What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS FOR OFFICERS DETACHED IN THE FIELD.”
On August 12, 1775, Robert Aitken, a printer in Philadelphia, launched a new advertising campaign to promote his American edition of Military Instructions for Office Detached in the Field by Roger Stevenson. He began with advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the Pennsylvania Ledger. Two days later, he placed the same advertisement in Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet and then in the Pennsylvania Gazette another two days after that. Aitken’s new advertisement significantly expanded on the notice that he had published in June.
This time, for example, the printer announced that his American edition was “Dedicated to His Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq; General and Commander in Chief of the Army of the United Colonies of North-America.” The book itself featured a short dedication essay that extended four pages. In the new advertisement, Aitken promoted some of the usual qualities that printers, publishers, and booksellers often highlighted, noting that the book was printed “On fine Paper, [with] a beautiful new Type” and the “twelve useful Plates” or illustrations “of the Manœuvres” supplemented the text. Each bound copy cost six shillings and six pence, though Aitken also marketed a “few copies on a superfine paper” for one dollar to those who desired even higher quality. The price was a bargain, the printer noted, with a bound copy of the London edition selling for ten shillings.
Beyond those details, Aitken incorporated an address “TO THE PUBLIC” into this advertisement, though he did not generate the copy himself. Instead, he borrowed liberally from the preface of the book, making minor revisions here and there. In effect, he gave prospective customers a preview of what they would read once they purchased Military Instructions for Officers Detached in the Field. In the preface, Stevenson lamented that “inferior officers have had no source from whence they could derive instruction on the duties of their sphere in the field,” but he aimed to remedy that with this volume. He almost certainly had not intended, however, that it would be used by officers in the “Army of the United Colonies of North-America” as they defended their liberties in what would eventually become a war for independence. Aitken saw an opportunity to generate revenues in the wake of the battles at Lexington and Concord.
In a nota bene, the printer added that he stocked “A complete and elegant MAP of the country, shewing the Seat of the present unhappy Civil War in North-America.” Bernard Romans, a prominent cartographer, distributed broadside subscription proposals a month earlier, listing Aitken among the many local agents who collected names of subscribers who ordered copies in advance. The printer gave details about the map not included in the broadside subscription proposal and that had not appeared in newspaper notices. The map featured a “beautiful Draught of the Provincial CAMP: Likewise, A perspective View of BOSTON, and Gen. Gage’s LINE.” Current events certainly shaped which items Aitken produced, advertised, and sold at his printing office in Philadelphia.