Daily Advert Update

May 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

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

Postscript to Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (May 13, 1776).

“A large number of children will be deprived of the means of acquiring learning.”

The colonies experienced a paper shortage when they adopted the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the Second Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts, and then compounded by the disruptions of the war after fighting commenced at Lexington and Concord.  Some newspapers skipped or reduced the size of some of their issues.  Printers published notices informing subscribers about the difficulty in acquiring paper.  Stationers also struggled to supply their customers.

In Philadelphia Jospeh Crukshank and James Truman attempted to increase the amount of paper produced locally, but to do so they needed “CLEAN LINEN RAGS” to recycle into that increasingly scarce commodity.  That meant enlisting the aid of others, far and wide, in collecting rags and sending them to Crukshank or Truman.  A few months earlier, Nathanil Patten, a bookbinder and stationer in Norwich, Connecticut, issued a similar call to “all true Friends to America, [to] exert their utmost Endeavours to promote and encourage” paper production by collecting “Clean Linen Rags.”  There was more on the line, Crukshank and Truman warned, than just the newspapers that kept colonizers updated about current events.  “THE great scarcity of writing and printing papers must make the necessity of saving linen rags obvious to every person,” they declared, “and unless cares is taken of this very necessary article, it will not be in the power of the Paper-makers to furnish a sufficient quantity of writing paper for the use of schools.”  If that happened, then “a large number of children will be deprived of the means of acquiring learning.”  In addition, it would result in a “great obstruction to business which must arise from the want of paper.”  Education and commerce would both suffer if the colonies did not produce more paper, yet practically everyone could help to avoid that outcome.

That included women as they went about their daily tasks.  “In many parts of Great-Britain,” Crukshank and Truman observed, “it is customary for the women that sew, to have a small bag hanging to their chair.”  That made it easy to collect “the cuttings of linen, even to the smallest shred.”  Even as the colonies contested with Britain over their rights within the empire, Crukshank and Truman suggested that American women should follow a custom common on the other side of the Atlantic.  “If this were generally adopted here,” they asserted, “there is very little doubt but we should have paper enough to serve this province, and probably some to supply our neighbours.”  They were not the first to recruit women during the imperial crisis, making a mundane task resonate with political principles.  When John Keating needed clean linen rags for his “Paper Mill at Peek’s-Kill” in New York in 1773, he proclaimed that he “must humbly address the Fair Sex, requesting their aid, without which it will be impossible for him to establish this manufactory.”  He recommended that women “hang up a bag in some convenient part of the house, and take care to put every piece of linen that is unfit for any other use, in it.”  Every woman who did so, he pledged, “will have the satisfaction of being conscious of contributing her part to the advancement of her country.”  In February 1776, Ebenezer Watson, the printer of the Connecticut Courant, asked “the Ladies, to be very careful of their Rags,” because the local paper manufactory “must fail” without them.  Crukshank and Truman made a similar appeal to women in Philadelphia and its hinterlands, acknowledging that they could play a vital role as both education and commerce were threatened by the shortage of paper.

They also made an appeal to shopkeepers to act as local agents who organized the collection of clean linen rags.  “Persons sending rags” to Crukshank or Truman, they offered, “may generally be supplied with writing paper in proportion to the quantity of rags sent.”  In particular, “store-keepers in the country, who take in rags and send them” would benefit from this system.  Everyone could play a part in this endeavor.  What seemed like a small effort for any one person would have cumulative effects when they all joined together.

May 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Pennsylvania Ledger (May 11, 1776).

“All the newest political pamphlets, either for or against independency, may be had at said Bell’s.”

Robert Bell, one of the most prominent American printers and booksellers of the second half of the eighteenth century, advertised his publications widely.  In the spring of 1776, he ran an advertisement that announced, “Just printed, published and now selling … THE DISEASES incident to ARMIES” and other medical treatises compiled in a single volume “for the use of military and naval surgeons.  He deployed identical copy in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the Pennsylvania Ledger, stating that the volume would “contributeth to promote the health and happiness of such valuable lives as those of American soldiers and sailors.”  The savvy publisher sought to convince “land and sea officers,” in particular, and “all the friends of liberty and humanity,” in general, that they should endorse the publication and perhaps even purchase copies to supply to “military and naval surgeons” who treated American soldiers and sailors.

