THE NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, AND GENTLEMEN AND LADIES DIARY, FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD CHRIST, 1787....By Edmund Freebetter, Philo

New-London: Printed and Sold by T. Green, [1786].. [24]pp. Small octavo. Gathered signatures, stitched. Foredge of first two leaves frayed with small tears into the border, some touching text. Some margins trimmed very close, without loss of text. Faint dampstain to gutter, somewhat stronger towards the end. Overall good. The 1787 edition of Connecticut mathematician and textbook author Nathan Daboll's series of Freebetter almanacs. While the verses of the first six months are fairly typical seasonal quatrains, July through December feature an ongoing poem against the excesses of contemporary fashion titled "Modern Dress. To the Ladies." The poem begins: "Since God, as we in holy writings find,/ has stamp'd his sacred image on mankind,/ Why do we strive to make that blessing less,/ By all the foolish frippery of dress?" Aside from the calendar verses, this almanac contains several short bits of moral or humorous verse and prose, a table showing the conversion rate of Spanish dollars over several years, and a somewhat extended table of distances. The bottom of the final page also features a brief advertisement for Thomas C. Green's bookshop and bindery. DRAKE 404. EVANS 19595. ESTC W10410.