Apothecary

November 3

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

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

Pennsylvania Journal (November 3, 1773).

“Dr. Keyser’s Pills … warranted genuine.”

Townsend Speakman and Christopher Carter, “CHYMISTS and DRUGGISTS,” advertised widely in October and November 1773.  They placed advertisements simultaneously in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, the Pennsylvania Gazette, the Pennsylvania Journal, and the Pennsylvania Packet.  Each of those advertisements promoted raisins, figs, and currants as well as “an Assortment of the freshest DRUGS and PATENT MEDICINES.”  They offered the “most saleable Articles in large Quantities” to shopkeepers and others who planned to retail them.  Printers, for instance, often supplemented revenues from other sources by peddling patent medicines.

On November 1, the Pennsylvania Packet ran an abbreviated version of Speakman and Carter’s advertisement.  In notices in the other three newspapers during that week, the apothecaries highlighted a “Parcel of Keyser’s famous Pills, from the Importer in London, with full Directions for their Use.”  They pledged that “the Public may be assured these Pills are the genuine Sort,” and to demonstrate that was indeed the case “they have inserted the Copy of a Certificate received with [the pills], the Original of which may be seen by any Purchaser.”  The copy of that certificate comprised the final third of the advertisement.  In it, James Cowper, “Doctor of Physic,” declared himself “the only legal Proprietor of a Medicine, called KEYSER’S PILLS, in England.”  Furthermore, he certified that Speakman and Carter, “Chymists and Druggists, in Philadelphia, are my only Correspondents to whom I send the above Pills in that Part of the World.”  Consumers did not need to worry about purchasing counterfeit pills if they acquired them from Speakman and Carter.

According to another advertisement in the Pennsylvania Journal, however, customers in Philadelphia had another option for obtaining Keyser’s Pills without worrying about getting duped by unscrupulous sellers.  That advertisement appeared immediately below Speakman and Carter’s advertisement, a rather cheeky placement considering that it listed William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, as local agents who sold the pills.  Speakman and Carter paid the Bradfords to run their advertisement, complete with the certificate, and they may have expected competition but not efforts to outright undermine their marketing strategy.  The advertisement replicated James Rivington’s “Every One their own Physician” notice from Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, along with a few additions.  In addition to listing the Bradfords as local agents, a letter from Rivington to the Bradfords followed the testimonials.

Just as Speakman and Carter reprinted Cowper’s certificate in its entirety, the Bradfords published Rivington’s entire letter.  He noted that he saw “an advertisement in the Philadelphia Papers, relating to Dr. Keyser’s Pills, importing that they were procured from Dr. Cowper, of London, and warranted genuine.”  Rivington could do one better.  “I think it very proper the Public should be assured,” he trumpeted, “that the Pills, which you have had from me, and now advertize for sale, were imported by me, immediately from Mr. Keyser himself, at Paris.”  In addition, Rivington offered to show Keyser’s “letters and correspondence for some years past … to any person, who may require a sight of them.”  Furthermore, Rivington was also vigilant about counterfeits, reporting that he “detected a counterfeit sort, exposed to sale in New-York, of which Mr. Keyser has sent me a written declaration.”  Rivington concluded by inviting the Bradfords to insert his letter in their newspaper so “the Public may be once more informed you have the Pills sent directly from Mr. Keyser” to New York and then forwarded to Philadelphia.

It was not the first time that printers who sold Keyser’s Pills became embroiled in disputes over who stocked authentic medicines.  In the summer of 1772, printers in South Carolina pursued a feud in their newspapers, sometimes alluding to notices placed by their competitors and sometimes responding to them directly.  Among the many purveyors of Keyser’s Pills, a great many claimed that they carried genuine medicines and possessed some sort of exclusive right to market them in their town.

October 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Maryland Journal (October 23, 1773).

“APOTHECARY in MARKET-STREET.”

Robert Bass ran an apothecary shop in Philadelphia in the early 1770s.  Along with several other apothecaries, he regularly advertised in the various newspapers published in the Quaker City.  In the fall of 1773, he expanded his marketing efforts to include the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser.  That newspaper, the first in Baltimore, commenced publication near the end of August.  Previously, residents of that growing port and nearby towns relied on the Maryland Gazette, printed in Annapolis, and newspapers from Philadelphia as their local newspapers.  Merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans in Baltimore sometimes placed advertisements in those publications.  Similarly, advertisers based in Philadelphia, including apothecaries, often mentioned that they served customers in the countryside and promptly filled orders that they received from a distance.  When Bass placed advertisements in the Pennsylvania Chronicle or the Pennsylvania Gazette, for instance, he expected that prospective customers in Baltimore (and many other towns) would see them.

