Daily Advert Update

July 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette (July 23, 1776).

“All residents in said Town … are requested to attend and give in their votes.”

Newspaper advertisements sometimes made important announcements during the era of the American Revolution.  An advertisement in the July 23, 1776, edition of Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, for instance, informed readers that the most recent provincial convention “resolved, that Baltimore Town shall have two Representatives in a Convention to be held in August next, for the express purpose of forming a New Government,” a government established “by the authority of the people only” in the wake of the Continental Congress declaring independence from Great Britain.  “Notice is hereby given,” the advertisement continued, “that an election will be held by open poll, on Monday the 5th day of August next, at the Court-House, to choose the two members aforesaid.”  Furthermore, “all residents in said Town, who by law were intitled to vote for Delegates in Assembly, (except such as have been published as enemies to this country) are requested to attend and give in their votes.”

That notice appeared among the other advertisements in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette, alongside employment notices, descriptions of indentured servants who ran away, and an advertisement for “KEYSER’s FAMOUS PILLS” and other patent medicines.  The men who signed the notice – James Calhoun, John Merryman, Jr., and William Aisquith – apparently paid to insert it in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette and in the Maryland Journal as well.  The printers of those newspapers could have included such important information with the news that they selected to disseminate to readers. They could have even given the notice a prominent place on the front page, publishing it as a public service as the state created its “New Government, by the authority of the people.”  Instead, they treated the notice as an advertisement rather than news, presumably generating revenue each time it appeared in their newspapers.  Readers knew that news of various sorts, including legal notices, often ran as advertisements.  They realized that the news in any issue of an early American newspaper did not necessarily end when the advertisements began.

July 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (July 22, 1776).

“EXTRACT from the WORK.”

John Dunlap devoted nearly half the space on the first page of the July 22, 1776, edition of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet to an advertisement for his Philadelphia edition of Richard Price’s Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.  A month earlier, Thomas Fleet and John Fleet ran an advertisement for their Boston edition of the popular pamphlet.  Rather than merely use the table of contents as the copy for their advertisement (as printers and booksellers often did), they added their own note that this “judicious and exceeding well wrote Pamphlet was published in London in March last and had had a very rapid Sale there.”  Friends of the American cause “thought [the pamphlet] would tend much to open the Eyes of the Nation.”  Accordingly, the Fleets considered the pamphlet “well worthy the Perusal of every lover of Civil Liberty and good Government in America; for which Reason the Printers propose to sell them at the moderate price of one shilling and six Pence each” compared to two shillings charged in London.

Dunlap inserted different commentary to demonstrate the reception and influence the pamphlet received and, in turn, attempt to incite demand among readers.  “This learned, judicious and liberal author,” the advertisement declared, “had the thanks of the Common Council, and the Freedom of the City of London presented to him in a gold box, for this his much admired most excellent pamphlet on Civil Liberty.”  In addition to that honor, “he also deserves the united thanks of America.”  Yet Dunlap did even more to promote his Philadelphia edition of the pamphlet.  He inserted an “EXTRACT from the WORK” that extended more than a column, giving readers a preview and enticing them to read more.  In so doing, Dunlap reduced the amount of space for news items and paid notices in that issue of the newspaper, apparently considering the length of the advertisement, especially the “EXTRACT,” worth the investment.  He may have also intended that the “EXTRACT” double as a letter to the editor in making the case in support of the American cause.

Dunlap and the Fleets were not alone in publishing local editions of Price’s pamphlet in America.  David Bruce published the pamphlet in Charleston and Samuel Loudon published it in New York.  Printers in the four largest urban ports made local editions of the pamphlet available to readers in their cities.

July 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Ledger (July 20, 1776).

“Simes’s Military Guide for officers, 2 vol.”

After the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, 1776, and approved the Declaration of Independence two days later, the war that began with the skirmishes at Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts had a new purpose.  Colonizers and subjects of George III no longer fought for redress of grievances within the British imperial system; instead, settlers and citizens of a new nation fought for independence from that empire.  The military manuals that American printers had been printing, advertising, and selling for the past two years and longer were as important as ever.  Printers and booksellers continued promoting them in newspaper advertisements.

