Daily Advert Update

October 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury [New York] October 28, 1776.
“WANTED … a Parcel of CONGRESS NOTES, with which he intends to paper some Rooms.”

It was a counterfeit advertisement that mocked the rebel congress.  The October 28, 1776, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, published in a city occupied by British forces carried an advertisement that proclaimed that a “Gentleman” who was “fond of Curiosities” and planned to travel to England “WANTED” a “Parcel of CONGRESS NOTES, with which he intends to paper some Rooms.”  Money issued by the Continental Congress, the advertisement sneered, was not worth the paper it was printed on.  It might as well be used as wallpaper!

From 1775 to 1779, according to the Massachusetts Historical Society, “Congress ordered 11 emissions of Continental Currency to the amount of 226 million Spanish milled Dollars.”  By the time this advertisement appeared, Congress had already issued paper currency on five occasions (May 10, 1775; November 29, 1775; February 17, 1776; May 9, 1776; and July 22, 1776) and was just days away from doing so again on November 2, 1776.  “At first the currency circulated at par with the Spanish milled dollar, but since the states were simultaneously emitting their own bills of credit and debt certificates to cover their war expenses, the glut of bills issued without sound financial resources soon led to depreciation of all forms of circulating paper, but especially that of Congress.”

Such news was familiar to the anonymous advertiser and readers of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, making the taunt even more biting.  “Those, who wish to make something of their Stock in that Commodity,” the advertisement proclaimed, “shall, if they are clean and fit for the Purpose, receive at the Rate of One Guinea per Thousand, for all they can bring, before the Expiration of the present Month.”  In exchange for stacks of Continental currency, the advertiser offered just one guinea (or a pound and a shilling).  Furthermore, the advertiser confided in a nota bene that it was “expected they will soon be much lower.”  Perhaps word that the Continental Congress considered a new emission had reached New York.  The advertisement preemptively undermined the value of those notes, yet another salvo fired in a war of words that occurred during the war for independence.

Continental Currency, Serial No. 45960 series C, Issued by Congress on 17 February 1776 for One Sixth of a Dollar. Courtesy Massachusetts Historical Society.

October 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (October 26, 1776).

“THE JOURNALS of the PROCEEDINGS of CONGRESS, held at Philadelphia from January to May 1776.”

As the Revolutionary War continued in the fall of 1776, printers in Philadelphia printed, advertised, and sold “THE JOURNALS of the PROCEEDINGS of CONGRESS, held at Philadelphia.”  William and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, advertised the volume for “September to January last” in the October 23 edition of their newspaper.  That issue also carried a notice from Robert Aitken, “Printer and Bookseller opposite the London Coffee-House,” that announced he published and sold “the JOURNALS of the PROCEEDINGS of CONGRESS … from January to May 1776.”  In addition to coverage in newspapers, readers could keep well informed of the debates and decisions of the Continental Congress over the past year by purchasing the journals.

Three days later, Aitken ran the same advertisement in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, though that one described the new volume as “about three hundred and forty pages” while the other advertisement stated that it “contain[ed] nearly 240 pages.”  (The new advertisement in the Pennsylvania Evening Post was correct.)  For one dollar, buyers acquired the book “in blue boards.”  That left it to each purchaser to make their own selections about a binding, if they wanted the journal bound at all, in consultation with a bookbinder.  Aitken sold just the text, keeping production costs down.  That made the journal even more accessible to readers who wanted more detail about the proceedings of the Continental Congress in those crucial months after the anonymous publication of an inflammatory political pamphlet called Common Sense in January 1776.  Even though the title stated that the volume covered the proceedings “to May 1776,” it concluded with business conducted on April 29 (just as the previous volume for “September to January last” covered September through December).  Still, it provided an important supplement to what appeared in newspapers and a record for both the public and political leaders to consult as citizens of the new nation simultaneously fought a war for independence and created a national identity.

October 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (October 26, 1776).

“They will oblige him to discontinue their Papers, and adopt disagreeable Modes to do himself Justice.”

