Schott’s Almanac was launched in Autumn 2005 as “the very model of a modern, major almanac.”

 

In contrast to some of its venerable forerunners in the field, Schott’s Almanac was designed to be a more practical and entertaining annual volume, providing an intelligent analysis of the year’s events while giving a true sense of the year just ending and the year ahead – from the winner of “I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!,” to the distribution of income across the social divide.

 

The Almanac’s motto

 

Liber Praeteritorum Et Posteritatis Carmen

 

translates as

 

The Book of Things Past and the Song of the Future

 

Schott’s Almanac represented a significant, though evolutionary departure from the Miscellanies. It has a more structured content, which was divided into logically clearly signposted sections. Nonetheless, it was hoped that any fan of the Miscellanies, would feel immediately at home in the pages of the Almanac.

 

Schott’s Almanac ran in Britain for six editions (2006–2011), and in both America and German for three editions (2007–2009). Because of the very country-specific nature of the material, a good three-quarters of the content was different from country to country. And, because both the news and many of the statistics needed to be constantly updated, each country volume contained about four-fifth’s new material each year. (Of course, the German Almanac was in German.)

 

For every edition, the scraperboard cover art was by Alison Lang, and the pointillism portraits and illustrations were by Chris Lyon.

 

Below is an overview of the British Almanac from 2006–2011, indicating the Person of the Year, the Object of the Year, and the Substance of the Year.