culled from a variety of sources. And Franklin freely admitted that most of his own sayings were borrowed from others. What distinguished Franklin from his peers was his ability to distill these sayings to a sharp edge, so much so that many of them remain in circulation today, permanently anchored in our collective national memory. A great many of today’s common proverbs (such as A word to the wise is enough, God helps them that help themselves. or Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise) owe their distinctive phrasing to Franklin’s economical wit.

Franklin published the almanac annually from 1733 to 1758. During that period, Poor Richard changed character in a number of ways. He was originally a dim-witted and somewhat foolish astronomer. Over time, he became the more famous Poor Richard, a pious country dweller who was a never-ending source of proverbs on the value of frugality and hard work. During roughly the first decade of publication, the emphasis was on entertainment. In later years, it developed a moral and didactic tone and attempted to improve and educate its readers. The format also shifted. For the first fifteen years, the Almanack contained six pages of introductory matter and general information, a page for each month, and six additional pages of general information at the back. In the final decade, when it was renamed Poor Richard Improved, the almanac was expanded to thirty-six pages, and Franklin devoted the additional pages to historical events and literary and scientific essays, producing a kind of general magazine designed not simply to entertain but to educate his readers. The shift in format and tone mirrored Franklin’s own growth into a well-known citizen of Philadelphia. His writing became less comical, combative, and bawdy and developed a more mature and measured tone, reflecting Franklin’s growing public reputation and responsibilities.

During his years as a printer, Franklin played an increasingly important and influential role in the civic life of Philadelphia. He became actively involved in numerous voluntary ventures to improve life in Philadelphia, a kind of practical application of many of the precepts he enumerated in his almanac. In 1731, with a group of friends, he established the first circulating library in America, which came to be emulated throughout the colonies. He founded a fire company (1736), the American Philosophical Society (1743), a college that later became the University of Pennsylvania (1749), an insurance company (1751), and a city hospital (1751). He also organized a number of other improvements in city life, such as streetlight and street cleaning. In his Autobiography, Franklin wrote, Human Felicity is produc’d not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day—an apt summation of Franklin’s pragmatic and common-sense approach to life.

After his retirement, Franklin busied himself with science and performed a variety of experiments with electricity. He eventually came up with a theory to explain electricity in its various forms, a breakthrough that led to his election to England’s Royal Society (1756) and to the French Academy of Sciences (1772). His discoveries made him the most famous American in the thirteen colonies. As always, Franklin looked for practical applications and invented the lightning rod to protect buildings against lightning strikes. Lightning rods soon began to appear on buildings throughout the world.

Increasingly, though, Franklin’s retirement was spent in public service. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751 and spent virtually the rest of his life in one governmental post or another. In 1757, he was sent to London as the representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly to argue on behalf of the colony that the power of the colony’s proprietors should be curbed. He returned to America from 1762 to 1764 and then returned to London to try to convince officials to change Pennsylvania from a proprietary colony to a royal colony, although the growing conflict with England quickly changed Franklin’s agenda. Although he diligently worked to bring the two sides together, he argued forcefully for the rights and liberties of Americans and bluntly told British officials that the colonials would never accept an abridgement of those liberties. During this time, Franklin came to embrace an identity as an American, rather than as a British subject. A number of other colonies eventually appointed him as their representative in London as well, and he became the leading spokesman for America in Britain during the crucial pre-revolutionary years. After a severe upbraiding before the English Privy Council, Franklin left England in 1775. He was elected to the second Continental Congress, and in 1776 he found himself re-crossing the Atlantic to try to persuade the French government to support the American Revolution. The literary and scientific community quickly embraced him as an embodiment of the virtues extolled by the philosophes. Franklin consciously fostered this impression by adopting the manner of his own creation, Poor Richard Saunders. He did not wear a wig and dressed in plain brown clothes, becoming le bonhomme Richard in person. When the war ended, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain and returned to Philadelphia in 1785. He attended the Constitutional Convention, although he did not play a significant role in the debates, and he worked for the cause of abolition in the final years of his life.

He also continued to write his Autobiography, which became his best-known work, a primer for countless Americans interested in how to succeed. It remains a classic text that continues to offer a fascinating window into the early formation of American character of which Franklin remains an exemplar. Franklin’s belief in thrift and industry and his civic mindedness were amply illustrated in his Autobiography, and the work made him a role model for countless Americans in the nineteenth century. He provided the definitive early template for success in a rapidly expanding country. America as a land of opportunity, as a place where anyone can rise to wealth and prominence through hard work rather than birth, found its fullest early expression in Franklin’s writings to provide the foundations for what came to be called the American Dream.

Critics began to emerge in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though, and more than one writer accused Franklin of offering up a shallow vision of life as a mindless pursuit of riches.

D. H. Lawrence complained:

Now if Mr. Andrew Carnegie, or any other millionaire, had wished to invent a God to suit his ends, he could not have done better. Benjamin did it for him in the eighteenth century. God is the supreme servant of men who want to get on, to produce . . . . But man has a soul, though you can’t locate it either in his purse or his pocket-book or his heart or his stomach or his head. The wholeness of a man is in his soul. Not merely that nice comfortable bit which Benjamin marks out.

