In mid-December 1732 Benjamin Franklin started to publish Poor Richard's Almanack, a periodical that was to occupy him for twenty-five years and that would bring his publisher economic success and enormous popularity. Richard Saunders, the fictitious character conceived by Franklin as almanac-maker, was to achieve a mythological status in the popular mind because of his practical proverbs, and his precepts were to stimulate the lives of many humble immigrants who had recently arrived in the British colonies from Germany and Ireland.

In conceiving his almanac Franklin followed the traditions of almanac making that had developed in England during much of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. His models were Willi

This article in full comprises 999 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 30 January 2003

Citation: Lena, Alberto. "Poor Richard's Almanack". The Literary Encyclopedia. 30 January 2003.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2617, accessed 20 November 2009.]