During the era of the American Revolution, newspaper printers frequently ran advertisements calling on subscribers to pay for their subscriptions.  They could do so at any time, but the end of one subscription year and the beginning of another presented a good opportunity to take care of that business.  Such was the case for John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, in the fall of 1776.  “ALL persons indebted for this GAZETTE,” he declared, “are requested to make Payment.”  He then noted that the “9th of November will close the Year with most of the old Subscribers.”  That may seem like an unusual date for beginning and ending annual subscriptions.  Why not January 1 or at least the first of any month?  Carter became the sole publisher of the Providence Gazette with the November 12, 1768, edition.  When he and Sarah Goddard dissolved their partnership and closed the books, Carter entered into new subscription agreements with his customers.  In 1776, November 9 fell on a Saturday, the same day that Carter published the weekly edition of the Providence Gazette and that issue thus “close[d] the Year” with many subscribers.

As was often the case in such advertisements, Carter expressed frustration with recalcitrant subscribers who refused to pay their bills: “Such of them as have been long in Arrear, and who have been repeatedly called on in this Way, the Printer hopes will not further injure him, by unreasonably delaying Payment beyond the Time above mentioned.”  Sometimes printers left it at that.  That made their plea and hoped that subscribers would settle accounts.  This time, however, Carter threatened consequences for those who did not heed his request.  Those who refused to pay “will thereby oblige him to discontinue their Papers.”  Yet that was not all.  The printer also threatened that he would “adopt disagreeable Modes to do himself Justice.”  On rare occasions, printers threatened to publish the names of subscribers who did not pay.  More often, however, they stated that they would sue those subscribers.  That was probably what Carter intended, but he left the “disagreeable Modes to do himself Justice” to the imaginations of subscribers who knew that they owed him money.

In a nota bene, Carter also asserted that “[t]hose that are indebted to the Printer for advertising, or in any other Manner, are likewise requested to pay.”  The colophon on the final page of each edition noted that “Printing in general is performed with Care and Expedition” at Carter’s printing office.  Some customers had overdue accounts for job printing.  Others likely purchased books, pamphlets, stationery, writing supplies, and other items on credit.  The reference to advertising, however, raises questions.  Did Carter mean newspaper notices?  If so, then he deviated from what many historians describe as a common practice of allowing credit to subscribers but demanding payment in advance for advertisements.  Instead, he may have meant handbills, broadsides, trade cards, and other job printing.  If so, that testifies to the presence of ephemeral advertisements that circulated in revolutionary Providence but have not been survived in archives, research libraries, and other collections.

October 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (October 25, 1776).

“SAMUEL LOUDON, (Late Printer and Bookseller in NEW YORK).”

When the British invaded New York late in the summer of 1776, Samuel Loudon, a printer and bookseller who was, according to Isaiah Thomas, “decidedly a whig,” decided that it was time to suspend the newspaper he established in January, the New York Packet, and get out of the city.[1]  In an advertisement in the September 2 edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, he announced that he was “removing his Printing-Office to FISH-KILLS, where the Provincial Congress now resides” because the “City of New-York, is now invaded by a powerful Fleet and Army.”  He advised other “Inhabitants” of the city “to seek a Retreat ion the Country.”  He resumed publication of the New York Packet in Fishkill on January 16, 1777, and continued printing it there throughout the war.  After the war ended, Loudon returned to New York and once again published his newspaper there.

Before he managed to resume printing the New York Packet in Fishkill, Loudon got involved in another venture.  The October 25, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London, carried an advertisement that announced that “SAMUEL LOUDON, (Late Printer and Bookseller in NEW YORK) Has just opened in NORWICH” a store that stocked a “large Assortment of Books, In Divinity, History, Physic,” and other subjects as well as “a variety of Pamphlets.”  At first glance, it appeared that Loudon operated the store himself.  After all, his name appeared in capital letters as the deadline for the advertisement.  On closer inspection, however, readers learned that “Mr. Eliphalet Huntington” sold the books, pamphlets, maps, prints, and “a Set of Globes, of the best Construction” listed in the advertisement.  Loudon and Huntington apparently entered some sort of partnership, perhaps on an equal basis or perhaps Loudon employed Huntington.  Whatever the arrangement, they attempted to leverage the visibility that Loudon had achieved as a bookseller and, especially, the printer of the New York Packet, to entice prospective customers to visit the bookstore in Norwich or to send orders for any of the items listed in the advertisement.  Curiously, the advertisement that ran in the Norwich Packet on October 21 did not mention Eliphalet Huntington at all.  It deployed Loudon’s name as the headline, like the advertisement in the Connecticut Gazette, and stated that he “Has just opened at Col. JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON’S Store … A Neat Assortment of BOOKS, to be Sold cheap.”  Perhaps Huntington was merely an employee rather than even a junior partner.  If that was the case, then, like so many artisans who received sole credit for the work of journeymen, apprentices, enslaved workers, and others who labored in their workshops, the proprietor of the new bookstore in Norwich was the public face of the business even though customers primarily or exclusively interacted with an employee.

