Souvenir Pour l’an 1816. Contenant le lever et le coucher du soleil et de la lune

Paris: (Doublet for) Caillot, 1815. Vertically oriented oblong 32mo (93 x 52 mm). Collation 1-48 (nested quires, stitched in the middle). [32] leaves, printed vertically, title-page printed on verso, woodcut royal arms on title, thick and thin page rule borders, colophon on recto of last leaf; first and last leaves mounted to wrappers. Contemporary pale orange wrappers, original pasteboard slipcase with scalloped gold-tooled border and title Souvenir on one side. Early signature of “Mme Dalmon” on slipcase (very sliightly rubbed).***

An ephemeral survival, in fine condition: a 19th-century version of the strip calendars that were popular in the previous century, it reads “vertically,” the book opening from the top or bottom of each double-page, the latter being imposed to extend from the top to the bottom of each leaf-opening.

The almanac opens with the year 1816 in different calendars, most of which are wildy inaccurate, e.g., the Julian calendar (6531), or years from the foundation of Rome or from the birth of Naboassar. The Hebrew calendar is (glaringly) omitted. Each month has two page openings, one for the calendar of saints’ days, and one for times of sunrise and sunset and phases of the moon. The last four double-pages contain lists of the accessions to power of the “Principales puissances de l’Europe.” The calendar appeared after the restoration of Louis XVIII (following the 100-day interruption of Napoleon’s return) and is resolutely royalist, up to the last entry: “Etats-Unis d’Amér. James Madisson, président le 4 mars 1809. La durée de ses fonctions est de quatre ans.” (Thank you for your attention to this matter.)

I locate no other copies. Cf. Grand-Carteret 1684, 1813 issue.