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On the first page of his 1710, New York published “American almanack” Daniel Leeds presents an exasperated, sarcastic reaction to alleged lies and abuses by fellow almanac writer, Jacob Taylor. He writes, “Notwithstanding the ill-favour'd Titles J. Taylor has bestowed on me, and multiferous Lyes he has accused me of, and the Abuses he has put on those who have any respect for me, calling them, my stupid Crew of Adherenes, and that without the least provocation from me; and in his last years Almanack he continues to abuse me, tho' in softer terms than formerly, yet rendering a Lyar and Infatuated (Leeds 2).” Throughout this passage, Leeds makes reference to several instances of bickering between himself and Taylor over the past several years. Due to the frequency of similar conflicts, this Leeds v. Taylor rivalry may actually have been somewhat of a publicity stunt.
Upon searching for more information about the nature of this dispute, I found a secondary source in which Marion Barber Stowell outlines some of the most famous feuds between American almanac makers in the 18th century. Based on Stowell’s review, it seems like the rivalry between Daniel Leeds and Jacob Taylor was actually one of many feuds between almanac makers through their prefaces (other famous ones include Benjamin Franklin v. Titan Leeds and Nathan Bowen v. Nathaniel Whittemore) (Stowell 277). Interestingly, Stowell brings attention to how these sorts of public fights were actually a strategy to overcome the difficulty of market competition. Because the main components of almanacs were more or less identical each year, these passionate prefaces helped individual almanac makers establish loyal readerships by personally connecting with the reader and explicitly denouncing a particular rival (Stowell 266-267).
Daniel Leeds’ overdramatic preface does seem like it would be useful in drawing a committed audience. He crafts an inflammatory but less-than serious tone through his use of italicization and font for emphasis and his bold choice of accusatory and discrediting language (Lyes, Abuses, he ought not to be believed, etc.). Additionally, the reader is implicated in the supposed “Lyes” and “Abuses” of Jacob Taylor, as the audience is addressed as Leeds’ “stupid Crew of Adherenes (Leeds 2).” It makes sense that this would strengthen an invested audience’s loyalty to Leeds and distaste for Taylor, which was necessary for Leeds to maintain popularity and sales. Based on the almanacs we have read in class, it seems that, though the actual information in almanacs was useful to a wide audience, the entertainment value had a major influence on which almanac an individual would choose to buy for a given year. The several-year rivalry between Daniel Leeds and Jacob Taylor seen in this preface appears to be playing off this component of market value.
Works Cited
Leeds, Daniel. Leeds, 1710 The American almanack for the year of Christian account 1710. ...
Fitted to the latitude of 40 degrees, and a meridian of five hours west from London but
may, without sensible error, serve all the adjacent places, even from Newfound-Land to
Carolina. By Daniel Leeds, philomat. [Five lines of quotation]. New York, 1710 [i.e.,
1709?]. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. University of Maryland
College Park. 15 Oct. 2020
Stowell, Marion Barber. “American Almanacs and Feuds.” Early American Literature, vol. 9,
no. 3, 1975, pp. 276–285. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25070683. Accessed 17 Oct.
2020.
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