Cohn 184. FIRST EDITION. Complete with the 32pp. of adverts at end (the last of which, Beaufoy's Instant Cure for the Tooth-Ache' contains two woodcuts by G.C.). The yellow slip 'New Books for Children' is likewise present at beginning. 'The Comic Almanacks', observes Robert L. Patten, 'were Cruikshank's most sustained bid to superintend a publication entirely of his own devising and management'. The series commenced in 1835, and continued on an annual basis until 1853. There were a number of editors and contributors, including Horace Smith, Gilbert A'Beckett, Vizetelly, the brothers Mayhew, and, in the 1839 and 1840 issues, Thackeray; 'Stubb's Calendar; or, The Fatal Boots' appears in monthly episodes in the 1839 Almanack, and is one of his earliest appearances in print. The Almanacks were later issued in collected form in cloth bindings, with several years to a volume. The original wrappered forms are now hard to procure, for as Cohn observed (a century ago), 'from the nature of the binding, the backs are nearly always either badly broken or missing'.