In an advertisement in the first column on the first page of the July 20 edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger, for instance, James Humphreys, Jr., the printer of that newspaper, declared that “A few Copies of the Military Guide FOR YOUNG OFFICERS, By THOMAS SIMES … embellished with a Number of Copperplates … May be had of the PRINTER hereof.”  Humphreys jointly published Simes’s military manual with Robert Aitken and Robert Bell.  For several months he had been hawking the book.  Bell also continued advertising and selling it.  In his own advertisement on the last page of that issue of the Pennsylvania Ledger, he listed it among the “following MILITARY WORKS, some of them very valuable, and seldom to be met with, [that] may be had at R. BELL’s.”  He also stocked “New System of Military Discipline, founded on Principle, by a General Officer,” a manual that Aitken printed and previously advertised, and “Hoste and Webster’s Mechanics, Fortification, Artillery, or Gunnery, adapted to the use of the Gentlemen of the Army and Navy.”  Bell did not mention the copperplate engravings that illustrated Simes’s military manual, but he did note that “LE Blond’s Military Engineer, containing the attack and defence of all kinds of fortified places” came with “numerous and excellent copperplates.”  He also carried copies of “ARCHITECTURE HYDRAULIQUE,” a manual on hydraulic architecture and “usage du cours des eaux dans les operations de la Guerre des Sieges & de Campaign” [utilizing watercourses in siege and field warfare operations], for readers who understood French.  Not surprisingly, printers and booksellers highlighted military manuals in their newspaper advertisements during the Revolutionary War.

July 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Freeman’s Journal (July 20, 1776).

“The Printing-Business, in it’s different branches carried on with care and fidelity.”

Like many other American printers, Benjamin Dearborn, the printer of the Freeman’s Journal, or New-Hampshire Gazette, used the colophon as an advertisement for the various services he provided.  The colophon for the Freeman’s Journal ran across all three columns at the bottom of the last page, separated from other content by two lines.  It stated: “PORTSMOUTH: Printed by BENJAMIN DEARBORN, near the Parade, where this Paper may be had at Eight Shillings L[awful]. M[oney]. per year, one half at entrance.  The Printing- Business, in it’s different branches carried on with care and fidelity.”  Whatever the other content, each issue concluded with an advertisement from the printer.

Usually that meant that news and paid notices appeared above the colophon, but only one other item ran on the final page of the July 20, 1776, edition of the Freeman’s Journal.  Dearborn printed the entire “DECLARATION, By the Representatives of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, In General Congress assembled,” approved on July 4.  The Freeman’s Journal was one of the last American newspapers to print the Declaration of Independence, yet Dearborn delivered it in an especially attractive format for his subscribers.  As the only item (except for the colophon) on the final page, it could be removed from the newspaper and displayed.  John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, was the only other printer to present the Declaration of Independence as a broadside within a newspaper.  He underscored that “a number of our Customers, … intend to separate it from the rest of the paper, and fix it up, in open view, in their Houses, as a mark of their approbation of the INDEPENDENT SPIRIT of their Representatives.”  In making that observation, Holt delivered instructions to other subscribers that they should similarly display the broadside integrated into that issue in their homes, shops, or offices.  Both Dearborn and Holt included a colophon or imprint at the bottom of the broadside Declaration of Independence in their newspapers.  Subscribers could trim them before displaying the broadsides, but those who did not displayed advertisements for the printers as well as the founding document of the new nation.

Freeman’s Journal (July 20, 1776).

July 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Essex Journal (July 19, 1776).

“Sundry Advertisements, Articles of Intelligence, &c. omitted for want of room.”

On July 19, 1776, yet another printer informed readers that some items did not appear in that issue of his newspaper due to lack of space.  This time it was John Mycall in the Essex Journal and New-Hamnpshire Packet, published in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  He informed readers of “Sundry Advertisements, Articles of Intelligence, &c. omitted for want of room.”  Six days earlier, the Providence Gazette carried a similar notice: “[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]”  A day before that, Timothy Green, the printer of the Connecticut Gazette, pledged that his newspaper “digested every material Occurrence that is come to Hand” even though it consisted of “only a Half Sheet Paper this Week.”  In each instance, the newspapers carrying those notices printed the Declaration of Independence for subscribers and other readers to examine for themselves.

