Daily Advert Update

September 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Virginia Gazette [Dixon and Hunter] (September 21, 1776).

“I HAVE still on Hand a considerable Quantity of CALF SKINS … and a tolerable Assortment of other Goods.”

Matthew Anderson ran a lengthy advertisement about merchandise available at his store in Gloucester, Virginia, in John Dixon and William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette in August and September 1776.  He listed dozens of items, enumerating an extensive array of textiles, housewares, hardware, and even books, noting at the conclusion that he also stocked “some other Trifles, too tedious to mention.”  Despite the disruptions caused by the war, consumers could still acquire certain necessities at Anderson’s shop or participate in some retail therapy to distract them for a moment.

By the end of September, Anderson ran a new advertisement, a much shorter one.  He used it to inform prospective customers that he “still [had] on Hand a considerable Quantity of CALF SKINS, HARNESS LEATHER, SOLE LEATHER, Mens strong SHOES, BAR IRON, COFFEE, BROWN SUGAR, [and] Mens coarse and fine HATS.”  In addition, his inventory included “a tolerable Assortment of other Goods.”  He did not replicate the catalog from his previous advertisement, nor did he use the same effusive language about having so many goods that they were “too tedious to mention.”  He also did not mention any of the books, such as “Watts’s Hymns and Psalms” and “Observations on Civil Liberty,” that he highlighted in his previous advertisement.  Perhaps he did not wish to make a significant investment in the new notice, so he reduced the length.  In addition, the changes may have indicated the effectiveness of his first advertisement and a considerable reduction in his inventory, yet he still had plenty of merchandise – that “tolerable Assortment of other Goods” – to delight shoppers when they visited his store.  Anderson may have assumed that many prospective customers who read his new advertisement would have also seen his previous one, making it unnecessary to do more than publish a reminder that mentioned some of the most popular items.  That he inserted a second advertisement suggests that he believed the first one worked.

September 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury [Newark] (September 21, 1776).

“AN assortment of dry goods … at the house of Mr. John Dixen, near Mr. Horton’s Meeting House, in Morris County, New-Jersey.”

When Samuel Loudon discontinued publication of the New York Packet, his advertisement in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury explained that the “City of New-York, is now invaded by a powerful Fleet and army” so the “Inhabitants are obliged to seek a Retreat in the Country.”  Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, was one of those inhabitants who decided to leave New York at the beginning of the British occupation.  The September 21, 1776, edition featured a new location in the colophon: “Newark, in East-New-Jersey.”  That issue consisted of only two pages instead of the usual four, perhaps the result of paper shortages, perhaps because Gaine did not have time to publish a full issue, or perhaps due to other circumstances related to getting out of the New York.  He printed only seven issues in Newark before returning to New York.

The masthead proclaimed that newspaper “Contain[ed] the freshest Advices Foreign and Domestic.”  In the three most recent news updates, Gaine reported that “Yesterday Morning a very heavy firing was hear on York Island from Bergen Town,” “We hear there are no more than one thousand of the King’s troops now in New-York, and those principally Englishmen,” and “About 3 o’clock this morning, a most dreadful fire was discovered from the heights back of this town, which upon the appearance of day light was supposed to be the city of New York in flames.”  That was the first newspaper coverage of the burning of New York City.

The first Newark edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury had half a dozen advertisements placed by customers as well as one for bibles, writing supplies, and patent medicines that Gaine sold ay his new printing office.  The news and advertisements, as Clarence S. Brigham notes, “were expressly intended for New Jersey.”[1]  The advertisement that appeared immediately below news about the conflagration in New York City promoted an “assortment of dry goods (not before exposed to sale) just opening at the house of Mr. John Dixen, near Mr. Horton’s Meeting House, in Morris County, New-Jersey.”  It listed dozens of items to entice prospective customers.  The advertisement concluded with a nota bene drawing attention to a “small assortment of the above goods, particularly such articles as will suit the army, … opened at Mr. John Halstead’s, in Elizabeth-Town.”

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 513.

September 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (September 20, 1776).

