Poor Richard's Almanac

Poor Richard's Almanack (sometimes Almanac) was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this purpose. The publication appeared continuously from 1732 to 1758. It was a best seller for a pamphlet published in the American colonies; print runs reached 10,000 per year. Franklin, the American inventor, statesman, and publisher, achieved success with Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacks were very popular books in colonial America, with people in the colonies using them for the mixture of seasonal weather forecasts, practical household hints, puzzles, and other amusements they offered. Poor Richard's Almanack was popular for all of these reasons, and also for its extensive use of wordplay, with many examples derived from the work surviving in the contemporary American vernacular. The Almanack contained the calendar, weather, poem, and astronomical and astrological information that a typical almanack of the period... full article at wikipedia