Almanach#

Almanac, yearbook, originally an astronomical calendar. Yearly almanacs with texts from a wide variety of specialised fields have been published since the 16th century. In the 18th century, the "Musen-Almanach" was introduced after the French model, mainly containing unpublished poetry (predominantly poetry and short narrative forms). From 1777, the Vienna Musen-Almanach, edited by J. F. Ratschky and G. von Leon, appeared along with a number of others. Because of their mainly undemanding, short and entertaining texts, almanacs were especially popular in the Biedermeier period. In the 19th century the theater almanac became very popular; the 20th century has seen the newest type arise, the publisher's almanac, which is a cross-section of the publisher's selection from the last year for special occasions or promotional purposes.