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<\/a>While exploring the Watkinson for a book to examine for the course, a small, elaborately decorated leather spine caught my eye.\u00a0 The pattern on the spine consisted of alternating suns and moons, giving the book a gypsy-like feel.\u00a0 In size, the book was 5\u201dx2 \u00be\u201dor about the size of a deck of cards.\u00a0 Something about the romantic decorations combined with the petit size gave the book an air of mystery and magic.<\/p>\nI picked it up not knowing what to expect.\u00a0 Examining the cover, I was somewhat shocked to learn that this mystical looking book was actually an 1898 edition of Benjamin Franklin\u2019s Poor Richard\u2019s Almanack<\/em>.\u00a0 The leather cover was decorated with a mix of horoscope signs and pastoral American scenes.\u00a0 Upon inspecting the inside, I found that it was a sort of \u201cBest of\u201d Poor Richard\u2019s, with selections from editions of the Almanack ranging in year from 1733 to 1758.\u00a0 In the back was a facsimile re-print of Franklin\u2019s very first 1733 Almanack.<\/p>\n I discussed my find with Watkinson curator Rick Ring.\u00a0 He mentioned that the Watkinson possesses an original copy of Franklin\u2019s 1756 almanac, and suggested I take a look at that as well.\u00a0 Rick brought the original almanac out and I realized that, despite the fine quality of the 1898 edition, the 1756 edition was the more exciting find.\u00a0 The 1756 edition has an actual connection to a living Franklin.\u00a0 One can imagine the industrious Franklin working diligently at his press into the late hours of the night to produce the pages I held in my hand.\u00a0 Of course, this fantasy neglects the likelihood that Franklin had hired drones to do the bulk of the printing work by that time of his life.\u00a0 Regardless, the fact remains that Franklin lived at the time this almanac was produced, and was intimately involved in overseeing its production.<\/p>\n Comparing the two almanacs proved an interesting exercise.\u00a0 The original looked older (of course) but it also looked much more used.\u00a0 The 1898 version, though over a hundred years old, looked almost as if it came straight from the bookstore.\u00a0 The more recent version also appears nicer; the pages are gilded and cut exactly to be exactly the same size, the paper is thick and sturdy.\u00a0 Comparatively, the pages in the original are thin and not all cut to the same size.\u00a0 No effort to achieve luxury seems to have been made with the original edition; it is quite utilitarian.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, though the original seems more suited to everyday use, it is substantially larger than the reprint, with dimensions of 7\u201dx4\u201d.\u00a0 The reprint seems more pocket-sized, and therefore, more convenient for everyday use.\u00a0 But then again, the work that has to go into making something small often indicates luxury.\u00a0 Take for example the ever-smaller cell phones and ipods of today.<\/p>\n One question that came to mind about the re-print was a simple: Why?\u00a0 What about the culture of 1898 America created a market for this product?\u00a0 Unlike many modern reprints of books, there is no long-winded introduction explaining the cultural situation that accommodates publishing.\u00a0 One hint at why the almanac was put out can be found in the publisher.\u00a0 This re-printed almanac was produced by the Century Company, a New York publishing enterprise that began in 1881 and was particularly successful around the turn of the century.\u00a0 In 1930, the company was absorbed by another, and disappeared for a while.\u00a0 The company was revived in 2007 as a branch of Grand National Media.\u00a0 All the information I learned about the Century Company, I found on the modern Century Company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n