Hordern House

ALMANAC Der hoch Deutsch Americanische Calender auf das Jahr nach der Gnadenreichen Geburt unsers Herrn und Henlandes Jesu Christi 1775. Germantown (Philadelphia),  1775

Small quarto; lightly toned, a very good copy in the original pictorial wrappers, stitched and unbound as issued.

Very rare American almanac prepared for the German-speaking immigrant population of Philadelphia, containing a splendid image and report of a kangaroo.

The publication contains the usual sort of matter that might be expected in an eighteenth-century almanac - calendar and zodiac and so forth - but is unusually interesting for its special purpose as a sort of primer for German immigrant relations with the British, setting out the sort of information that might help the German settlers understand the culture of their colonial masters: the current age of George III, a short history of England and its kings (with a long digression on Cromwell accompanied by an unflattering portrait), and a brief guide to the legal wording of wills and documents in English. "Latest news from England" is the theme of the emblematic vignette on the cover: a German-American local accepts a letter from a newly-arrived messenger, just stepped from the cutter of a British ship in the background. The freshness of the news is emphasised by the figure of Mercury loitering in the sky above them.

It is as part of the latest news that the kangaroo makes his appearance - indeed the news is so recent that it has even outstripped its name: throughout, the kangaroo is referred to as 'the animal pictured here'. Although the image is certainly derived from the famous engraving in Hawkesworth's account of Cook's first voyage, the accompanying text is in fact directly drawn from Parkinson's Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, a text that did not mention the Aboriginal name for the animal.

As it was for use during 1775 the almanac would of course have been printed during 1774. Both Hawkesworth and Parkinson were published in the latter half of 1773, and it is interesting to note the speed with which elements of both are disseminated, reaching the east coast of America in just over a year.

$A11000

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