James “Jack” Driscoll is a Junior at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is majoring in Criminology and minoring in History. He hopes to one day work for the U.S. Marshal Service, doing case work on fugitives and providing security to prisoners in transport and in the courtroom. He decided to pursue a history minor because ever since he was a kid he has always been very passionate about learning about the past because it serves as an explanation for the present. At Assumption, he plays left tackle for the football team, one of his proudest achievements. He consistently devotes hard work to that position top contribute to positive outcomes on the field for his entire team. Jac made his contributions to the Adverts 250 Project and the Slavery Adverts 250 Project while enrolled in HIS 359 Revolutionary America, 1763-1815, in Fall 2024.
Dominic Bonanno is a senior at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is a Marketing major with a concentration in Sales and a minor in Management. Dominic started his own business when he was sixteen years old and has continued his passion for sales, accepting a full-time position as a commercial/industrial real estate broker for the company Colliers International. Dominic made his contributions to the Adverts 250 Project and the Slavery Adverts 250 Project while enrolled in HIS 359 Revolutionary America, 1763-1815, in Fall 2024.
“It is therefore hoped that it will meet with a kind preference by all friends of America, and its manufactures.”
As the final days of 1774 approached, Christopher Sower, the printer of the Germantowner Zeitung, advertised an American edition of Daniel Fenning’s The Ready Reckoner; or Trader’s Most Useful Assistant, in Buying and Selling All Sorts of Commodities Either Wholesale or Retail. The handy reference volume had been through several London editions, published it “for the first time in all America” and established a network of local agents to sell copies “both in English and German” in several cities and towns. His advertisement in the December 8, 1774, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer listed his own printing office in Germantown, Pennsylvania, and named associates in Lancaster, Reading Philadelphia; New York City; Fredericktown, Maryland; and Yorktown, Virginia. In addition, Sower claimed that “many other shop-keepers and book-binders, in the country towns” stocked the volume. For those interested in selling copies at their shops, he offered a discount, thirty shilling for a dozen copies compared to three shillings for a single copy. In other words, those who bought ten copies received two additional copies for free.
Sower declared that he issued an “improved” edition, “the most complete ever printed.” The table it contained were supposed to save time and avoid errors in calculations, as the lengthy subtitle explained: “shewing at one view the amount or value of any number of quantity of goods from one farthing to twenty shillings … in so plain and easy a manner, that persons quite unacquainted with arithmetic may hereby ascertain the value of any number … at any price whatever.” Sower considered it the “most complete” edition because it featured increments of three pence instead of six pence. Yet that element alone did not recommend the book to prospective customers. The publisher described it as “well done, on good paper, well bound and of an American manufacture.” He did not specify whether “American manufacture” referred to the “good paper” as well as the labor undertaken in setting type, working the press, and binding the book. Still, he expected that an American edition “will meet with a kind preference by all friends of America, and its manufactures” who might otherwise opt for a London edition published in 1773. Sower’s call to purchase the American edition likely had even greater resonance given that the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement adopted in response to the Coercive Acts, had recently gone into effect.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Providence Gazette (November 26, 1774).
“Names of those Gentlemen who are now indebted to the Library Company should be inserted … in the Providence Gazette.”
The Providence Library Company, a private subscription library, conducted some of its business in the public prints in the eighteenth century. Early in the fall of 1774, Theodore Foster, the librarian, ran an advertisement in the Providence Gazette, requesting that “All Persons … who have any Books belonging to the Library … return the same immediately” so they could be “examined and numbered.” In addition to conducting an inventory of the collection, the librarian was “ready to settle with the delinquent Proprietors” who had not paid their subscriptions.