Despite such marketing appeals, Bell did not take a position on whether the colonies should declare independence, at least not in the works he selected to print, advertise, and sell.  He concluded his advertisement with at noted that “All the newest political pamphlets, either for or against independency, may be had at said Bell’s.”  Other printers and booksellers had pursued a similar course, though not as recently.  James Humphreys, Jr., the printer of the Pennsylvania Ledger, advertised “POLITICAL PAMPHLETS, ON Both Sides of the Question” a month after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  James Rivington listed political pamphlets that took opposing positions, some of them written in direct response to others, in advertisements with headlines like “THE AMERICAN CONTEST” and “The American Controversy” before the Sons of Liberty attacked his office, destroyed his press, and forced him to discontinue publishing Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  More than a year into the war, Bell was the only printer who promoted pamphlets “for or against independency” in his advertisements.  Other printers and booksellers likely stocked and sold some of those pamphlets, but they did not call attention to it as boldly as Bell did.

Pennsylvania Ledger (May 12, 1776).

Indeed, an advertisement for the second edition of Plain Truth appeared immediately below Bell’s advertisement for the medical manual in the May 11 edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger.  That pamphlet “contain[ed] remarks on … COMMON SENSE; Wherein are shewn that the Scheme of Independence is ruinous, delusive and impracticable.”  In another advertisement in the same issue, Bell advertised “Additions to Plain Truth.”  In both advertisements, he made an appeal for freedom of the press to justify publishing and selling “political pamphlets, either for or against independency.”  A nota bene at the end of the first advertisement declared, “To this pamphlet is subjoined a Defence of the Liberty of the Press, by the sagacious and patriotic Junius.”  The other pamphlet, according to the second advertisement, included a similar supplementary work.  “To this Pamphlet is annexed, for the information of all Americans, who wish to know and to enjoy the very Laws and Privileges which themselves have decreed,” a nota bene announced, “A Defence of the Liberty of the Press, by the Honorable the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.”  If that did not provide sufficient cover, Bell also opined, “The enjoyment of Liberty, and even its support and preservation consists, in every man’s being allowed to speak his thoughts and lay open his sentiments.”  Bell had also published the first edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, demonstrating that his press did disseminate diverse political views.

The advertisement concluded with a “Memorandum,” perhaps penned by Bell or possibly inserted by Humphreys, a loyalist printer known for charting a more moderate course than fellow printers in Philadelphia.  “If to preserve any part of the works of valuable writers, hath been looked upon as doing good service to the Public,” the memorandum explained, “The EDITOR hereof may hope, this his present endeavours will prove acceptable, at least to all the Loversof Freedom.”  Leveraging the principles that those “Lovers of Freedom” embraced and enunciated, the memorandum insisted that they must be “so consistent as to acknowledge the Press ought to be free for others as well as themselves.” They could not have it both ways and still claim to be “Lovers of Freedom.”  Rivington had made similar arguments.  Bell and Humphreys hoped for more success in doing so, encouraging greater consistency in their views about “Libertyof the Press” from those who did not like everything that they printed or sold.

May 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Virginia Gazette [Dixon and Hunter] (May 11, 1776).

“Those who are deficient will have their Names exposed in the Gazette.”

George Lafong, a hairdresser in Williamsburg, meant business.  In the spring of 1776, he took to the pages of John Dixon and William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette to call on “ALL Persons in my Debt, for Shaving, Dressing,” and other services “to discharge their Accounts.”  In particular, he addressed clients from “before I entered into Partnership with Mr. Wylie” at the beginning of the year, reporting that some of those unsettled accounts “have been standing for years.”