Virginia Gazette [Purdie] (July 19, 1776).

In this case, the Declaration of Independence appeared as the first item on the first page of the Essex Journal, followed immediately by “A PROCLAMATION, For a day of public humiliation, fasting and prayer” adopted by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress in Watertown on July 4, 1776.  By July 19, almost every other newspaper published in New England had printed the Declaration of Independence, making the text of the document available to Mycall via an exchange network of printers.  Except for Solomon Southwick and the Newport Mercury, no printers adjusted their weekly publication schedule or published a supplement or extraordinary issue to disseminate the Declaration of Independence.  As a result, the founding document sometimes ran where space was available on the second or third page and other times had a prominent spot on the front page.  It seemingly depended on when a printer received a copy compared to when the next issue went to press.  The placement of the Declaration of Independence on the first page of the July 19, 1776, edition of the Essex Journal suggests that Mycall had a copy far enough in advance that he could have chosen to publish a supplement or extraordinary issue but instead opted to make it part of the standard issue.  The amount of space required to do so meant less room for “Sundry Advertisements, [and] Articles of Intelligence.”

The same day, Alexander Purdie made a curious and quite different decision about publishing the Declaration of Independence in his Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg.  Rather than print the entire document, he published an “Abstract from the minutes of the General Congress, of Thursday the 4th instant, declaring the United Colonies free and independent states.”  Purdie promised that the Declaration of Independence “will be published at full length in next week’s Gazette,” but he did not explain why he chose not to publish it in that issue.  The “Abstract” ran on the second page.  Purdie had enough space to include the entire document if he left out other “Articles of Intelligence” or “Sundry Advertisements.”  Instead, he explained that the “first part of the declaration is a recapitulation of injuries,” referring to the grievances against the king, “and it concludes as follows.”  The final three paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence ran in the center column on the second page of Purdie’s Virginia Gazette.

When they acquired copies of the Declaration of Independence, printers made decisions about when to publish it and whether to displace other content to make the document available to the public.  In most cases they did not deliver news of independence.  That spread via word of mouth more quickly than printing presses, but the proliferation of printed copies of the Declaration of Independence in American newspapers allowed the public to engage with the rationale and results for themselves.

July 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Continental Journal (July 18, 1776).

“WHEREAS the Great and General Court …”

John Gill, the printer of the Continental Journal, faced the same dilemma as his former partner, Benjamin Edes, the printer of the Boston-Gazette, when he received a legal notice with so many columns that its width exceeded that of the columns in his newspaper.  Edes had rotated some advertisements to run perpendicular to the rest of the text on the page, thus maximizing space while also eliminating the need to reset type for other advertisements that followed the standard column width.  Gill made a different decision in his effort to cover every inch of the page with content.  He opted for the same wider width for news and advertising that appeared in the same column as the legal notice the first time that it ran on July 4, 1776, and a narrower width for news and advertising in another column on the same page.

Three advertisements had wider widths: one placed by Silent Wilde, a post rider, calling on customers to make payment for his services, another in which Andrew Mitchel offered a reward for the capture and return of Cato, an enslaved man who liberated himself by running away, and an anonymous notice describing an enslaved woman for sale with instructions for interested parties to “Inquire of the Printer.”  Those three advertisements remained in a block of text with the legal notice for each of its three appearances, though sometimes in different order.  One advertisement that accompanied the legal notice the first time it appeared had a narrower width.  Beneath a headline that exclaimed “Stop Thief!” Joshua Longley described a man who sold him a stolen horse.  That advertisement also remained in the same block of text with the legal notice.  Gill did not need to publish news that appeared in the narrow column a second time.  Instead, he reset the type for three advertisements that previously appeared with the standard width, making them narrower but longer.  This did not save time and effort as Edes had done in the Boston-Gazette, but it did have all the text on the page printed in the same direction instead of rotating some advertisements to run perpendicular to the rest of the content.  Both solutions filled every inch of the page, an especially important consideration considering the shortages of paper during the Revolutionary War.

July 17

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

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

Connecticut Journal (July 17, 1776).

