NINETEENTH CENTURY CAPE ALMANAC AND DIRECTORIES.

This article focuses on nineteenth century capealmanacs and directories. In its simplest form an almanac is a book or table containing the days, weeks and months of the year, showing a register of ecclesiastical and other festivals and saints' days together with a record of astronomical phenomena. With the passage of time the contents of almanacs were augmented and expanded to include other useful information of record such as factual records on the weather and rainfall; institutions and personalia; taxes and duties; gardening and agricultural calendars; shipping movements, etc. Being issued each year they were regarded as ephemeral and old ones were usually discarded. Their fascination and importance derive largely from the fact that they contain unbiased records of earlier times. While these annual publications are commonly referred to as "Cape Almanacs," their actual titles changed from time to time, as did the publishers, printers and compilers. They appeared every year from 1801 until 1897 with the exception of 1803 and 1864. After 1897 directories of different kinds, some in specialized fields, became numerous and of less interest to the collector.