He started by asking those clients to be reasonable and consider his own situation and, especially, his responsibilities to support his family.  He asked them to make payment “that I may be enabled to pay those Debts which I have been under a Necessity of contracting for the Support of my Family” but had been forced to “Neglect” because of his recalcitrant clients.  In other circumstances he could have threatened legal action against those who refused to pay their overdue bills, but Lafong suggested the possible that “the Law” (or the courts) might not “be open to force Compliance,” perhaps due to disruptions caused by the war that began at Lexington and Concord and spread to other colonies.  Without legal remedies, he would resort to public shaming by publishing the names of those who owed for the services he provided: “those who are deficient will have their Names exposed in the Gazette.”  Notices about settling accounts frequently appeared in early American newspapers, but rarely did anyone make such threats.  In November 1768, Daniel Fowle and Robert Fowle, the printers of the New-Hampshire Gazette, threatened to publish “a List of those Customers … whose Accounts are of long standing, with the Sum due, in order to show how injuriously they are treated by them,” though they did not follow through on it.  In September 1774, Charles Willson Peale did publish an advertisement calling on Elie Vallette to pay for a family portrait he had painted.  Peale and Vallette made their dispute public with a series of advertisements in the Maryland Gazette.

Would Lafong publish the names of clients who did not settle accounts?  He made clear that “Gentlemen who pay me punctually may rely on my constant Attendance, and utmost Endeavours to give Satisfaction,” yet “others can expect no more of my Service.”  At the very least, they could not depend on Lafong extending additional credit, but the possibility of even more drastic consequences remained.

May 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy (May 10, 1776).

“A SERMON, preached [on] the day appointed by civil authority, for a public THANKSGIVING.”

Like many other newspaper printers, Isaiah Thomas used the pages of his own newspaper to promote other items that came off his press.  On May 10, 1776, for instance, he ran two advertisements for sermons preached on November 23, 1775, a day designated as a “Public THANKSGIVING” by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and announced in the November 16 edition of the New-England Chronicle.

The first of those advertisements appeared on the first page of the May 10 edition.  When setting the type, the compositor had enough space for news from Philadelphia and Charleston with just a small amount left at the bottom of the last column.  Several of the advertisements that ran on other pages would have fit there, but Thomas opted to give a privileged place to an advertisement for “A SERMON,” by Henry Cumings, “preached in Billerica on … the day appointed by civil authority, for a public THANKSGIVING throughout the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.”  The notice declared that the sermon was “Just published” and cost “Nine-Pence.”  Eighteenth-century readers knew that “Just published” meant that an item was now available for purchase, but it did not necessarily indicate that the advertiser who sold it had printed it.  In this case, however, Thomas clarified that he “Printed and sold” the sermon in Worcester.

Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy (May 10, 1775).

His advertisement for “A SERMON, preached at Worcester,” by Thaddeus MacCarty followed a similar format.  It opened with a header that declared, “Just published, price Nine-Pence,” and reminded readers that November 23 had been “a Day of public THANSKGIVING, by the appointment of the General Assembly.”  Once again, the printer stated that the pamphlet was “Printed and sold by I. THOMAS” rather than an item that he acquired from another printing office and retailed at his own.  Although this advertisement now appeared on the fourth page among paid notices placed for a variety of purposes, when the two advertisements first ran in the April 26, 1775, edition of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy they appeared together on the third page as the first commercial notices following the news.  The printer sought to increase the chances that prospective customers would take note of advertisements for the sermons he published.

May 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-England Chronicle (May 9, 1776).

“The Sign of the YANKEE HERO.”

The May 9, 1776, edition of the New-England Chronicle once again carried an advertisement for the “American Coffee-House,” the establishment that Daniel Jones opened on King Street not long after British troops brought the siege to an end by departing from Boston on March 17.  Jones invited the “Gentlemen of the UNITED COLONIES” to enjoy the “best of liquors, lodgings, and a variety of provisions” in addition to coffee.  Jones made clear that the “American Coffee-House” was a place for patriots to gather.