“For Sale at his Shop Next Door to the White-Haven Meeting House …”

Either Thomas Green and Samuel Green did not acquire a copy of the Declaration of Independence in time to include it in the July 10, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Journal or they prioritized other news and advertisements with type already set.  Due to a paper shortage, they scaled back their newspaper from four pages to two pages each week, so that also constrained how much space they had for the Declaration of Independence and other content.  Even though the new nation’s founding document did not appear in the Connecticut Journal in the first issue after the printers acquired a copy, the Greens did disseminate it to readers in New Haven and nearby towns via other means.  A notice from the printers appeared above the other advertisements: “To morrow, will be ready for sale, The Resolves of the Congress, declaring the United Colonies, FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES.”  That broadside edition circulated for nearly a week before the Declaration of Independence appeared in the July 17 edition of the Connecticut Journal.

When it did appear, as Emily Sneff explains, the Greens “reused the typesetting for their weekly newspaper.  …  To create their broadsides, they formatted the Declaration in two columns separated by a line of ornamental type.  In the next issue of their Journal on July 17, the Greens squeezed the same two columns of type onto the back page and used a border of or ornamental type to separate the Declaration from other pieces of news and advertisements.”[1]  To fit the remaining space, the Greens rotated the text to run perpendicular to the two (wider) columns of the Declaration of Independence at the top of the page and the three (narrower) columns of news and advertisements at the bottom of the page.  The content set at an awkward angle included a correction concerning “the Time of the visible Eclipse of the Moon to happen the 30th of this Month” that was “inserted wrong in some of Stafford’s Almanacs” printed by the Greens.  An advertisement about goods that Major Line sold at his shop ran as two short columns of five or six lines each.  The savvy printers made those short columns the same width as standard columns throughout the rest of their newspaper.  When the advertisement ran in the next issue, they did not have to reset all the type but instead combined the two columns into a single notice.  They repeatedly showed ingenuity in the choices they made about how to print the Declaration of Independence and other items in the Connecticut Journal.

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In addition to briefly recounting this story in When the Declaration of Independence was News, Emily Sneff offers more analysis of the broadside and the newspaper (with images of both) as Research Highlight for the Declaration Resources Project.

[1] Emily Sneff, When the Declaration of Independence Was News (Oxford University Press, 2026), 69.

Connecticut Journal (July 17, 1776).

July 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette (July 16, 1776).

“The Utility of such a Map must appear obvious to every Officer who understands the nature of Actual Service.”

On July 9, 1776, Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette became the first newspaper outside of Philadelphia to publish the Declaration of Independence.  A week later, its first advertisement promoted a map that the printer considered essential for officers now that the aims of the war had shifted from achieving a redress of grievances to achieving independence from Great Britain.

An introduction that indicated a “MAP of New-York, Staten Island, part of Long-Island, and New-Jersey” would be ready for sale in a few days emphasized that the map was “absolutely necessary for every Officer under Marching orders for New-York.”  As they gathered equipment and supplies in advance of departing to defend New York, officers needed to outfit themselves with a map that “delineated, the situation of the British Forces now on Staten-Island” as well as the “different Batteries thrown up for the defence of the Continental troops in those parts.”  Just in case the target audience had not grasped the appeal made in the introduction, the advertisement concluded with an assertion that the “Utility of such a Map must appear obvious to every Officer who understand the nature of Actual Service.”  Not purchasing the map, the advertisement suggested, amounted to a dereliction of duty.

The advertisement, without revision, ran for two more weeks, promising the imminent publication of the map even after the time that it “will be ready for Sale” based on when the notice first appeared in the newspaper.  The printer did not follow up with another advertisement announcing the publication and availability of the map.  Was that because he did not consider such an advertisement necessary … or because plans for publishing the map did not work out?  I cannot find an extant copy of the map described in the advertisement, but copies of a map with a similar (but much lengthier) title are in the collections of several historical societies and research libraries: A Plan of New York Island, with part of Long Island, Staten Island & East New Jersey, with a Particular Description of the Engagement of the Woody Heights of Long Island, between Flatbush and Brooklyn, on the 27th of August 1776 between Hist Majesty’s Forces Commanded by General Howe and the Americans under Major General Putnam, Shewing also the Landing of the British Army on New-York Island, and the Taking of the City of New-York &c. on the 15th of September Following, with the Subsequent Disposition of Both the Armies.  William Faden published that map in London.  It certainly was not the map from the advertisements in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette in July 1776 … yet the possibility exists that the engraver consulted (and updated) an American map that depicted the same area when creating the map of those historic battles.