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America with a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 482.

October 24

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

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

Continental Journal (October 24, 1776).

“Low’s Almanack for 1777, Being the first of American Independence.”

As they had often done before the Revolutionary War, Thomas and John Fleet and John Gill once again collaborated on printing, advertising, and selling an almanac in the fall of 1777.  The October 24, 1776, edition of Gills newspaper, the Continental Journal, carried an advertisement that announced that “Low’s Almanack for 1777” would be published and available for sale on the following Monday.  It was one of the first advertisements for an almanac published anywhere in the new nation that included a list of the contents to entice prospective customers.  The material that the Fleets and Gill included in their new almanac and in the advertisement resonated with the revolution that readers were experiencing.

To start, the printers promoted “Low’s Almanack for 1777, Being the first of American Independence.”  During the colonial era, the year had often been paired with the number of years the monarch had reigned.  Rather than set that practice aside, the Fleets and Gill adapted it to reflect the founding of the nation.  They also asserted that the contents included “every Thing necessary for an Almanack: together with a neat Plan comprehending a View of the present Seat of War at and New-York.”  Less than two months after British forces occupied New York, this almanac came with a print that depicted “General Washington’s Lines – Fort at Powles’s Hook – Bunker-Hill near the City – King’s Bridge – Hell-Gate – Fort Constitution – Mount Washington – Governor’s Island – and part of Long Island, Staten Island and the Jersies.”  Such an image would have been helpful for readers in understanding recent events.  It was also part of the commodification of people and events connected to the American Revolution that had begun during the imperial crisis.  Even before the war, printers, booksellers, artists produced, marketed, and sold a variety of prints, pamphlets, and other items that celebrated political leaders who supported the American cause, such as William Pitt and Samuel Adams, or commemorated events like the Boston Massacre.  In addition, the advertisement listed other contents of the almanac, including short essays on “Rules and Reflections for the Conduct of Life, “How to get Riches,” and “an Address to the Tories.”  A good dose of politics and current events accompanied the practical information in the almanac.  The Fleets and Gill believed that bonus material would help sell “Low’s Almanack for 1777, Being the first of American Independence.”

October 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (October 23, 1776).

“HANNON’s BEST CHOCOLATE, Exceeding Fine.”

A standard run for most newspaper advertisements published during the era of the American Revolution consisted of three or four insertions.  When colophons listed the fees for advertising, the printers offered packages with a set fee for setting the type and running an advertisement that many time.  Of course, advertisers could run their notices more than three or four times, incurring a new fee for each additional insertion.  Most opted for the standard package and then discontinued their notices.

Such was the case with an advertisement for “HANNON’s BEST CHOCOLATE” that ran in the Massachusetts Spy on October 9, 16, and 23, 1776.  Except for patent medicines, few products had brand names in the eighteenth century, yet the advertiser expected prospective customers to recognize the name of the maker of this “Exceeding Fine” chocolate “Sold opposite the TOWN-HOUSE, in Worcester.”  Those who wanted more information could “Enquire of the Printers.”

The advertisement moved around within the Massachusetts Spy.  The first time it appeared, it ran at the top of the first column on the first page, immediately above “PAPERS … published by the order of CONGRESS” in Philadelphia.  The rest of the content on that page consisted of an “Extract of a letter from General Washington to the PRESIDENT of CONGRESS” and other updates about the British invasion and occupation of New York.  The following week, it ran on the final page, two-thirds of the way down the middle column.  For its final insertion, it appeared at the top of the last column on the last page.

No matter where the advertisement ran in the Massachusetts Spy, it was easy to spot.  The advertiser arranged with the printers to have the notice for this “Exceeding Fine” and “BEST CHOCOLATE” enclosed within a border of decorative type.  That distinguished the advertisement from all the other content – advertisements, news, letters – in the newspaper since no other items received similar treatment.  The printing ornaments made it easy for readers to spot, even when it appeared in the middle of columns of dense text in the October 16 issue.  The border drew the eyes of readers and demanded they give their attention to the advertisement.  Although it ran only three times, the advertisement for “HANNON’s BEST CHOCOLATE” likely made an impression on readers of the Massachusetts Spy.