That was also the case at the tavern that John Newell ran “in Wing’s-Lane, near the Market.”  He published a short advertisement that announced, “ENTERTAINMENT for Gentlemen and keeping for Horses, at the sign of the YANKEE HERO.”  That name honored the accomplishments and the sacrifices made in Massachusetts over the past year and throughout the imperial crisis.  It included the victims of the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, and the Sons of Liberty who tossed tea into the harbor on December 16, 1773.  The “YANKEE HERO” referred to the men involved in the first battles of the war, the battles at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.  Some had been killed, but others forced the British back into Boston where they were besieged for nearly a year.  The “YANKEE HERO” referred to the men from Massachusetts and throughout New England who left their towns to participate in the siege.  It also referred to the men who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, especially the men died in that engagement.  Those casualties included Joseph Warren, recently commissioned a major general in the colony’s militia, president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and an advocate of American liberties during the imperial crisis that became a war.  Yet Newell did not name his tavern after Warren nor after John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, or any of the other leaders who had been so active at town meetings in Boston or represented Massachusetts in the Second Continental Congress.  Instead, he likely intended for prospective patrons to think of the many men who answered the call to defend their colony and their liberties, some making a final sacrifice to do so, and perhaps even to see themselves in the character of the “YANKEE HERO” as they continued in their resistance to British tyranny.  Where they chose to gather to drink, socialize, and discuss politics resonated with an identity shifting from British to American on the eve of declaring independence.

May 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 8, 1776).

“It hath been a noted and good-accustomed store for looking-glasses near 14 years.”

At the same time that John Elliott promoted a “CONSIDERABLE assortment” of looking glasses available at his store on Walnut Street in Philadelphia, he also aimed to sell the entire business to an entrepreneur who would purchase his complete inventory and the location that had been familiar to residents of the bustling port for more than a decade.  To draw attention to his advertisement in the May 8, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, he included a woodcut depicting “the sign of the Bell and Looking-glass” that, according to previous advertisements, marked his location.

Among his inventory, Elliott had “Pier and Sconces GLASSES” as well as “a large choice of neat Dressing GLASSES, together with a great number of smaller sizes.”  He made retail sales, but he also hoped to supply “country stores and shopkeepers” who would make wholesale purchases to augment the merchandise they had on hand in their towns and villages.  The consumer revolution, after all, extended far beyond major urban ports, reaching eager consumers in the countryside.  Elliott hoped that the enthusiasm for acquiring goods would convince someone to purchase his entire store, despite the uncertainty of the war.  After all, even if consumers shifted from purchasing imported textiles and accessories to homespun fabrics, they still wanted to assess how they appeared in looking glasses.  As fashions changed, due to either tastes or politics, consumers continued to strive to make themselves presentable to others and depended on looking glasses in their efforts to do so.

That made selling looking glasses an attractive venture.  At least Elliott hoped that was the case.  He announced that he planned “to sell the house he lives in, which is properly fitted up for carrying on the LOOKING-GLASS business, particularly for quicksilvering.”  A prospective buyer did not need to have previous experience peddling looking glasses. Elliott declared that he was “willing to communicate to any person who may purchase” his house, store, and “the remaining stock on hand” the methods of the “art” of quicksilvering and “all other instructions for carrying on said trade.”  To sweeten the deal, he also assured prospective buyers that the location “hath been a noted and good-accustomed store for looking-glasses near 14 years.”  Elliott offered an opportunity for an entrepreneur interested in running their own business to take over a successful enterprise, one that he would “sell very low.”  For a small investment, a new owner could benefit from all the advantages that Elliott accumulated over the years.  Did those advantages outweigh the risks? Elliott tried to convince prospective buyers that they did.

May 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (May 7, 1776).

“THE DISEASES incident to ARMIES … published for the use of military and naval surgeons.”

During the first week of May 1776, Robert Bell announced the publication of “THE DISEASES incident to ARMIES, with the Method of Cure; translated from the original of Baron Van Swieten, physician to their imperial Majesties.”  Yet that was not the only title in the volume.  Bell compiled an anthology that also included “the Nature and Treatment of GUN SHOT WOUNDS, by John Ranby, Esq; Surgeon General to the British army,” “Preventatives of the Scurvy at Sea, by William Northcote, surgeon many years in the sea service,” “Rules for preserving Health in warm and cold climates, by Doctor Lind,” and “Directions to be observed by sea surgeons in engagements.”  Bell presented the compilation “for the use of military and naval surgeons.”  Over the past year, Bell and other printers in Philadelphia published an array of military manuals for officers and soldiers.  The publication of this volume acknowledged another aspect of the war that began at the battles in Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