“Best French HAIR POWDER may be had … if applied for immediately.”

The first page of the September 20, 1776, edition of the Essex Journal featured the text of a resolution passed by the Continental Congress near the end of August, extracts of letters “from the West Indies,” “from a Planter in Grenada,” and “from a Merchant in Bermuda,” and news from Newport, Rhode Island.  Bishop Norton’s advertisement for starch and soap for sale at his shop “near the lower Long-Wharf” in Newburyport, Massachusetts, ran at the bottom of the final column.  He sold “CHOICE Poland STARCH by the quantity or single pound” as well as “bar SOAP by the hundred or smaller quantity” and “crown SOAP by the dozen or single cake.”

In a nota bene, Norton also promoted “Best French HAIR POWDER.”  The war did not deter readers from wanting to look their best.  Norton proclaimed that the hair powder “may be had … of applied for immediately,” creating a sense of urgency to acquire the product.  He likely hoped that scarcity would prompt prospective customers to make purchases.  The final line included the town and date, “Newbury-Port, Sept. 20.”  Readers could determine for themselves how recently Norton had placed the advertisement and imagine whether he any of the hair powder might still be available.  The final line also included a notation for the printer, “42-44,” that indicated the advertisement would run in three issues (No. 142 on September 20, No. 143 on September 27, and No. 144 on October 4) before being discontinued.  Norton’s admonition to place orders for his limited supply of hair powder “immediately” gained greater urgency in each subsequent insertion of his advertisement in the Essex Journal, especially when readers took note of the date at the end of the notice.  Not every advertisement included a date, but in this instance the date played an important part in making Norton’s appeal to prospective customers to act “immediately” or risk missing out on his “Best French HAIR POWDER.”

September 19

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

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

Continental Journal (September 19, 1776).

“The second edition of An easy PLAN of DISCIPLE for a MILITIA.”

In June 1776, Samuel Hall advertised that the “second Edition of Col. Pickering’s PLAN of DISCIPLINE,” a popular military manual by Timothy Pickering first published in the summer of 1775, “is now in the Press” and would be published soon.  In his initial advertisement for the second edition, Hall noted that “by Order of the General Assembly, all the Militia of this Colony are directed and enjoined to practise” Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia.  The companies from towns throughout Massachusetts would benefit from the directions in the manual and the uniformity of consulting a common source for their instruction.

When Hall advertised that he “JUST PUBLISHED” the second edition in September 1776, he included a blurb from the “Preamble to a Resolve of the late Great and General Court of this State, directing and enjoining the Practice of [Pickering’s] Exercise,” deploying it as an endorsement for the manual he now sold at his printing office on School Street in Boston.  “The Plan of Discipline,” the preamble stated, “appears to this Court to be well adapted to the Use and Practice of a Militia, as it contains all the Motions in the Motions in the Manual Exercise that are necessary and useful.”  Unlike other manuals, Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia was not “clogged with many superfluous Motions, which only serve to burthen the Memory, and perplex the Learner.”  Furthermore, Pickering’s manual “contains many useful Manœuvres … not published” in other manuals.”  The General Court made clear its determination that Pickering’s manual was superior to others.  George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, apparently agreed.  Pickering’s Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia was one of his preferred manuals before Baron von Stueben’s Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States became first official manual of the Continental Army in 1779.  Hall also included the resolution itself in his advertisement for the second edition: “It is Resolved, That the aforesaid Plan of Exercise, published by TIMOTHY PICKERING, Esq; shall, for the future, be used and practised by the Militia of this Colony.”

In case such an endorsement was not enough to make a sale, Hall highlighted the “Fourteen Octavo Copper-plate Prints … annexed to the Work.”  They depicted “the Evolutions and Manœuvres, Facings, Turnings, Marchings, Wheelings and the various Positions of Bodies of Men drawn up in Military Order.”  The manual also featured “a Table, shewing the Manner of the alternate Firings.”  The Continental Army’s siege of Boston dislodged British forces in March 1776, but the war continued.  Hall presented a new edition of Pickering’s manual to officers and soldiers to aid them in continuing to fight for the American cause and defend their families, homes, and communities.

