This 1889 volume collects the best writings printed by Benjamin Franklin in his famous Poor Richard’s Almanack between the years 1733 and 1758. Poor Richard’s Almanack was an early success for Franklin, with some printings selling as many as 10,000 copies. Much of the reason for the almanac’s success lay in the book’s contents. Rather than a dry collection of astrological and meteorological tables, as was customary in other almanacs of the day, Franklin filled his with a mix of aphorisms and proverbs advising thrift and courtesy, though with a dash of cynicism. Many of these sayings live on in American English today.