To promote this medical manual, Bell added a “Memorandum” to his advertisement in the May 7 edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post.  “It is presumed,” he declared, “that whatever contributeth to promote the health and happiness of such valuable lives as those of American soldiers and sailors, should meet with a generous reception.”  He considered it appropriate that “those who are more immediately engaged in the pecuniary superintendment of [soldiers’ and sailors’] welfare” would purchase and consult the volume, yet those were not the only prospective customers who should support the publication of the medical manual.  The printer suggested that “all friends to liberty and humanity” should demonstrate their support for American soldiers and sailors, including civilians “who are in opulent circumstances” and, especially, “all the capital land sea officers, whose personal safety, wither from or in diseases (as well as the very large number of privates under their command) are so very dependent on the knowledge and abilities of their physicians.”  In other words, officers should purchase copies that they could later give or loan to the doctors and surgeons who provided medical care to the soldiers and sailors under their command.  Doing so, Bell suggested, was an obligation they assumed when they accepted the responsibilities of leadership.  That made his medical anthology an essential companion to the military manuals that he published and sold during the Revolutionary War.

May 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , , ,

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

Norwich Packet (May 6, 1776).

“FOUR different Views of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, &c. on the 19th  of April, 1775.”

With the war now in its second year, Joseph Carpenter, a goldsmith and jeweler, marketed a series of commemorative prints depicting the battles of Lexington and Concord that he sold at his shop “Near the Court-House” in Norwich, Connecticut.  Even though he stated that these “FOUR different Views” had “Just come to Hand,” other retailers had made them available months earlier.  In fact, his advertisement in the May 6, 1776, edition of the Norwich Packet replicated large portions of the James Lockwood’s advertisement in the December 13, 1775, edition of the Connecticut Journal.

In addition to the description of the series of prints matching, the titles that Carpenter listed for the prints reflected Lockwood’s advertisement rather than the titles engraved at the top of each of them.  Plate I was called “The Battle of Lexington” on both the print and in the advertisement, but Plate II was simply called “A View of the Town of Concord” on the print.  In both advertisements, however, it had a more elaborate title, “A View of the Town of Concord, with the Ministerial Troops destroying the Stores.”  The title engraved on Plate III named it “The Engagement at the North Bridge in Concord,” yet the advertisements called it “The Battle at the North-Bridge in Concord.”  Finally, the tile on Plate IV declared that it presented a “View of the South Part of Lexington,” yet the advertisements said that it show “The south Part of Lexington, where the first Detachment were joined by Lord Percy.

Both advertisements informed prospective customers that “[t]he above four Plates were neatly engraved on Copper, from original Paintings take on the Spot.”  Amos Doolittle engraved the images based on painting by Ralph Earl.  How Carpenter acquired them, he did not say, only that they had “Just come to Hand.”  When they did, it appears that whoever supplied them to the goldsmith and jeweler in Norwich also sent an advertisement clipped from a newspaper printed in New Haven or a letter that copied the notice in the Connecticut Journal.  Lockwood’s original advertisement circulated in unintended ways before being disseminated in print once again for the benefit of another purveyor of the commemorative prints in another newspaper.  Carpenter did not generate his own copy when he marketed the “FOUR different Views of the Battles of Lexington, Concord, &c. on the 19th  of April, 1775,” but instead relied on an advertisement originally published months earlier.

May 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

New-England Chronicle (May 2, 1776).

“News-Carriers from Boston to Northampton, Deerfield, &c.”

An advertisement that Silent Wilde and Isaac Church inserted in the May 2, 1776, edition of the New-England Chronicletestifies to the infrastructure for disseminating information in Massachusetts as the Revolutionary War entered its second year.  These “News-Carriers from Boston to Northampton, Deerfield,” and other towns, as they described themselves, helped in keeping residents in western Massachusetts informed about the latest news from Boston and, via letters from correspondents and items reprinted from newspapers from other colonies, about current events throughout the continent and the Atlantic world.

