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

“NUMBER V. of THE ROYAL American Magazine.”

Isaiah Thomas significantly scaled down advertising for the Royal American Magazine in June 1774 compared to previous months.  The Adverts 250 Project has chronicled the printer’s marketing efforts from the first time he announced his intention to publish a magazine, the only one in America at the time, in May 1773 through the advertisements that appeared in newspapers from New England to Maryland in June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 1773 and January, February, March, April, and May 1774.

Thomas did not publish the May 1773 issue of the Royal American Magazine until well into June.  That accounts for some of the lack of advertising.  His first notice for the month ran in the June 16 edition of his own newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy.  In a brief update, he informed the public that “TO-MORROW will be published, No. V. of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE,” but he did not mention any reason for the delay.  Six days later, the Essex Journal carried a notice that “Friday last was published in Boston, NUMBER V. of THE Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE OR UNIVERSAL Repository of Instruction and Amusement.”  It was “Printed and sold by I. THOMAS, in Boston; sold also at the Printing-Office in Newbury-Port.”  Henry-Walter Tinges operated that printing office, where he published the Essex Journal in partnership with Thomas.  As Tinges had done in connection with the first issue of the magazine, he previewed some of the contents in the Essex Journal.  For the weekly selection in the “Poets Corner” on the final page, he reprinted “FEMALE ADVICE,” a poem “From the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE.”

The most extensive advertisement for the magazine first appeared in the June 23 edition of the Massachusetts Spy.  It resembled advertisements from previous months, announcing publication of the latest issue, promoting the copperplate engraving that “Embellished” the magazine, and listing the contents, starting with “An act for blockading the harbour of Boston” that had attracted so much attention in that city and throughout the colonies.  That advertisement ran a second time in the Massachusetts Spy a week later.  That Thomas did not publish and distribute the May 1774 issue of the Royal American Magazine until June 17 offers a cautionary tale about using dates on eighteenth-century magazines to assess when readers gained access to the information contained in them.  In contrast to modern magazines distributed in advance of the dates on their covers, early American magazines were typically published at the end of the month. The May issue, for instance, would come out during the final days of May … yet in this instance the May issue of the Royal American Magazine did not appear until the middle of June.

In total, only four newspaper advertisements promoted the Royal American Magazine in June 1774, all of them in newspapers published by Thomas.  Unlike previous months, he did not insert announcements in any of the other newspapers printed in Boston.  In addition, he did not publish other sorts of notices related to the magazine, such as calls for contributors to make submissions.  The unfolding political situation in combination with his efforts to continue publishing the Massachusetts Spy may have occupied more of his time than in previous months, making it less of a priority to advertise the magazine.

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“TO-MORROW will be published, No. V”

• June 16 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)

“Friday last was published in Boston, NUMBER V”

• June 22 – Essex Journal (first appearance)

“This day was published … NUMBER V” (with contents)

• June 23 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
• June 30 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)