September 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Connecticut Journal (September 18, 1776).

“RANAWAY …a Negro Man named DICK.”

An enslaved man known as Dick to his enslaver took advantage of the disruptions caused by the Revolutionary War to liberate himself by running away from his enslaver on September 5, 1776.  Dick put into action for himself the rhetoric of liberty that circulated during the era of the American Revolution, though he did not need a Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson to realize the injustices of slavery.

The Declaration of Independence, including the “self-evident” truths that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” apparently did not inspire Francis Clark of Middletown, Connecticut, to contemplate whether Dick deserved his freedom.  Instead, he wrote an advertisement that described Dick and offered a reward for his capture and return.  He did so on September 9, allowing enough time for it to appear in the September 11 edition of the Connecticut Journal, published in New Haven.  Like most other American newspapers, a new edition of the Connecticut Journal came out weekly.  When Clark could not discover Dick on his own, he ran a newspaper advertisement as quickly as possible to reduce the chances that Dick would make good on his escape from bondage.  The Connecticut Journal then carried the advertisement in subsequent issues.

Connecticut Gazette (September 13, 1776).

Clark was so invested in finding Dick and so frustrated by his failure to do so that he wrote another advertisement on September 12.  That one he submitted to the printing office in New London in time for it to appear in the September 13 edition.  Enslavers sometimes published such advertisements in more than one newspaper, but they usually used the same copy in each newspaper, presumably copying from an original.  Clark’s similar yet different advertisements written on September 9 and September 12 suggest that he hoped to capture Dick before it became necessary to run another notice in another newspaper.  When Dick eluded him, Clark paid for another advertisement in hopes of enlisting more readers in his search for the fugitive seeking freedom.

September 17

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

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (September 17, 1776).

“Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs.”

William Adcock placed an advertisement in the September 17, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post to inform the public of a “VENDUE” or auction scheduled for the following day.  He declared that “a great variety of goods suitable to the season” would “be exposed to sale.”  He listed some of them, mostly textiles, to give prospective bidders an idea of the available goods.  In addition to “spotted velvets, silk breeches pieces, … a large quantity of stripes and checks, … silk and worsted gloves and mits, [and] a large quantity of mens fine cotton stockings,” Adcock promoted “a great variety of other goods too tedious for an advertisement.”

He did not, however, find it “too tedious” to mention “Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs, and a great variety of other printed handkerchiefs.”  As the Museum of the American Revolution notes, “newspapers, pamphlets, and books … convey[ed] information” during the era of the American Revolution, yet “[s]imilar technology of the time – engraved copper plates, presses, and type – were used to print other paper items used for practical purposes [and the] images used on one type of item were often copied and used on other types of items,” including handkerchiefs.

Most of the handkerchiefs at Adcock’s vendue likely featured decorative patterns, but the “Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs” sported portraits of the new nation’s most prominent political leader, John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and its most prominent military leader, George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.  A single handkerchief might have included images of both men.  Alternately, the politician and the general may have been depicted individually on separate handkerchiefs, presenting patriotic consumers with more merchandise to purchase.  Either way, the handkerchiefs simultaneously commemorated American leaders and commodified the American Revolution.  Consumers could demonstrate their support for the American cause by purchasing and then using or displaying these handkerchiefs.

Few such handkerchiefs have survived, in part because textiles are so fragile.  In 2023, the Museum of the American Revolution mounted an exhibition that included an anti-Stamp Act handkerchief and a heroes of the Revolution handkerchief (with Washington in the center and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, General Nathanael Greene, and General Benjamin Lincoln in the corners), giving visitors to the museum (and the museum’s website) a glimpse of the commemorative items that the founding generation produced and purchased.

September 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (September 16, 1776).

“JOHN COBURN … has removed into Boston again.”

In the summer of 1776, John Coburn, a goldsmith, returned to Boston to resume business there.  He ran advertisements in the Boston-Gazette and the New-England Chronicle in July.  Although he discontinued his notice in the New-England Chronicle after three insertions, he continued running it in the Boston-Gazette through the end of September.  During that time, he made a significant investment in “inform[ing] his Customers and others, that he has removed into Boston again, and carries on the Goldsmith’s Business at his Shop in King Street, opposite to the American Coffee-House.”

