Poor Richard is 282 Years Old

almanackBenjamin Franklin may be the earliest indie author in North America. He wrote and self-published Poor Richard’s Almanack on this day in 1732, and it was so successful it ran for decades after that, lasting sixteen years.

It was considered a best seller, with print runs reaching ten thousand per year.

The Almanack contained weather forecasts, puzzles, household hints, and more.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a digitized copy of one of the issues – and I thought Project Gutenberg might have preserved a few issues, but no.

I even failed to find an image of a 1732 edition. This 1733 image on the right is the earliest one I could find. Note Benjamin Franklin’s by-line as publisher and distributor at the bottom of the page. 🙂

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