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February 2

Carl Robert Keyes

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Essex Journal (February 2, 1774).

“He assures the Public that No. I. for January 1774, will this week be put in the Press.”

Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued promoting a new venture, the Royal American Magazine, throughout January and into February 1774.  As the month began, he once again placed an update in the Essex Journal, the newspaper the industrious printer recently began publishing in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges in Newburyport.  That update advised the public that publication of the first issue of the magazine had been delayed because the ship carrying new types “was cast ashore at Cape Cod … and although the cargo was saved” the types did not arrive in Boston in time for “the day intended for Publication.”

The Adverts 250 Project has tracked Thomas’s advertising campaign for the Royal American Magazine throughout June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 1773.  The printer and his associates advertised in Boston, throughout New England, in New York and Pennsylvania, and as far south as Maryland.  Eighteen more advertisements for the Royal American Gazette appeared in newspapers in January 1774, half of them the update about the types.

A notice that “Subscription Papers will be returned to the intended Publisher in a few Days” that previously circulated widely made its final appearance in the Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, in that newspaper’s first issue of the year.  An earlier update, that one addressed to “generous Patrons and Promoters of useful KNOWLEDGE throughout AMERICA,” that had also circulated widely ran twice in the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, and once in the Maryland Journal, published in Baltimore.  That notice had not previously appeared in the Connecticut Courant.  It was the first time that any advertisement about the Royal American Magazine ran in the Maryland Journal, extending the reach of Thomas’s marketing efforts.

He also opted to insert the complete subscription proposals in the Massachusetts Spy once again.  In the January 13 edition, he added a note of explanation:  “It being a considerable time since the PROPOSALS for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE (which is now in the Press) were first published, and many Gentlemen and Ladies being desirous of seeing them, they are for that reason again inserted in this paper.”  Thomas had not published the complete subscription proposals in the Massachusetts Spy since August 19, 1773.  He claimed that he merely responded to the wishes of “many Gentlemen and Ladies,” though that may have been a ploy to suggest the sort of interest and demand that might prompt prospective subscribers to reserve their copies.  Running the complete subscription proposals once again also buttressed his update about the types that appeared on another page of that issue, while his assertion that the magazine “is now in the Press” underscored that those who had hesitated to subscribe until it became clear that Thomas would actually publish the magazine could no longer wait.  In the next issue, the complete subscription proposals and the update about the types ran one after the other on the first page of the January 20 edition of the Massachusetts Spy.

The update about the types ran in various newspapers at least nine times in January.  It may have first appeared in the January 3 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, an issue no longer extant.  When it ran in the January 10 edition, the dateline read, “Boston, January 3, 1774,” suggesting that it could have been in the previous issue as well.  Throughout the rest of the month, the update appeared in the Essex Journal four times and in the Massachusetts Spy three times.  Newspapers published by Thomas almost exclusively carried that update, circulating it throughout Massachusetts and other colonies in New England as post riders delivered subscriptions far and wide.  In addition to the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, the New-Hampshire Gazette also carried the update about the types in January.  Dated “January 2d,” it ran in the January 28 edition.

Connecticut Gazette (January 7, 1774).

One other advertisement about the Royal American Magazine ran in January, this one exclusively in the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London.  A brief notice informed readers that “Subscriptions for the Royal-American MAGAZINE are taken in by the Printer of this Paper.”  Thomas may or may not have arranged with Timothy Green to publish this advertisement.  It appeared in three consecutive issues before being discontinued, standard practice for other advertisements submitted to the printing office.  Thomas could have sent instructions (and promised to pay) for the advertisement.  That seems most likely, especially since it was the first time that any advertisements for the Royal American Magazine ran in the Connecticut Gazette.  On the other hand, Green may have taken the initiative, aware from his participation in a network of printers that crisscrossed New England and other colonies that Thomas would soon publish the first issue of the magazine.  Green may have collected subscriptions as a service to his local customers as much as a favor to Thomas, encouraging them to visit his printing office to acquire reading materials rather than purchase them elsewhere.

Thomas’s advertising campaign for the Royal American Magazine continued in January 1774, though it also continued to taper off compared to previous months.  He exerted more effort in disseminating the subscription proposals widely and inciting interest in the prospects of the new magazine than in promoting it once publication commenced.  Once he achieved sufficient demand to make the magazine viable, he did not advertise as widely.

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“Subscription Papers will be returned” Update

“generous Patrons” Update

Subscription Proposals

“Types are now arrived” Update

“Subscriptions … taken in”

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