That Coburn stated that he was in Boston “again” indicated that he previously lived and worked there.  Although he did not previously advertise his services, real estate advertisements in several of Boston’s newspapers, including one in the August 19, 1773, edition of the Boston News-Letter, gave his address as “King-street, near opposite to the British Coffee-House.”  Things had certainly changed in the three years since that advertisement appeared.  In December 1773, men disguised as Indigenous Americans destroyed shipments of tea.  In the spring, Parliament responded by passing the Coercive Acts, including the Boston Port Bill that closed the harbor in June 1774.  The city experienced “Distresses,” as Isaiah Thomas described the situation, for many months before hostilities commenced at Lexington and Concord.  British forces occupied the city for several more months during the siege of Boston before evacuating in March 1776.

During that time, many residents of the city departed for other towns, many of them as refugees who left at the beginning of the siege.  Neither news updates nor advertisements reveal when Coburn moved out of Boston, but only when he returned to the shop on King Street that he had formerly occupied.  Among the changes of the past three years, the establishment across the street had a new name, the American Coffee House rather than the British Coffee House.  It had that new name as early as May 1776, at least two months before the Continental Congress declared independence.  As Coburn sought to revive his business in Boston during the Revolutionary War, the location he gave in his advertisements reflected and reinforced the new identity that many readers embraced.

September 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Ledger (September 14, 1776).

“A few Copies of the Second Edition of Strictures on Common Sense.”

Like many other printers in Philadelphia, James Humphreys, Jr., advertised and sold military manuals in the fall of 1776.  In the September 14 edition of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Ledger, he announced, “A few Copies of the Military Guide FOR YOUNG OFFICERS, By THOMAS SIMES … May be had of the PRINTER hereof.”  Humphreys collaborated with fellow printers Robert Bell and Robert Aitken in publishing that “large and valuable Compilation from the most celebrated MILITARY WRITERS.”  In the same issue, he noted that “A few Copies of the Second Edition of Strictures on Common Sense, May be had of the Printer.”  He used a shortened title for The True Interest of America Impartially Stated, in Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet Intitled Common Sense, one of only two pamphlets that directly responded to Thomas Paine’s popular pamphlet.  Humphreys had published the first edition in late May and found a large enough market, even with the colonies declaring independence, that he undertook a second edition.

The advertisements for those two works – a military manual primarily intended for officers and soldiers fighting for the American cause and a political pamphlet arguing against independence – demonstrated the editorial perspective that Humphreys took in publishing the Pennsylvania Ledger.  In the colophon, he stated that “Essays, Articles of News, Advertisements, &c. are gratefully received and impartially inserted.”  That meant that he welcomed letters, editorials, and news updates that expressed an array of views about current events, unlike many other printers.  Rather than place the colophon at the bottom of the final page, where it appeared in most newspapers, Humphreys positioned it immediately below the masthead so it alerted readers before they perused any of the “Essays, Articles of News, [and] Advertisements” that they should expect to encounter items that took different positions and did not necessarily reflect their own views, whatever those happened to be.  More than most printers at the time, Humphreys did strive to “impartially” deliver news to readers, but that did not earn him the admiration of the public.  Concerned about his safety, he ceased publishing the Pennsylvania Ledger and left Philadelphia by the end of 1776.

September 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (September 14, 1776).

“THE ART OF WAR.”

The September 14, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post carried updates about British maneuvers since the Continental Army’s retreat from Long Island.  The enemy invaded and occupied New York.  In the same issue, the newspaper carried an advertisement for a military manual – yet another one – published by a printer in Philadelphia.  Such notices for an array of military manuals had been appearing in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers for the past two years.  This time, Robert Bell announced that he “Just published … THE ART OF WAR … By Monsieur De Lamont, Town-Major of Toulon [and] By the CHEVALIER DE LA VALIERE.”  Despite the significance of the news from New York, Bell’s advertisement ran as the first item in the first column on the first page.

