Particularly during the ancien régime, the almanac was the stock-in-trade of littérature de colportage, reading-matter for the barely literate. In its simplest form a calendar with pictures, costing from three to six sous, it was sold in massive quantities, above all to peasants. Typically (as in the Grand Calendrier compost des bergers) it also contained texts of various kinds, from astrological prophecies to news stories, religious or political discourses, songs, and poems. Michelet dreamed of harnessing its popular appeal to the educational needs of modern democracy.
[Peter France]
