1869 Leavitt's Farmers Almanac (USA)

Nice post-Civil War period Almanac.

Nice graphic on wrapper with farmer and plough team, wife looking on, farmhouse in background.

Nice graphic on front title page relating to Time, and farm-related engraved headers for each month.

Information includes:

• Eclipses in 1869
• Two pages for each month: calendars with sunrise and sunset, moon changes, high water, predicted weather, etc. Each month has an engraving at the top, reflecting that month
• Courts (federal and New England states)
• Questions to Exercise the Minds of Youth
• Chemistry
• The Craig telescope
• Newspapers
• Useful recipes (Blackberry Wine, Sassafras Mead…)
• Farming Business
• On manure making
• Institutions for the Blind
• Poetry and anecdotes
• …

Advertising: Peruvian Syrup, Iodine Water, Oliver Optics Magazine (Boston), Edson C. Eastman & Co. (Booksellers, Stationers and Publishers) Concord N.H., ....

48 pages + wrappers

Owner’s writing on some pages ("19^th sowed celery”, “1 foot snow”, "Planted corn May 15^th”, "Post Office building burned Dec 11^th”...)

Poor-Fair condition. Folds and crease right corners front pages. Front wrapper has fold and tears, missing some paper. Missing back wrapper. Foxing spots on couple pages. Toning on outer edges of pages.

7 ¾" X 5"

Dudley Leavitt (1772 – September 20, 1851) was an American publisher. He began publishing in 1797 Leavitt's Farmers Almanack, one of the nation's earliest farmers' almanacs. A polymath, Leavitt poured his knowledge of disparate fields including mathematics, language and astronomy into the wildly popular almanacs, which outlived their creator, being published until 1896.

But the almanac, which he dubbed Leavitt's Farmers' Almanack and Miscellaneous Yearbook, became such a success that after a while Leavitt shelved many of his other activities to focus on it. The once-farfetched idea was a runaway hit. By 1846, for instance, Leavitt's almanacs were selling some 60,000 copies for that year's two editions – a tremendous number for the era.

Leavitt aimed the almanacs at the general population of New England, supplying tips on everything from farming to the weather to astronomy. As word spread about the publication, readership jumped, and the publication became a fixture throughout the region. The almanacs were sold at general stores, and later at grocery stores and drug stores. Leavitt was aided in some of the almanac's calculations geared towards agriculture by his nephew, astronomer William B. Leavitt.

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