In Scotland the earliest almanacs seem to have been produced about the beginning of the 16th c. Shortly after the beginning of the 17th c. the almanacs or " prognostica tions" published at Aberdeen had begun to establish that celebrity which is hardly yet extinct. About the year 1677 they were sold for a ploci each; and the annual circula tion amounted, on an average, to 50,000 copies. In 1683, appeared a rival publication, under the title of True Almanack, or a New Prognostication. For a long time Scottish almanacs continued, like all others of that age, to contain little besides a calendar, with a list of fairs, and—what constituted the 'great attraction—predictions of the weather. But something more instructive and comprehensive became requisite, and the Edinburgh A. seems to have been among the first to respond to this requirement of advancing civilization; for, by various editions, such as a list of Scottish members of parliament, it had, in 1745, been extended from the original 16 pages to 36. In 12 years from that date it had swelled to 72 pages; in 1779 it bad reached 252 pages. Since 1837, it has been published under the title of Oliver and I3oyd's New Edinburgh A., and now extends to above 1000 pages. It contains int information on all public matters, especially those connected with north Britain, which, in its completeness, leaves little to be desired.
What Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh A. is to Scotland, is Thorn's Irish A. to Ireland—a work not less excellent, and even more extensive.
Almanacs containing astrological and other predictions are still published in Great Britain, but their influence is extremely limited, even among the most ignorant portion of the community, and their contents are fitted to excite amusement rather than any stronger emotion.
Of important national almanacs are the French Alnuznach Imperial, begun in 1679, a bulky octavo volume, full of useful information; the Belgian Royal A., very similar in character, the Prussian Roycl A.; and the American A., a very meritorious publica tion. The Almanach de Gotha, begun in 1763, has a European, or rather a cosmopolitan, character. See GOT/IA, A. DE.
The most important astrological A. published in Britain is the Nautical A., projected by the astronomer-royal, Dr. Maskelyne, and first published, with the authority of government, in 1767. After his death it gradually lost its character, and in 1830, in consequence of the numerous complaints made against it, the government requested the astronomical society to pronounce upon the subject. The suggestions of the society were adopted, and, in 1834, the first number of the new series appeared, with such additions and improvements as the advanced state of astronomical science rendered necessary. Still older than this A. is the French Connaissance des Temps, commenced in 1679 by Picard, and now published under the authority of the Bureau des Longitudes. Its plan is similar to that of the Nautical A., but it contains a larger amount of original memoirs, many of them of great value. Equally celebrated is the Berlin Ephemeris, published so long under the superintendence of the late prof. Encke, being an improve ment on the Astroroinisches Jahrbucli, conducted by his predecessor Bode.
Another kind of A., whicli•las especially flourished in Germany and France, belongs rather to the class of publications known in Britain as Annuals. Such have been the Almanach des Muses, des Dames, Populaire, Icarien, Nitpoleonien, etc., the latter of which were specially devoted to the interests of particular parties, political or religious. Of this kind, the examples in Britain are innumerable, and, iu fact, the publication of an A. has now become a favorite medium of advertising and puffery.
The heavy stamp-duty of fifteenpence per copy, to which almanacs were long liable in the United Kingdom, was abolished in 1834, since which time, the character, number, and circulation of this class of publications. have strikingly advanced. There is raw a very large sale of almanacs in Great Britain for popular use, at net more than one penny each.