1849: Youth

Oldest children's almanac

In the course of the eighteenth century, almanac publishers also discovered that young people, like women, constituted a distinct group of readers. Starting in 1760, almanacs began to be published that, according to their titles, were explicitly aimed at youth. The oldest children's almanac in the KB is the Almanach voor kinderen [Almanac for Children] of 1781. This work capitalized on the popularity of the children's poems of Hieronymus van Alphen of 1778 - and with success, as the almost twenty successive volumes testify. The almanac's simple poems told children how to behave and urged them to love their families, God and country. Many almanac makers also hoped to penetrate the hearts of adolescents by putting words such as 'polite' and 'courteous' in their titles. The appeal of these books was heightened by the presence of pretty pictures. The texts also emphasized doing good deeds for family and fellow citizens, but here the almanac makers placed some of their focus on burgeoning love as well.

Risqué

De vermaaklyke horologie-almanach [The Entertaining Horological Almanac] of 1795 is frankly risqué. This almanac, which is aimed at 'the girls and boys of the Netherlands', contains an engraving entitled 'Curiosity' in which a young man is shown wearing a pair of trousers with a front flap that can be raised and lowered...

Young People's Almanac

The only traditional elements in the children's almanacs were brief astronomical facts and information about postal services and markets. Even these were completely eliminated in the nineteenth century. The most popular Dutch children's almanac at that time was the Almanak voor de jeugd [Young People's Almanac]. The stories of Mrs A.B. van Meerten-Schilperoort, alternating with poems by C.P.E. Robidé van der Aa, were responsible for this popularity, along with the attractive coloured illustrations.

Holiday gifts

Almanacs were given to children during the holidays as well, as the story 'Het nieuwe almanakje' [The New Almanac] testifies, published in the Miniatuur-almanak voor kinderen [Miniature Almanac for Children] of 1849. A little boy complains to his mother that he's read the almanac all the way through just after having received it. His mother advises him to do more than just look at the pictures and to save his almanacs, as his sister does. Then each year he'll have more to read and to look at. If he were a good little boy and really listened to his mother, he would recognize himself four years later in a poem by A.H. van Thiel in the Almanak voor de jeugd of 1835: 'Er is een plekje in onzen tuin / Digt bij het middenvak, / Waar al mijn lieve roosjes staan, - / Daar lees 'k mijn almanak.' [There is a place behind our house / In the garden, right out back / Where all my favourite roses bloom - / There I read my almanac.]