As was common in many advertisements for books, much of the copy merely replicated the extensive subtitle that doubled as a table of contents.  Readers learned that the book consisted of three parts, “I. The duties of all military officers in actual service; … II. The duties of soldiers in general; … [and] III. The rules and practice of the greatest Generals.”  Bell added a “MEMORANDUM” to give more detail, noting that De Lamont wrote the first section and La Valiere penned the other two.  De Lamont, he further explained, held “a post of great trust, and which requires much experience to recommend a man to it.”  He gained that experience “by serving in the army for twenty-three warm campaigns, and during that time was personally engaged in many of the most considerable sieges and battles.”  Once Bell established the Town-Major of Toulon’s credentials, he explained what readers could expect to get out of the first section of The Art of War.  “All his instructions are so regular, and so just, that they in a manner make a soldier of the man that never saw a camp, and leads him, that desires to follow that course of life, so fully into the art of war, that a young officer has nothing to do when he comes into the field but only to put in practice that theory, which he has already conceived, concerning all the operations, belonging to the several posts, in an active and courageous army.”  That may have offered some reassurance to men taking on responsibilities as military officers for the first time.  Even those with more experience may have found it worthwhile to read De Lamont’s “necessary instructions” to brush up on what they needed to know.

Bell did not devote the same attention to the “second and third parts of this work … composed by Gen. La Viliere,” though he noted that the general was “another French officer of great valour and experience.”  The contents already outlined that the “duties of soldiers” included “necessary instructions, in many capital matters, by remaining ignorant of which a man, who pretends to be a soldier, will be every day in danger of brining disgrace upon himself, and material injury to the cause of his country.”  In addition, the “rules and practice of the greatest Generals” described “manœuvres of encamping, marching, order of battle, fighting, attacking, and defending strong places, with the manner of surprising towns, quarters, and armies.”

Even with so many military manuals recently published in Philadelphia, many of them by Bell, the printer believed a market existed for another one.  Current events, especially news from New York, demonstrated that American officers and soldiers needed to learn and apply as much knowledge about military operations as they could.

September 13

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

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

Connecticut Gazette (September 13, 1776).

“Send him the exact Measure round their naked Body on a Piece of Cartridge Paper.”

In September 1776, Stephen Johnson published an advertisement in the Connecticut Gazette to inform the public that he “Still continues the Business of making TRUSSES or Bandages to keep up the falling Parts of those who are troubled with the Burst.”  In other words, Johnson made hernia belts to relieve the discomfort of his clients.  Some readers may have previously been aware that Johnson made and sold trusses.  He had previously advertised in the Connecticut Gazette in April 1774.  That notice featured a testimonial signed by eight of Johnson’s former customers who addressed the printer and requested that he “insert the following in your next Paper.”  Given that they were so satisfied with their trusses that they took that step, they may have also promoted Johnson’s hernia belts via word of mouth.

In his new advertisement, Johnson declared that he “has made great numbers in the neatest Manner,” emphasizing both his experience and skill.  Furthermore, he “has the Satisfaction to find by those who have used them that they have never failed in one Instance of answering the Purpose.”  That may have been the most important appeal.  Johnson proclaimed that his trusses were effective, that they offered relief to his customers who purchased and wore them.  New customers could depend on wearing their trusses “without any kind of Inconvenience,” suggesting that they were not bulky or unnecessarily constrictive of movement.  Those who did would discover that the devices “afford abundant relief and satisfaction,” just as they had done for his customers in the past.

Johnson realized that not all prospective customers could visit him in Ashford for a fitting.  For those who wished to place orders from a distance, he offered these instructions: “send him the exact Measure round their naked Body on a Piece of Cartridge Paper, and on which Side the Breach is.”  He gave similar directions in his previous advertisement.  Such customers did not need to worry that they had not been precise in taking and recording their own measurements if they sent a length of paper that they had wrapped around their body and cut accordingly.  Johnson devised that means of increasing sales by filling order received from a distance, an eighteenth-century precursor to mail order medicine.