At the end of November, Foster published a new advertisement in the wake of a vote at a recent “Meeting of the Proprietors.” They had decided that “the Names of those Gentlemen who are now indebted to the Library Company should we inserted three Weeks successively in the Providence Gazette, with the Sums respectively due from each.” That list consisted of more than two dozen subscribers, most of them with debts going back more than a decade. The proprietors in good standing determined that the grace period had extended long enough. Accordingly, the advertisement also informed the delinquent subscribers that if they did not make payment before December 3 then “their Rights should be sold by the Treasurer” at a public auction on December 10. They took that action “agreeable to the printed and established Rules of the Library.” The advertisement first ran on November 19 and again on November 26. It made its final appearance on December 3, the deadline for settling accounts. Perhaps Foster offered a little more leeway, provided subscribers paid before the auction on December 10, but the advertisement made clear that overdue subscriptions would be addressed, one way or another, “By Order of the Proprietors.” Their next meeting was scheduled for the day of the auction, an opportunity to assess the outcome of their efforts to get everything in good order.
As was often the case, advertisements like this one relayed local news to the readers of the Providence Gazette. John Carter, the printer, selected which news and editorials to publish elsewhere in the newspaper, yet purchasing advertising space gave individuals and organizations opportunities to become editors who decided on some of the information presented to the public.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (November 25, 1774).
“EXTRACTS from the VOTES and PROCEEDINGS of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.”
As soon as the First Continental Congress adjourned near the end of October 1774, printers set about publishing, advertising, and selling “EXTRACTS from the VOTES and PROCEEDINGS of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, held at Philadelphia.” William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, were the first to advertise this political pamphlet, but other printers soon advertised that they produced local editions in their own towns, helping to disseminate the news far and wide. Conveniently packaging “The BILL of RIGHTS, A List of GRIEVANCES, Occasional RESOLVES, The ASSOCIATION, An ADDRESS to the PEOPLE of GREAT-BRITAIN, and A MEMORIAL to the INHABITANTS of the BRITISH AMERICAN COLONIES” in one volume, this pamphlet supplemented coverage in newspapers. Its format allowed for easier reference than saving and scouring issue after issue of newspapers that relayed some but not all the contents of the Extracts. The pamphlet met with such demand that some printers quickly printed second editions. In the November 24 edition of the Norwich Packet, for instance, Alexander Robertson, James Robertson, and John Trumbull advertised the “second Norwich EDITION” of the Extracts.
The Adverts 250 Project has examined the publication and dissemination of the Extracts in Pennsylvania, the neighboring colonies of Maryland and New York, and multiple towns in New England. It took a little longer for printers in southern colonies to publish the pamphlet, but within a month of the First Continental Congress finishing its business Robert Wells, the printer of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette, advised readers that they could purchase the Extracts at his “GREAT STATIONARY & BOOK STORE.” Unlike other printers who ran separate advertisements for the pamphlet, Wells included it among a list of half a dozen titles he sold. He gave it a privileged place, first on the list, acknowledging its importance and likely interest among readers. The other items included a couple of novels and a history of Ireland, but Wells concluded the list with “OBSERVATIONS on the Act of Parliament commonly called The Boston Port Bill, With Thoughts on Civil Society and Standing Armies. By JOSIAH QUINCY, junior, Esq.” Among the many volumes available at his bookstore, Wells chose to emphasize two concerning current events as the imperial crisis intensified. Like so many other printers, he marketed items that supplemented the news he published in his newspaper.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Spy (November 24, 1774).
“They hope that Gentlemen … that have been appointed into Office … will give the Editors immediate Notice.”
Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, the printers of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, used crowdsourcing as one means of gathering information for their publications. To one extent or another, all colonial printers who published newspapers did so, seeking news from ship captains and travelers and reprinting items from one newspaper to another. They also regularly asked the public to submit news. In the colophon for the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, Mills and Hicks noted that “Letters of Intelligence for this Paper are taken in” at their printing office. It was a familiar invitation. Isaiah Thomas declared that “Articles of Intelligence, &c. are thankfully received” at the printing office where he published the Massachusetts Spy.
Yet Mills and Hicks did not limit crowdsourcing to their newspaper. They also incorporated it into gathering information for almanacs and registers. In early October 1774, they placed an advertisement requesting that “if any new Houses of Entertainment have been opened, or if any were omitted” in that year’s edition of Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanack that “such Tavern Keepers … send their Names immediately” so they could be included in the almanac for 1775. An advertisement for that almanac in the November 24, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Spy featured a list of contents, including “the best Houses for Travellers to put up at.” The printers presumably added any taverns that came to their attention because of their previous notice.
