ALMANAC, a book or table containing a calendar of the days, weeks, and months of the year, a register of ecclesiastical festivals and saints' days, and a record of various astronomical phenomena, etc.
The attention given to astronomy by Eastern nations probably led to the early construction of such tables as are comprised in our almanacs; of these we know little or nothing. The fasti (q.v.) of the Romans are far better known and were similar to modern almanacs. Almanacs of a rude kind, known as clogg almanacs, consisting of square blocks of hard wood, about Bin. in length, with notches along the four angles corresponding to the days of the year, were in use in some parts of England as late as the end of the 17th century.
Early almanacs had commonly the name of "prognostications" in addition, and what they professed to show may be gathered from titles like the following, which is quoted by J. O. Halliwell: "Pronostycacyon of Mayster John Thybault, medycyner and astronomer of the Emperyall Majestie, of the year of our Lorde God MCCCCCXXXIJ., comprehending the iiij. partes of this yere, and of the influence of the move, of peas and warre, and of the sykenesses of this yere, with the constellacions of them that be under the vi j. planettes, and the revolutions of kynges and princes, and of the eclipses and comets." Most English almanacs were published by the Stationers' Company, the most famous of them being the Vox Stellarum of Francis Moore (1657-1715?) the first number of which was completed in July 170o, and con tained predictions for 1701. Its publication has been continued under the title of Old Moore's Almanac.
The exclusive right to sell "almanacs and prognostications" in England, enjoyed in the time of Elizabeth by two members of the Company of Stationers, was extended by James I. to the two universities and the Stationers' Company jointly; but the universities commuted their privilege for an annuity from the company. This monopoly was challenged by Thomas Carnan, a bookseller, who published an almanac for three successive years, after having been thrice imprisoned on that account by the com pany. The case came, in before the court of common pleas, and was decided in Carnan's favour. The company, however, vir tually retained its monopoly for many years, but this power has altogether ceased, although a considerable proportion of the al manacs published in England still issue from the hall of the Sta tioners' Company.
On Jan. 1, 1828, the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowl edge issued the British Almanac for that year. Its success, with its valuable supplement, the Companion to the Almanac, led to a great improvement in this class of publications. The Stationers' Company issued the Englishman's Almanac, a work of a similar kind. Since 187o, the British Almanac and Companion have been the principal almanacs published by the Stationers' Company. W hitaker's Almanac, commenced in 1868 by Joseph Whitaker (182o-1895), is perhaps the best known of modern almanacs.
In Scotland, almanacs containing much astrological matter ap peared to have been published at about the beginning of the i6th century; and about a century later those published at Aberdeen enjoyed considerable reputation. In 1683, Edinburgh's True Al inanack, or a New Prognostication, appeared, a publication which improved with years and was issued after 1837 as Oliver and Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanac, a standard book of reference for Scottish affairs. Thom's Irish Almanac (since 1843) deals mainly with Ireland.
The earliest almanac published in the United States is prob ably to be ascribed to Bradford's press in Philadelphia for the year 1687. Poor Richard's Almanac, commenced in 1732 by Ben jamin Franklin under the pseudonym of "Richard Saunders," and continued by him for 25 years, gained a high reputation for its wise and witty sayings. The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge was published at Boston from 1828 to 186 i. The Old Farmer's Almanac enjoys considerable popularity and has been published for many years.
In France prophetic almanacs circulated very freely among the poorer and rural classes, although an Ordonnance of Charles IX. required the seal of a diocesan bishop on all almanacs. In 1579 Henry III. prohibited the publication of predictions relating to political events, a prohibition renewed by Louis XIII. Of such almanacs, the most famous was the Almanach Liegeois, first pub lished in 1625 at Liege by Matthieu Laensbergh. The most im portant French almanac is the Almanach Royal, afterwards Im perial, and now National, first published in 1679.
A number of publications, issued in Germany, from the middle of the i8th to the middle of the i9th century, under such titles as Musenalmanach, modelled on the Almanach des Muses, a con temporary almanac published at Paris, contain some of the best works of some of the most celebrated German poets. The Al manach de Gotha, which has existed since 1763, published since 1871 both in French and German, gives a particular account of all the royal and princely families of Europe, and ample details concerning the administration and the statistics of the different states of the world.
For the Nautical Almanac and similar publications see • EPHEMERIS.