July 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Newport Mercury (July 15, 1776).

“A DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE … is now to be sold by S. Southwick, printed on one side of a large sheet.”

On July 15, 1776, three newspapers printed the Declaration of Independence for subscribers and other readers.  Although word of mouth carried the news faster than print, the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer, the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, and the Norwich Packet and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire and Rhode-Island Weekly Advertiser gave readers the opportunity to examine the grievances against the king and the political philosophy that supported the Continental Congress’s decision to declare independence.

The Declaration of Independence did not appear in the Newport Mercury even though Solomon Southwick, the printer, had received a copy.  The layout and content of the July 15 edition suggest that he did not acquire it before type had been set and printing commenced for that issue.  He did have space, however, to insert his own advertisement about the founding document immediately after the news and before other advertisements.  “A DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE was published, by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, the 4th instant,” the printer informed the public, “and is now to be sold by S. Southwick, printed on one side of large sheet.”  He likely envisioned consumers purchasing copies to display in their homes, shops, or offices, just as John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, suggested that Patriots should do with the copy he printed as the third page of his newspaper four days earlier.

Southwick also planned to disseminate the Declaration of Independence via the Newport Mercury.  “Those of our readers who don’t chuse to buy it in this form,” the broadside already on sale, “may see it in the Newport Mercury next Monday, at the furthest.”  That last phrase suggested the possibility that Southwick would publish a supplement, postscript, or extraordinary issue sometime before the next regular issue of the weekly newspaper came out.  He did just that with a Newport Mercury Extraordinary “Containing the FRESHEST ADVICES” on July 18.  It featured the entire text of the Declaration of Independence.  Southwick gave it a few days for customers to purchase the broadside, but he then opted to provide subscribers with the momentous document without growing frustrated with the delay as they waited an entire week.  He was the only American printer to publish a supplement or extraordinary that deviated from his newspaper’s usual publication schedule upon receiving a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Unlike Holt, who fit the entire document on a single page of the New-York Journal so readers could display it, Southwick did not manage to fit the Declaration of Independence on just one page.  It filled the entire second page and a few lines and John Hancock’s signature spilled over onto the third page.  Subscribers could read the Declaration of Independence for themselves, but if they wanted a copy to display then they needed to purchase the broadside available at Southwick’s printing office.

July 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (July 13, 1776).

“[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]”

The July 13, 1776, edition of the Providence Gazette included a note from the printer, John Carter, that “[Advertisements omitted will be in our next.]”  Even though some advertisements received in the printing office “at Shakespear’s Head, in Meeting-Street,” did not make it into print in that issue, it still carried a significant number of paid notices.  Carter devoted the entire fourth page to advertising as well as the final column of the third page.  That meant that advertising accounted for four out of twelve columns or one-third of the content of that issue.

What prevented Carter from inserting certain advertisements?  Acquiring a copy of the Declaration of Independence and printing it for his subscribers and other readers likely played a part.  Consider where the Declaration of Independence and the note from the printer appeared within the July 13 issue.  Both ran on the third page, the last page for which the compositor set type.  Like other newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution, the Providence Gazetteconsisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and folding it in half.  Printers produced both pages on one side, let the broadsheets dry, and then printed the other two pages on the other side.  In most printing offices, that meant taking the first and fourth pages to press first and later printing the second and third pages.

Carter wedged the note that advertisements that did not appear in the July 13 edition would appear in the next issue into the last column on the third page, placing it at the very bottom after squeezing in as many advertisements as possible.  The Declaration of Independence started near the top of the first column and filled most of the second column as well.  It did not, however, start at the top of the column.  Carter concluded a news update from New York.  He also included a short introduction: “The following Declaration of the General Congress was Yesterday received from Philadelphia.”  That further suggests that he set type for the momentous document as soon as he received it and inserted it into the July 13 edition where it would fit.  Doing so displaced some of the advertisements he intended to print before a copy of the Declaration of Independence came to hand.