from an Almanack, 1726

"A copy of this 'Almanack' (entitled British Merlinand billed as having been 'made and compiled for his Country's Benefit, by Cardanus Rider') has remained in Nicolas' family since the eighteenth century and, as a child, he was shown the special small, leather-bound book with a clasp housing a metal stylus to be used as a pencil to make notes on a specially stiffened page. There are delicious marbled paper pockets at each end and the pages are printed in black and red. The book was one of the inspirational spurs towards becoming a printer!For this book, the 'Notes on Husbandry' sections (an important feature of the Almanack) have been reprinted with the advice for each month being printed alongside drawings made by Peter Reddick which wonderfully evoke the eighteenth century activities in the home and the estate - planting and pruning, sowing and harvesting and how to maintain the health of the family with physick and good sense.