Wilde and Church stated that they “go into Boston weekly” and “leave Boston on Mondays … to bring the Monday’s papers to such gentlemen and ladies as shall desire them.”  By “go into Boston,” they may have meant Watertown, where Benjamin Edes published the Boston-Gazette and Country Journal during the siege of Boston and remained for several months after the British evacuated the city.  Edes distributed new issues on Mondays.  The “News-Carriers” composed their message on April 16, during a period that Samuel Hall briefly suspended the New-England Chronicle when relocating from Cambridge (with the final issue published there on April 4) to Boston (with the first issue published there on April 25).  Whether in Cambridge or Boston, new issues of the New-England Chronicle came out on Thursdays.  Wilde and Church apparently planned their service around the Boston-Gazette even though they carried both newspapers printed in the Boston area and picked up Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy (published on Fridays) when they passed through Worcester.

Wilde and Church also reminded their customers that “the printers have advanced” or raised “their price” for subscriptions, so those who availed themselves of the delivery service needed to take that into account when making payment.  In addition, due to the “greatly increasing charge of travelling, they hope the gentlemen who have employed them, will generously consider the same, by contributing each one a small matter to them on this account.”  In other words, Wilde and Church requested tips to help cover expenses that had gone up since entering into agreements with their customers in Northampton, Deerfield, and other towns in western Massachusetts.  They also “can’t let slip the present opportunity without very earnestly calling upon those who are in arrears with them for former services to settle their accounts forthwith.”  If customers were not inclined to give the “News-Carriers” a tip, they could at least pay what they owed.

May 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Ledger (May 4, 1776).

“His large and elegant STOCK of China, Glass and Earthern Wares.”

The extensive advertisement for a “large and elegant STOCK of China, Glass and Earthern Wares” that Joseph Stansbury ran in the May 4, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger looked more like advertisements that appeared before the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774, and before the war began on April 19, 1775.  It filled an entire column, listing countless items that Stansbury sticked at his store “opposite Christ Church [in] Philadelphia.”

To help prospective customers navigate his inventory, Stansbury used headings for “CHINA,” “GLASS,” and “EARTHERN WARE.”  To make the most efficient use of the space, he divided the column into two columns with a line of decorative type running down the center.  Under each heading, he grouped similar items together and, when their description extended more than one line, indented the second and subsequent lines so the resulting white space guided readers.  Some categories of goods were short, just two lines, such as “Rich enamelled tea-table sets complete” and “Blue and white soup terrines, two sizes.”  Others were much longer, including one that extended for twenty-two lines.  That one offered “Cream-pots, salts, mustards, pepper-castors, egg slices, custard cups, blamange moulds, cheese-toasters, cream-buckets, Italian lamps for the chambers of the sick, garden pots, flower horns, jarrs and beakers, sauce-boats, terrines, butter-tubs and stands, egg cups, bottles and basons, water dishes, fish drainers, cream cheese dishes, chamberpots, pattypans, baking dishes, compotiers, pudding dishes, pap boats, sallad dishes, plates, oblong dishes, mugs, jugs, childrens tea sets, whistling birds, &c.”  The “&c.” (the abbreviation for et cetera commonly used in the eighteenth century) suggested an even greater array of goods available to consumers who visited Stansbury’s store.  He promoted “a great choice of patterns” among his “Chocolate, & coffee tea-cups and saucers,” part of his larger theme of presenting all kinds of choices to consumers.

Stansbury encouraged the sort of conspicuous consumption that had become increasingly popular in the middle decades of the eighteenth century as colonizers participated in a transatlantic consumer revolution.  A series of boycotts (known at the time as nonimportation and nonconsumption agreements) during the imperial crisis and then the disruptions to trade during the war prompted many merchants, shopkeepers, and consumers to suspend some of their operations or abstain from importing and purchasing all sorts of goods.  Stansbury’s advertisement, however, testified to an active market or, at least, his desire to continue making sales despite the trying times.  As a Loyalist, Stansbury may not have much cared about the Patriot position when he ran his advertisement.  He was imprisoned later in 1776 for boisterously singing “God Save the King” and eventually served as an intermediary between Benedict Arnold and John André.