| Item Description: | Advertised in the Massachusetts spy, Worcester, Oct. 30, 1783. - Drake, M. Almanacs, 3334. - English Short Title Catalog, W29836. - Evans, 17956. - In his "Notes on the almanacs of Massachusetts" (Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, n.s., v. 22 (1912): 34) C.L. Nichols states that "letters to Isaiah Thomas, in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society, prove that the calculations for these almanacs, from 1775 to 1786, were made by Benjamin West." Here Nichols erred in haste. AAS has two letters to Thomas from West, written in 1784 and 1785. The former discusses the sale of his calculations for 1785 to Thomas; the latter states his inability to provide them for 1786. None of the Thomas almanac before 1784 bears any resemblance to those of West, and most significantly resemble the work of other identifiable calculators. - Preface signed: Philomathes, i.e. Ezra Gleason. - Reproduction of original from British Library. - Though Evans attributes this series of almanacs through 1795 to Ezra Gleason, the present one is the work of Benjamin West. The ephemeris (p. [5]) is identical, and the eclipse predictions (p. [4]) and the astronomical and related notes on the calendar pages practically so, with those in West's The North-American calendar for 1784 (Providence). The last two columns on the calendar pages, containing calculations for the moon's place and for its rising and setting, duplicate those in West's almanac, as do the times for the moon's phases at the head of these pages. The remainder of the calculations vary slightly for the most part, reflecting the difference in meridian between Providence and Boston |
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