Others have contended that those critics are confusing the literary persona with the man, and Franklin’s own life belies any easy reduction of him to a materialist.

Poor Richard’s Almanack remains an important milestone in Franklin’s development. In it, we can trace Franklin’s evolving sense of himself and his country. And despite the somewhat limited nature of the genre, Franklin’s skill managed to turn it into literature in its own right. Poor Richard’s influence continues to be felt today, serving as a literary precursor to a variety of narrators in the American tradition. In the end, Franklin remains a somewhat elusive character, a master of literary persona to such a degree that we can never be sure that we have captured him in his entirety. As such, he will continue to be an intriguing figure for anyone interested in understanding America.

Andrew S. Trees holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Virginia. He has taught at Rutgers University, Rhodes College, and the University of Virginia, and he is the author of The Founding Fathers and the Politics of Character (Princeton University Press).

CONTENTS

1733

1734

1735

1736

1737

1738 - Preface by Mistress Saunders

1739

1740

1741

1742

1743

1744

1745

1746

1747

1748

1749

1750

1751

1752

1753

1754

1755

1756 - Preface

1757

1758

SUGGESTED READING

1733

Courteous Reader,

I MIGHT IN THIS PLACE ATTEMPT TO GAIN THY FAVOUR, BY declaring that I write Almanacks with no other View than that of the publick good; but in this I should not be sincere; and Men are now a-days too wise to be deceiv’d by Pretences how specious soever. 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 threatned 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 offer’d 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 overpower’d by my Regard for my good Friend and Fellow-Student, Mr. Titan Leeds, whose Interest I was extreamly 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 know 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 this Request, on Oct. 17. 1733. 3 ho. 29 m. P.M. at the very instant of the 003 of 004 and 005 : 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 publick 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.

006 Saturn diseas’d with Age, and left for dead;

Chang’d all his Gold to be involv’d in Lead. 007 Jove, Juno leaves, and loves to take his Range;

From whom man learns to love, and loves to change.

♂ is disarmed, and to ♀gone,

Where Vulcan’s Anvil must be struck upon.

That 008 Luna’s horn’d, it cannot well be said,

Since I ne’er heard that she was married.

JANUARY

More nice than wise.

Old Batchelor would have a Wife that’s wise,

Fair, rich and young, a Maiden for his Bed;

Not proud, nor churlish, but of faultless size;

A Country Housewife in the City bred.

He’s a nice Fool, and long in vain hath staid;

He should bespeak her, there’s non ready made.

Never spare the Parson’s wine, nor the Baker’s pudding.

Visits should be short, like a winters day,

Lest you’re too troublesome hasten away.

A house without woman & Firelight, is like a body without soul or sprite.

Kings & Bears often worry their keepers.

The ANATOMY of MAN’S BODY as govern’d by the Twelve Constellations.

Here I sit naked, like some Fairy Elf,

My Seat a Pumpkin; I grudge no Man’s Pelf;

Though I’ve no Bread nor Cheese upon my Shelf;

I’ll tell thee gratis, when it safe is,

To purge, to bleed, or cut, thy Cattle, or ―― thy self.

009

The Names and Characters of the Seven Planets.

010 Saturn, 011 Jupiter, ♂ Mars, 012 Sol, ♀ Venus, 013 Mercury, 014 Luna, 015 Dragons Head and 016 Tail.

The Five Aspects.

017 Conjunction, * Sextile, 018 Opposition, △ Trine, □ Quartile.

FEBRUARY

N.N. of B――s County, pray don’t be angry with poor Richard.

Each Age of Men new Fashions doth invent;

Things which are old, young Men do not esteem:

What pleas’d our Fathers, doth not us content;

What flourish’d then, we out of fashion deem:

And that’s the reason, as I understand,

Why Prodigus did sell his Father’s Land.

Light purse, heavy heart.

He’s a Fool that makes his Doctor his Heir.

Ne’er take a wife till thou hast a house (& a fire) to put her in.

He’s gone, and forgot nothing but to say Farewel -- to his creditors.

Love well, whip well.

MARCH

My Love and I for Kisses play’d,

She would keep stakes, I was content,

But when I won she would be paid;

This made me ask her what she meant:

Quoth she, since you are in this wrangling vein,

Here take your Kisses, give me mine again.

March many weathers. How he huffs, poor Fool!

Let my respected friend J.G.

Accept this humble verse of me.

viz.

Ingenious, learned, envy’d Youth,

Go on as thou’st began;

Even thy enemies take pride

That thou’rt their countryman.

Hunger never saw bad bread.

APRIL

Kind Katharine to her husband kiss’d these words,

"Mine own sweet Will, how dearly I love thee!"

If true (quoth Will) the World no such affords.

And that is true I durst his warrant be;

For ne’er heard I of Woman good or ill,

But always loved best, her own sweet Will.

Beware of meat twice boil’d, & an old foe reconcil’d.

Great Talkers, little Doers.

