Leavitt's Old Farmer's Almanack - 1854 (USA) (California Map)

$75.00 CAD

– Sold Out

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Scarce pre-Civil War pamphlet that give insight into life in those days. Includes one of the first maps related to the California Gold Rush.
   
                                       NO. LVIII.
Leavitt's Old Farmer's Almanack, and miscellaneous Year Book,
                                   for the year of Our Lord
                                           1854

                     Containing a new map of California
        Manchester N.H. William H. Fiske No. 4 Methodist Church

 

Signed at top A. P. Cates Northfield N.H.

Nice graphic on front cover of large house overlooking farmlands. 

Information includes:

- mean places of 40 principal fixed stars
- seat of state governments, date of elections, times of meeting of legislatures
- celestial phenomena, eclipses,etc..
- monthly calendars with sunrise and sunset, moon changes, high water, predicted weather,etc..
- engraving for each month
- courts ( federal and New England states)
- rates of postage
- population of the United States and statistics from the census of 1850
- mining map of California and statistics on gold production and population growth
- commencements and vacations in the New England Colleges and Theological schools
- selected miscellany
 
Ads for Agricultural Store Quincy Hall Boston and Webster's Dictionary.
 

Full page map 'Mining Region of California'.

First edition, 48 pages (incl cover)

Nips, tucks and small tears throughout. Pages 7-9 have larger tear, tear in cover. Chunk of paper missing on left of map. Age stains. Some owner notes. Still has string.

¾" X 5"

 

Scarce pre-Civil War document in a well-used state.

Dudley Leavitt (1772 – September 20, 1851) was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school. Within a few years, Leavitt relocated to Meredith, where in addition to teaching school and farming, 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.

WIKIPEDIA