Immediately above that advertisement, they issued another call for the public to assist in compiling Mills and Hicks’s British and American Register for 1775. The commenced with expressing “their Thanks to such Gentlemen as furnished them with Lists for their REGISTER last Fall, and obligingly offered to assist in correcting the same for the ensuing Year (if published).” The 1774 edition had met with sufficient success, a “generous Reception,” that the printers did indeed feel “encouraged” to “put to the Press” a new Register for the coming year. To make it as accurate and comprehensive as possible, they declared that “they hope that Gentlemen (both in this and the neighbouring Governments) that have been appointed into Office, either Civil, Military or Ecclesiastical, will give the Editors immediate Notice, that their Names may be inserted in the same.” Mills and Hicks relied on the public, especially newspaper readers, to supply them with current information for their compendium of officials in New England.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Pennsylvania Journal (November 23, 1774).
“JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS, Held at PHILADELPHIA.”
Just three weeks after they first advertised a pamphlet containing “EXTRACTS FROM THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,” William Bradford and Thomas Bradford announced that they “Just PUBLISHED” a more extensive “JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS, Held at PHILADELPHIA, September 5, 1774.” Although printers in towns throughout the colonies produced, marketed, and sold local editions of the Extracts to keep the public informed about what occurred at the First Continental Congress, the Bradfords were nearly alone in printing the Journal. Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, joined them in that endeavor.
The Bradfords gave their advertisement for the Journal a privileged place in the November 23, 1774, edition of their newspaper, the Pennsylvania Journal. It appeared on the third page, immediately following the list of prices current in Philadelphia. While that may not seem like a spot of any significance in modern newspapers, consider the production of newspapers in eighteenth-century America. Printers created each four-page issue by first printing the first and fourth pages on one side of a broadsheet, letting the ink dry, and then printing the second and third pages on the other side. That meant that the most current news often appeared on the interior pages of an issue since printers set type and printed those pages last. In most newspapers, the shipping news from the customs house or the prices current were the last news items before the advertisements, a familiar visual cue for readers that one type of content came to an end and another began. For readers examining the news more carefully than the advertisements, an advertisement’s placement immediately following the shipping news and prices current likely increased its visibility.
That their advertisement for the Journal occupied that privileged place was not unique to the Bradfords marketing it in their own newspaper. On the same day, they placed a notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette. It ran on the third page, immediately following the shipping news and the prices current. Among more than fifty paid notices in that issue, the printers of that newspaper apparently believed that the Journal deserved special treatment. Marketing and selling both the Extracts and the Journal became an extension of keeping the public informed via coverage of the First Continental Congress that appeared in newspapers.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (November 22, 1774).
“They will sell off very low … their valuable STOCK of GOODS.”
It was a going out of business sale. That was not the language that Hawkins, Petrie, and Company used in their advertisement in the November 22, 1774, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, yet that was what they described to readers. They first noted that their “co-partnership” would “expire” at the end of the year and, “by mutual consent,” they did not plan to renew it. Indeed, neither of them intended to continue in business, so they called on customers and associates to settle accounts.
They also sought to liquidate their inventory, announcing that they “will sell off very low … their valuable STOCK of GOODS, which consists of a large assortment.” Prospective customers could anticipate good deals because Hawkins, Petrie, and Company acquired their wares “on the very best terms.” They expected cash payments (or “ready money”), but also made allowances to “sell for credit to good customers” who had made timely payments in the past. To further entice sales, the partners offered discounts to customers “purchasing to a considerable amount,” whether merchants and shopkeepers seeking to expand their own inventories or consumers stocking up on items they frequently used. “[T]he larger the purchase,” they proclaimed, “the lower the goods will be sold.” In other words, Hawkins, Petrie, and Company were so eager to move their merchandise that they determined discounts on a sliding scale. The more that a customer purchased the larger they discount they would receive.
