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

“I have sent Subscription Papers into all publick Places of the Country.”

Two advertisements that led the front page of the December 1, 1774, edition of Alexander Purdie and John Dixon’s Virginia Gazette provided important updates from the printers.  In the first, Purdie reported that he planned to “resign the Conduct of this Gazette” and wished to express his “sincere and most grateful Acknowledgments to all our Customers, and to the Publick in general,” for years of support.  In addition, he announced that he “shall begin doing Business for myself, and intend to print a GAZETTE as soon as I am furnished with a moderate Number of Customers.”  To entice them, he unveiled the proposed newspaper’s motto: “ALWAYS FOR LIBERTY AND THE PUBLICK GOOD.”  To acquire content, Purdie asked “the Favour of my BROTHER PRINTERS to the Northward to furnish me with their Newspapers, and they shall be sure to have mine, as soon as I begin to print.”  No doubt he and Dixon already participated in such exchanges.

Purdie planned to launch that enterprise “Immediately after Christmas,” but there was no guarantee that he would attract enough subscribers and advertisers to make a go of it.  After all, his newspaper would compete with the Virginia Gazettethat Dixon continued to publish and another Virginia Gazette printed by John Pinkney.  Was Williamsburg and the rest of the colony ready to support three newspapers?  To get a better sense of the market, Purdie “sent Subscription Papers into all publick Places of the Country” and instructed prospective customers that they could also contact him by letter or visit his printing office.  He eventually gained the “moderate Number of Customers” that he needed, though it took a couple of months before he distributed the first issue of his Virginia Gazette on February 3, 1775.  In that time, he also operated a shop where he sold books, sheet music, and stationery, pledging to circulate “a Catalogue of all my Books, &c. as soon as I possibly can.”  Purdie resorted to a variety of marketing media: newspaper advertisements, subscription papers, book catalogs.

In the second advertisement, Dixon revealed William Hunter, “Son of the late Mr. WM. HUNTER of this City, Printer,” would become his new partner in printing the Virginia Gazette and running a book and stationery shop.  He suggested that customers would experience a seamless transition, expressing his “most grateful Thanks for their many Favours” in the past, reminding them that “my Conduct, while in Company with Mr. PURDIE, met with general Approbation,” and pledging that “my future Endeavours to serve the Publick … will render me an Object worthy of their Encouragement.”  Aas Purdie sought subscribers and advertisers for his proposed newspaper, Dixon hoped to maintain the clientele they had cultivated over nearly a decade of working together.

Before perusing news articles or essays in the December 1 edition of Purdie and Dixon’s Virginia Gazette, readers first encountered two advertisements that delivered important news about the future of that newspaper and the possibility that another newspaper might soon be published in Williamsburg.  As was so often the case, printers used advertising space in their own publication to promote their enterprises, framing their work as service to the public.