Near-Regency-era collection of almanacs bound together — appealingly bound with slips of vellum, titled in manuscript, extending as tabs beyond the fore-edge, marking each imprint within the volume.
Near fine.
Price: $500.00
This volume contains seven different almanacs for the year 1810, all of which were long-standing almanac series: THE GENTLEMAN'S DIARY, OR, THE MATHEMATICAL REPOSITORY; THE LADIES' DIARY, OR, WOMAN'S ALMANACK; VOX STELLARUM: OR, A LOYAL ALMANACK; MERLINUS LIBERATUS; OLD POOR ROBIN; SPECULUM ANNI; and THE COELESTIAL ATLAS; OR, A NEW EPHEMERIS. "English almanacs had got longer and more complex over time: expanding from calendars, simple interest rate tables and chronologies of world history to incorporate more complex data; tide tables, conversion charts for weights and measures, timekeeping correction data and the eclipse co-ordinates" (Mori, 24); with this complexity came content targeted to specific audiences, as shown in the variety here. The collection makes a useful compare-and-contrast between the different approaches — with added markers designed to organize the contents, likely offered this way at purchase, as the binding and tabs are found in other examples. The tabs speak to the long tradition, especially in reference works, of distinguishing sections by some design element at the fore-edge — while evoking the modern reading habit of placing colorful tabs in the same area.
Read more: Mori, "Popular Science in Eighteenth Century Almanacs: The Editorial Career of Henry Andrews of Royston, 1780–1820," in History of Science 2016, Vol. 54(1).
London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, [1809]-1810. 7 volumes bound in 1, 6.5'' x 4''. Contemporary full straight-grained red morocco binding, gilt rules to boards, elaborately tooled in gilt to spine. Marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Text printed in red and black. Each 48 pages. Titles with duty stamps. Seven slips of vellum (about 1/8'' wide each) bound in at gutters before each title page, each slightly lower than the next. Authors or titles added in manuscript to ends of slips, soiled and curled beyond fore-edge. Spine lightly sunned, with minor edgewear.
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