Hawkins, Petrie, and Company did not undertake the sort of flashy going out of business sale familiar in modern marketing, but they did underscore the opportunities and advantages they made available to both consumers and other businesses in the final weeks that their business remained open. Moving their merchandise was their priority, so they started with low prices and promised to slash them even more for customers who bought in volume.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (November 21, 1774)
“A General and compleat assortment of muffs and tippets in the newest taste.”
As winter approached in 1774, Lyon Jonas, a “FURRIER, from LONDON,” took to the pages of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to advertise the “General and compleat assortment of muffs and tippets in the newest taste” available at his shop on Little Dock Street. He also “manufactures and sells gentlemens caps and gloves lined with furr, very useful for travelling,” “trims ladies robes and riding dresses,” and “faces and lappels gentlemens coats and vests.” In addition to those services, Jonas “buys and sells all sorts of furrs, wholesale and retail.”
To attract attention to his advertisement, the furrier adorned it with a woodcut that depicted a muff and a tippet (or scarf) above it with both enclosed within a decorative border. It resembled, but did not replicate, the woodcut that John Siemon included in his advertisements in the New-York Journal, the Pennsylvania Chronicle, and the Pennsylvania Journal three years earlier. That image did not include a border, but perhaps whoever carved Jonas’s woodcut recollected it when the furrier commissioned an image to accompany his notice.
Whatever the inspiration may have been, Jonas’s woodcut represented an additional investment in his marketing efforts. First, he paid for the creation of the image. Then, he paid for the space it occupied each time it appeared in the newspaper. Advertisers paid by the amount of space rather than the number of words. The woodcut doubled the amount of space that Jonas required in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, incurring additional expense. Jonas presumably considered it worth the cost since the woodcut distinguished his notice from others. In the November 21 edition and its supplement, five other advertisements featured stock images of ships and Hugh Gaine, the printer, once again ran an advertisement for Keyser’s “Famous Pills” with a border composed of ornamental type. Beyond that Jonas’s notice was the only one with an image as well as the only one with an image depicting an aspect of his business and intended for his exclusive use. Readers could hardly have missed it when they perused the pages of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Norwich Packet (November 17, 1774).
“NATHANIEL PATTEN, BOOK-BINDER & STATIONER.”
The decorative border that enclosed David Nevins’s advertisement for hats and hat trimmings in the Norwich Packethelped in distinguishing it from most others in that newspaper, yet it paled in comparison to the use of ornamental type in Nathaniel Patten’s advertisement. Patten, a bookbinder and stationer, commissioned a border for his notice, but he arranged for something much more elaborate than the relatively simple borders for Nevins’s notice and another placed by clock- and watchmaker Thomas Harland.
For some readers, the border for Patten’s advertisement may have evoked a highboy chest or other large piece of furniture. It may even have been intended as a bookcase and secretary desk that would have held the various books and stationery listed within the border. For the lower portion, the left, right, and bottom of the border were composed of a single line of decorative type, just like the borders in the other advertisements, while in the upper portion the left and right sides had three lines of even more intricate type. Those sides rose into an arch composed of other kinds of detailed printing ornaments. The compositor even created five finials, one each on the left and right at the bottom of the arch and three clustered together at the top. The year, 1774, appeared within a pendant inside the arch, much like a piece of furniture would have an engraving. If the type remained set into the new year, Patten had the option to update the date. The advertisement was massive, filling almost an entire column on the final page of the November 17, 1774, edition. The first time that it appeared, it ran on the first page on November 3, that time occupying an entire column because of the amount of space required for the masthead. The border appeared heavy, giving Patten’s advertisement more weight compared to others in the Norwich Packet. The finished product does not reveal how closely Patten worked with the compositor in designing or approving the border. Whatever the case, he almost certainly paid extra for it.
That newspaper had recently marked its first year of publication. Throughout that time, it did not tend to incorporate visual images except for the packet ship that appeared in the masthead. The printers did not make stock images of ships, houses, horses, indentured servants, or enslaved people available to advertisers, nor did advertisers commission woodcuts that represented their businesses. However, the newspaper did regularly embellish advertisements with decorative borders, establishing a different kind of visual appeal to engage readers.