October 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (October 22, 1776).

“THE curious in ancient literary works on the ART of HEALING … may not purchase [a] variety of Latin authors.”

Robert Bell, one of the most prominent American printers and booksellers during the era of the American Revolution, achieved his reputation, in part, through advertising extensively.  Advertisements for books and pamphlets that he printed or sold regularly appeared in newspapers published in Philadelphia, where he ran a “book-store, next door to St. Paul’s church, in Third-street,” in 1776.  Before the war, he frequently inserted subscription proposals for books he intended to publish if enough customers subscribed (or reserved copies in advance) in newspapers from New England to South Carolina.  That made him a familiar figure to readers throughout the colonies.  In 1776, however, he confined his advertising mostly to Philadelphia.

In an advertisement that ran in the October 22, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, Bell targeted prospective customers interested in medical texts.  He had a special flair for describing both himself and his customers.  For instance, he had previously named himself “the Provedore to the Sentimentalists.”  In this advertisement, Bell addressed the “curious in ancient literary works on the ART of HEALING,” informing them that they “may now purchase [a] variety of Latin authors.”  In case that subject matter was too obscure, he also promoted alternatives that some readers might have considered more practical.  Bell stocked “a few modern English writers on medicinal and surgical subjects.”

Bell could have left it at that, but he chose to add a nota bene to remind prospective customers that he also sold books from other genres.  “All the military authors lately published may be had at said BELL’s,” he proclaimed, in case readers had not noticed the many advertisements for military manuals that he frequently placed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers.  A reminder certainly did not hurt, he likely reasoned, since so many printers and booksellers also advertised an array of military manuals published in Philadelphia in 1775 and 1776.  For readers not interested in medical texts and military manuals, Bell also offered “numbers of miscellaneous, instructive, and entertaining works, in various branches of literature” that they could browse when they visited his shop.  He intentionally targeted certain readers, while also extending an invitation to all readers to see which books and pamphlets they could purchase at “BELL’s book-store.”

October 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (October 21, 1776).

“THE Publisher of this Paper being determined to remove to Boston during the Course of next Week.”

In the October 21, 1776, edition of the Boston-Gazette and Country Journal, Benjamin Edes announced his intention to return to Boston.  For more than a year, Edes had been printing the Boston-Gazette in nearby Watertown.  For two decades, Edes and John Gill published the Boston-Gazette in Boston, acquiring the newspaper from Samuel Kneeland and distributing their first issue on April 7, 1755.  During the imperial crisis, the Boston-Gazette gained a reputation for supporting the American cause.  Edes and Gill printed their final issue on Apri 17, 1775.  Two days later, the Revolutionary War began with the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Edes and Gill suspended publication of the Boston-Gazette.  At the time, every other newspaper in Boston ceased or suspended publication or moved out of the city.  Isaiah Thomas, for instance, moved the Massachusetts Spy to Worcester.  During the siege of Boston, Edes and Gill dissolved their partnership.  Edes relocated to Watertown, where the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met, and continued printing the Boston-Gazette there on June 5, 1775.  He retained the title and numbering following a suspension that lasted nearly two months.

After the British evacuated from Boston in March 1776, Edes and the Boston-Gazette remained in Watertown for more than half a year.  In late October, the printer ran advertisement announcing that he was “determined to remove to Boston during the Course of next Week.”  He hoped to maintain as many subscribers as possible, yet he also requested that “all those it will not accommodate to continue [as] his Customers there, to settle their arrears” to keep his ledgers in order.  Edes did not manage to “remove to Boston” within the week, but he did make it there within two weeks of running his notice.  The October 28 edition of the Boston-Gazette was the last one to feature “Printed by BENJAMIN EDES, in WATERTOWN” in the masthead.  Keeping to the weekly publication schedule, he printed the next issue in Boston on November 4, 1776.

Since December 21, 1719, the Boston-Gazette had been printed in Boston.  Initially, it had been printed by James Franklin and published by William Brooker.  The newspaper changed hands several times over the next five decades, but it remained in continuous publication.  It was one of the few American newspapers that did not suspend publication while the Stamp Act was in effect, yet the outbreak of hostilities caused Edes and Gill to dissolve their partnership and, after a brief hiatus, Edes continued the newspapers in Watertown.  The war continued, but Edes prepared to return the Boston-Gazette to Boston in late October 1776.

