“Poor Richard’s Almanack”: The Repository for Ben Franklin’s Witty Sayings and Dad Jokes
By Karen Harris | December 26, 2022
If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, he would probably be a popular social media influencer. His tweets and posts would likely be filled with clever quotes, kernels of advice, fun facts, social and political observations, witty comments about the weather, and dad jokes. What makes us say this? Because this is exactly what Franklin did in his lifetime, using the only social media vehicle available to him in 1700s colonial America … the printing press. Ben Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack was published once a year, beginning on December 19, 1732, and continued to be for the next 25 years. With average annual sales of 10,000 copies, Poor Richard’s Almanack was the most popular publication in colonial America and one of the most widely read non-secular books. What made Poor Richard’s Almanack so special? Let’s find out.
Ben Franklin, a Jack of All Trades
Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Boston in 1706, well before the founding of the United States, dabbled in many areas. He was a true Renaissance Man and a jack of all trades. He was just 12 years old when he apprenticed at his brother’s print shop where he learned the ins and outs of printing, book publishing, the newspaper business, and writing. But throughout his adulthood, he added skills to his arsenal and careers to his resume. He was a scientist, statesman, naturalist, inventor, scholar, astronomer, currency printer, educator, diplomat, postal worker, firefighter, politician, and businessman. He was one of the leading intellectuals of the 1700s, well-traveled, and a keen observer. Franklin was called on to help when the United States was being formed. He was a Founding Father and one of the men who drafted the Declaration of Independence.
Almanacs, a Popular Genre of the Day
In the 1700s, almanacs (or almanacks, to use Franklin’s spelling) were one of the most popular book genres in the American colonies and in England. Basically, an almanac was a publication that was printed once a year and contained vital information on a variety of topics that were important to farmers, fishermen, and others. An almanac had weather forecasts for the entire year, charts to show the movement of the tides, planting dates for farmers, and astronomical information, like sunrise and sunset times, full moons, and eclipses. Most of this information is now immediately available to us on our cell phones. In publication form in the 1700s, the information could be months old or blatantly inaccurate, but this was all they had to go on.
Almanacs also contained statistics and demographic information from the previous year, such as populations. It may also have included major news stories from the previous year.
Ben Franklin’s Pen Names
Benjamin Franklin wrote and published a lot more than one might think. That’s because he was fond of using pen names so that the public – and probably his brother, the print shop owner – didn’t know he was the true author. In fact, historians have identified 32 pen names that Franklin used throughout his life. He not only created pseudonyms, but he invented plausible backstories for many of them so that his writings looked like they were penned by both men and women and people of all ages, socioeconomic levels, and different nationalities. Poor Richard of Poor Richard’s Almanack was one.
When he started his almanac, Franklin borrowed (or stole, depending on who you ask) the name Richard Saunders. The real Richard Saunders was a British astrologer and physician. He started writing and publishing an almanac, Rider’s British Merlin, in 1626 under a pen name of his own, Cardanus Rider, an anagram of his true name. Franklin borrowed (or stole) the “poor” part from yet another British almanac, Poor Robin. The result was the name Poor Richard’s Almanack, which was written and published by Franklin under the pen name of Richard Saunders.
