Kevin's Blog

History doesn't tell us too much about Robert Bailey Thomas. What we do know is that he was well educated, a good mechanic, and made a living binding books. He could also be credited with creating the colonial version of Office Depot, Office Max, or Staples, opening an office supply store that sold stationery, quills, ink, ink pots, blank tablets, slates, pencils, and cards. Finally, he was an astute weather observer. He had to be!

Have you ever experienced what varying temperatures and humidity does to paper? Or ink? Try leaving an ink pen or paper in your car in extreme hot or cold conditions. Or try loading paper into your modern day printer or copier if it has been sitting out for a while. We have the best in climate control in our offices today and you can still predict that epic copier jam if you load the paper that has been sitting unwrapped.

Imagine your office in 1792, and trying to make sure that your parchment, ink, etc. would serve the needs of your customers. You had to be able to predict the weather to protect your inventory, and that is exactly what Thomas set out to do. At the age of 26, Thomas determined that patterns of hot and cold and wet and dry weather seemed to be correlated with sunspots. He devised a set of formulas and then began printing weather forecasts for his customers, binding them in a book to sell in his store.

Given that our society in the post-Revolutionary period was predominately agrarian, Thomas included a number of helpful planting, growing, and harvesting tips in his book. Because he was also an amateur astronomer (recall his sun spot observations) he also included astronomical data like moon phase, sunrise and sunset times, etc. During 1792-1793 he sold 3000 copies of his book at 6 pence (about a dime) a piece, mostly to farmers.

In 1793, word about Thomas' book and the accuracy of his weather forecasts spread. Thomas printed a new version of the book and sold 9000 copies. By the time Thomas died in 1846, his book was being sold to over a quarter of a million people. Every year the book contained new weather forecasts based on Thomas' sunspot research, and included farming tips, astronomical information, and other articles related to life at the time.

It is the book that lists Sunday January 4th as the perihelion in the Earth's annual orbit around the Sun. What is a perihelion? It is the closest point in a planet's elliptical orbit around the Sun. On Sunday the Earth will pass within 91,400,936 miles from the Sun, its closest point. Yes, the earth is closer to the Sun during our winter than during our summer. In other words, seasons have nothing to do with how close the Earth is to the Sun!

It is the book that lists this weekend as the perfect weekend to "destroy pests and weeds, prune plants to encourage growth, and cut hay." If you are busy this weekend, your next best chance to do these things is not until Jan 30-31.

It is the book that has been printed 217 consecutive years since Thomas' first edition was published in late 1792 for the year 1793. It is the longest running periodical in American history.

The book is the Old Farmers Almanac.

The next time you are in the grocery store, superstore or bookstore, pick up a copy and look at the cover. There you will find Robert Bailey Thomas. He is the one on the right. As for the person on the left? That's some guy named Franklin. He had an Almanac too, Poor Richard's Almanack, but he stopped publishing it in 1758 when he got busy with other matters!

Have you ever looked at the Old Farmers Almanac? Have you ever used the weather forecasts or other information inside? Share your almanac experiences in the comment section below!