Poor Richard Improved: Being an Almanack and Ephemeris of the Motions of the Sun and Moon...For the Year of Our Lord 1756....By Richard Saunders. Phila.: Printed and Sold by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, [1755]. 18 leaves. Disbound. Several in text woodcut ornaments and vignettes.
From Catalog III
The almanac in the enlarged 'Improved' form Franklin adopted in 1748, with essays and tables beside the calendar. Issued in the autumn Braddock's army was destroyed on the Monongahela and Franklin was organizing the province's defence — which the almanac, serenely, does not mention.
Date
Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall, [1755]
Author / maker
Franklin, Benjamin [as Richard Saunders]
Condition
Spine slightly chipped, corners rubbed. Closely trimmed, costing a few letters, light uniform toning, else very good, housed in custom cloth box.
References
MILLER 608. Evans 7420. Drake 9776. Campbell 553. Hildeburn 1436.
Notes
A rare example of Benjamin Franklin's most enduring publication. The first Poor Richard Almanack was printed in 1732; the early almanacs are extremely rare, and all from the period when Franklin himself was printing them are very rare in commerce, although there are many institutional holdings. This almanac for 1756 includes a piece on the advantages of using oxen, a treatment for dysentery, information on Quaker meetings, and the schedule of court days in Pennsylvania, among other subjects. Miller locates only twenty copies.
