Author: ALMANAC. BULLFIGHT.
Title: Messager Boiteux Almanach historique  Contenant des Observations astronomiques sur chaque mois. Le cours du Soleil et de la Lune.... Pour l'An de Grace 1845... Par Antoine Souci.
Description: A Vevey, Chez L'OErtscher et Files..., 1845. 4to, 208 x 168, pp. [64], title-page with woodcut red and black on fifth leaf, Le Veritable Messager Boiteux de Berne et Vevey on woodcut front cover (soiled), woodcut illustrations in text, 2 full-page woodcuts in text, folding engraved woodcut of "Combat de taureaux a Quito en Amerique," plate area measuring 280 x 160 mms., with French - Swiss exchange rates for five francs on verso, stitched as issued; lacks rear cover, edges worn and creased, but text clear and clean. This almanac is notable for being an exceedingly rare publication from the tiny township of Vevy in eastern France, and for including a very early depiction of bullfighting. The commune of Vevey had a population of only 398 residents in 1841, and a more recent census, conducted in 2013, recorded a population of merely 251 residents. The engraved title-page gives a variant title, Le Véritable Messager Boiteux de Berne et Vevey, which indicates that the coverage of the content includes Berne, the "de facto capital of Switzerland" (Wikipedia). Why a French-Swiss almanac would include an image of a bullfight in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, in the first half of the nineteenth century, is not a question that I can answer. According to the title-page, the almanac includes astronomical observations keyed to each month, the cycles of both sun and moon, the principal fairs scheduled for Switzerland, Germany, and France, plus a series of narratives and anecdotes accompanied by illustrations. The title-page also assures the reader that he or she is in good hands as the author of the almanac, Antoine Souci, is both astronomer and historiographer. "Cette publication à fort caractère régional contient les calendriers protestants et catholiques, des observations astronomiques sur chaque mois, le cours du soleil et de la lune, les principales foires de Suisse, des départements limitrophes de la France et de la vallée d'Aoste, un recueil de récits et d'anecdotes accompagné de gravures, une revue des principaux événements survenus dans le monde, en Suisse et dans chacun des cantons romands l'année précédente. Le messager boiteux contient également des prévisions statistiques climatiques pour l'année à venir. Il est souvent mentionné en référence aussi bien dans les conversations de tous les jours que dans les articles de presse lorsque des périodes climatiques particulières surviennent (canicules, longues périodes humides, grands froids, etc.)." Wikepedia. Why a Swiss almanac would include an image of a bullfight in Ecquador is not a question I can answer. No copy of this 1845 edition in COPAC. The only copy I have located of this almanac in a library is the one at Harvard (catalogued under the engraved title, Le Véritable Messager Boiteux de Berne et Vevey, at Houghton shelfmark FC8.A100.845m).

Keywords: almanac History prose


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