October 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (October 19, 1776).

“The printers of the several newspapers in this city are desired to insert the above.”

On October 19, 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post carried an advertisement from the Committee of Accounts associated with the “late Committee of Inspection for the city and liberties of Philadelphia” that had been organized according to the Continental Association, the nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774.  The Committee of Accounts requested that “ALL persons who have any demands … deliver their accounts to any one of [its members] on or before the tenth day of November.”  This was the last call for any outstanding accounts since the committee “intended finally to settle this business.”  The advertisement warned the public “to take notice … as every account not furnished on or before that day must be excluded.”

Hoping to get the word out as widely was possible, the committee included a request to the “printers of the several newspapers in this city … to insert” the advertisement.  Those printers, however, did not immediately comply with that request.  The Pennsylvania Ledger, also published on October 19, did not carry the notice.  If the committee had delivered copy only to the Pennsylvania Evening Post and simply expected other printers to see the advertisement in that newspaper and then reprint it then the Pennsylvania Ledger would not have had an opportunity to run the advertisement on the same day.  It could have appeared, however, in Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet on October 22, but it did not.  The printer did include a note that “Advertisements omitted this week for want of room shall be inserted in our next.”  The next day, neither the Pennsylvania Gazette nor the Pennsylvania Journal carried the advertisement.  In addition, the Pennsylvania Evening Post did not run the advertisement a second time in its October 22 and October 24 editions.  So far, the “printers of the several newspapers in this city” did not take heed of the request to publish the committee’s notice.

In the end, none of those printers opted to insert the advertisement.  The committee had allowed for three weeks between its initial appearance and the November 10 deadline for submitting accounts.  In that time, the notice did appear in the Pennsylvania Evening Post two more times, once on October 29 and again on November 7.  That it ran three times suggests that the committee may have paid the standard rate for an advertisement, a fee that included setting the type and three insertions.  They may have hoped that other printers would publish the notice gratis as a public service, but they ended up disappointed if that was the case.  It does not appear that the committee delivered copy to each printing office but instead depended on local printers monitoring the content in other newspapers.  It was possible, but unlikely, that no other printer in Philadelphia happened to see the advertisement and the request to print it.  Instead, those printers seemingly made other choices about what to publish with limited space and a shortage of paper.

October 19

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

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

Providence Gazette (October 19, 1776).

“Books for Accounts made and ruled to any Pattern.”

In the fall of 1776, Henry Roby, a “BOOK-BINDER, from BOSTON,” took to the pages of the Providence Gazette “to inform the Public, that he carries on the Book-Binding Business, in all its Branches, at the Shop lately occupied by Mr. Benjamin Gladding, nearly opposite Mr. James Arnold’s Store.”  Roby did not indicate how recently he had arrived in Providence from Boston.  He might have just taken up residence after leaving a city that had experienced significant hardships when the Boston Port Act shut down the harbor in the summer of 1774 and during the siege of the city following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 or he might have departed Boston at some point in the past several years.  Artisans from that urban port sometimes continued to describe themselves as “from Boston” for years after they set up shop in another town.  Whatever the case, Roby recently moved into a shop where he had not previously conducted business.  He gave extensive directions to help prospective customers find it.

He also provided an overview of his services.  He suggested that he possessed both skill and experience when he stated that he “carries on the Book-Binding Business, in all its Branches.”  There was no aspect of that trade that he could not perform on his own.  He also chose to highlight certain services in a nota bene at the end of his advertisement.  Customers could have “Old Books re-bound or lettered” with the titles on the spine or cover.  In addition, merchants, brokers, or anyone keeping business or household accounts could have “Blank Books for Accounts made and ruled to any Pattern.”  Roby may have had some account books in stock, but he could also custom-make books to suit the needs of his customers.  They could send orders, though Roby likely preferred those who came to his shop for a consultation.  That allowed him to get the details right and perhaps even upsell them on other features or services.  Whatever customers ordered, Roby promised to complete the work “at the shortest Notice.”  The bookbinder apparently considered the advertisement worth the investment.  He inserted it in the Providence Gazette for seven consecutive weeks.