A rich rogue, is like a fat hog, who never does good til as dead as a log.

Relation without friendship, friendship without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, & profit without vertue, are not worth a farto.

MAY

Mirth pleaseth some, to others ’tis offence,

Some commend plain conceit, some profound sense;

Some wish a witty Jest, some dislike that,

And most would have themselves they know not what.

Then he that would please all, and himself too,

Takes more in hand than he is like to do.

The favour of the Great is no inheritance.

Fools make feasts and wise men eat’em.

Beware of the young Doctor & the old Barber.

He has chang’d his one ey’d horse for a blind one.

The poor have little, beggars none, the rich to much, enough not one.

Eat to live, and not live to eat.

March windy, and April rainy, makes May the pleasantest month of any.

JUNE

"Observe the daily circle of the sun,

And the short year of each revolving moon:

By them thou shalt foresee the following day,

Nor shall a starry night thy hopes betray.

When first the moon appears, if then she shrouds

Her silver crescent, tip’d with sable clouds,

Conclude she bodes a tempest on the main,

And brews for fields impetuous floods of rain."

After 3 days men grow weary, of a wench, a guest, & weather rainy.

To lengthen thy Life, lessen thy Meals.

The proof of gold is fire, the proof of woman, gold; the proof of man, a woman.

After feasts made, the maker scratches his head.

JULY

"Ev’n while the reaper fills his greedy hands,

And binds the golden sheafs in brittle bands,

Oft have I seen a sudden storm arise

From all the warring winds that sweep the skies:

And oft whole sheets descend of slucy rain,

Suck’d by the spungy clouds from off the main;

The lofty skies at once come pouring down,

The promis’d crop and golden labours drown."

Neither Shame nor Grace yet Bob.

Many estates are spent in the getting,

Since women for tea forsook spinning & knitting.

He that lies down with

Reviews for Poor Richard's Almanack (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

[darthdeverell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Benjamin Franklin, under the nom de plume of Richard Saunders, wrote his Poor Richard's Almanacks as a means of dispensing wisdom to readers in addition to the normal advice found in such books. This volume from the International Collectors Library, collects the almanacks from 1733 to 1758. This will appeal to those interested in colonial American history and should be read as a companion volume to Franklin's own autobiography.

[salmondaze · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Simply wow! Where to begin? Well, to start, Poor Richard is reputedly the first hoax ever pulled over the eyes of a given public. I wonder how long it took for Mr. Saunders to be unmasked as the one and only Benjamin Franklin, the founding father who was so high and balls deep in so many prostitutes that he forgot to be president! All the material of all the Almanacs was printed over a 25-year period from 1732-1758. Probably more for lack of competition than anything else that makes these publications the most important pre-Revolutionary literature produced in the States.Again, the question comes up, where to begin? Haven't I already begun? Balls! The almanacs (or to spell them more awesomely Almanacks) all follow a basic structure, although the edition I have leaves out the non-pertinent to now information that also forgoes Franklin's classic cleverness. First off, usually, Richard Saunders addresses himself to his audience in an amusing letter which unfolds as a sort of tale and eulogy over his friend's death over the years. Then you have the months which almost always start with 6 or 8 lines of verse followed by a number of aphorisms numbering 1-4. Then, I suppose when the matter tickles his fancy, he puts perhaps a little anecdote and/or some more lines of verse perhaps elucidating further on the anecdote.He does this for all 12 months of each year without fail. Then, if he's so inclined he includes a coda featuring verse or prose on a given topic addressing problems that strike him, especially on matters regarding the courts (which sound like even then were problematic). The entirety of the book runs in this way as a sort of crash-course in wisdom the likes of which would be rarely repeated. He admits his sayings are often as much gleanings as yarns that he perhaps fashioned himself but that's no matter. The value of them is more often than not unquestionable.Truth be told I'd rather not give away any of the book as it is all the highest of wheat reaped from the fields. I will however talk a bit on the Autobiography which you will remember I didn't score as well at the time. Now that I've read this as compared with that I regret my original score of the book and will be bumping that one up at least a notch or two retrospectively. I had thought that perhaps the Autobiography had pulled too much from the almanacs. Boy was I ever wrong on that count. And now that I understand the folly of my past beliefs I now regard the autobiography as what it more should be regarded as: an unfinished masterpiece.Benjamin Franklin's prodigious talents have absolutely stood the test of time, such that his contributions stand as impressive even in this day and age, which usually is marked by insouciance about such things. No matter. I compare Franklin to Da Vinci in a way, for he was a true renaissance man well after the actual time period.

[rjabpab · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The wit and wisdom of Benjamin Franklin never loses its touch of validity.

[vibrantminds · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An almanac was used by farmers and usually contained a monthly calendar, heavenly body movements, and other useful information. Benjamin Franklin began writing one over a 25 year period claiming a Richard Saunders wrote the advice given. Poor Richard is how he began much of the advice, thus it's name. He speaks on taxes, finances, business enterprise, Native Americans, equal rights for women, health, sleep, laziness, and death. Interesting advice with some relevance today and some advice that is much dated due to when it was written.