To Patrons

In Appreciation of Predictability

You might think that this reflection is about weather forecasting, dear patrons, but wait…

One hundred seventy-five years ago, the founder of this Almanac, Robert B. Thomas, wrote the following in this column of the 1834 edition:

“It is with deep and lively gratitude that we embrace the present opportunity to express our sincere acknowledgment for the long and continued preference given our little work over those similar publications which swarm from presses annually.”

This year, we echo those words and sentiment: Thank you for choosing to purchase, read, and use this Almanac, especially when other essential expenses press on your pocketbook, countless distractions compete for your time, technology offers an ever-widening array of information sources, and, yes, similar publications continue to swarm.

We appreciate your loyalty to our endeavor, for you inspire a question often posed to us: How does the Almanac, with its newsprint pages, its esoteric data, its quaint design—even its nominal appeal to a seemingly niche readership—fit into 21st-century life?

One answer surely would be, “The same way that it fit into 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century life”—by filling a need simply, reliably, and consistently. (If you have another answer, please share it in a note to P.O. Box 520, Dublin, NH 03444, or at Almanac.com/feedback.)

Mr. Thomas had the good sense to endow this publication with a structure and style that is enduring and eminently reproducible. We (that is, all succeeding editors) have had enough sense to know that we should not change a thing. But heaven knows, we all have weak moments. To those, you and generations of readers have responded in no uncertain terms over the years.

For example, in 1939, Editor Roger Scaife garnered your accolades for enlisting contributors such as Robert Frost but fell from grace when sales plummeted because he swapped the usual weather forecasts for averages from the U.S. Weather Bureau.

In 1998, a survey proposing elimination of the hole in the corner brought a resounding “Don’t you dare!” So be it.

In 2005, when this editor transposed placement of the weather predictions with the Calendar pages, your passionate and perplexed reactions smarted like a ruler rapping on knuckles. Lesson learned. Thank you for caring so much.

This is why this Almanac mirrors substantially the first edition released in 1792, and why it “fits” into this day and age. Almanac readers have an aversion to change on these pages. Each issue is at once both fresh and familiar.

The Calendar pages, a precise reckoning of the astronomical year and thereby the very definition of this Almanac, are the portion that has been the least altered in form or substance. However, the data contained there is of the moment.

The features, folklore, facts, and even forecasts adhere to Mr. Thomas’s mandate “to be useful with a pleasant degree of humor.” (Funny forecasts? Those would be the rhyming verses on the right-hand Calendar pages.) That the mere mention of this Almanac inspires a smile proves that this mission has been accomplished. We expect and aspire to earn anew your patronage every year. Thank you for your enthusiasm for our efforts yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

There is another aspect of “fit” that merits mention: The print edition of this Almanac, while handy and everlasting, contains a finite number of pages. What’s more, the daily astronomical events are “set” to specific locations. For most of you, accurate and timely viewing of these events has heretofore required relatively complicated calculations with the Time Corrections tables.

Now, exact times for these celestial events are available at MyLocal Almanac.com simply by keying in your zip or postal code. This feature joins an array of special-interest media currently available on Almanac.com (others include RSS feeds of daily data, podcasts, blogs, this publication in graphic form, and local daily weather). All of this as well as projects still in development are intended to build a community of Almanac enthusiasts and make this publication and Almanac.com your Almanac.

We provide these and all of our services with deep and lively gratitude.

However, it is by our works and not our words that we would be judged. These, we hope, will sustain us in the humble though proud station we have so long held in the name of Your obedient servant, Robt. B. Thomas.