The founding of the Maryland Journal altered the print culture landscape in the region.  The newspapers that previously served Baltimore and its environs continued to circulate there, but residents had more immediate access to a local newspaper.  Hoping to retain his share of the market or perhaps even make gains via advertising in the new publication, Bass quickly decided to place notices in the Maryland Journal.  His advertisement received a privileged place in the October 23 edition.  It appeared as the first item in the first column on the first page, below a masthead for “NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.”  The apothecary advised that he had just acquired “a very large supply of capital DRUGS and PATENT MEDICINES, to serve the fall and winter seasons.”  In addition, he “properly compounded” prescriptions at his shop.  Unfortunately for Bass, he was not the only advertiser who offered such services.  Two columns over, Patrick Kennedy, “Surgeon and Apothecary,” hawked “a large assortment of patent medicines” and declared that he “carefully prepared” prescriptions at his shop in Baltimore.  Readers who lived relatively close to Kennedy’s shop may have preferred to obtain their medicines from him as a matter of convenience, but for prospective customers in the countryside it may not have mattered whether they sent orders to Baltimore or Philadelphia.  Bass even expected that some readers would visit his shop, advising that he gave “constant attendance every day except Sundays.”  Although Baltimore now had its own newspaper, Bass did not consider it a separate local market.  Instead, he attempted to use the new publication to maintain or even expand his share of a regional market.  Whatever the outcome may have been, he considered it worth the investment of placing an advertisement in some of the first issues of the Maryland Journal.

October 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (October 5, 1773).

“At the Sign of the Unicorn & Mortar.”

Hezekiah Merrill ran an apothecary shop in Hartford in the early 1770s.  In October 1773, he placed advertisements in the Connecticut Courant to promote the variety of patent medicines that he sold, including Bateman’s Drops and Cordials, Turlington’s Balsam of Life, and Hooper’s Female Pills.  Each of those remedies would have been as familiar to eighteenth-century readers as popular over-the-counter medications are to modern consumers.  Merrill, like others who sold the same patent medicines, did not believe that they required descriptions when advertising them.  The apothecary also stocked books at his shop.

Merrill marked the location of his shop with “the Sign of the Unicorn & Mortar,” an appropriate image for an apothecary, and further advised prospective customers that they could find it “a few rods south of the Town-House.” Residents of Hartford regularly passed the shop and its sign, making it a familiar sight in their daily routines.  For visitors from the countryside, the sign made Merrill’s location unmistakable as they navigated town.  The apothecary encouraged consumers to associate the image of the Unicorn and Mortar with his business, treating it as a logo of sorts.  He inserted two advertisements in the October 5, 1773, edition of the Connecticut Courant, both of them invoking his shop sign.  A longer one on the first page listed the patent medicines and other merchandise, while a shorter one on the third page solicited beeswax in exchange for cash.  Just as residents of Hartford frequently glimpsed the sign, readers of the Connecticut Courant encountered “the Sign of the Unicorn & Mortar” more than once when they perused that issue.

Today, those advertisements testify to some of the sights that colonizers saw as they traversed the streets of colonial Hartford.  According to Thomas Hilldrup’s advertisement in the same issue of the Connecticut Courant, “the sign of the Dial” adorned the shop where he cleaned and repaired watches near the court house.  Other purveyors of goods and services in Hartford almost certainly displayed signs, contributing to the visual landscape of commercial activity in the town.  Few of those signs survive today, except for the descriptions of them in newspaper advertisements.

September 22

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

Pennsylvania Journal (September 22, 1773).

“They have lately erected a commodious Elaboratory for the preparing Chemical and Galenical Medicines.”

In the fall of 1773, Speakman and Carter, “CHEMISTS and DRUGGISTS” in Philadelphia, advertised widely in their efforts to capture their share of the market for the “freshest DRUGS and genuine Patent MEDICINES, Surgeons INSTRUMENTS[,] Shop Furniture,” and other merchandise sold by apothecaries in the city.  They competed with other apothecaries, including several who ran their own notices in newspapers published in the city.  Robert Bass advertised in the Pennsylvania Chronicle.  William Smith inserted notices in both the Pennsylvania Journal and the Pennsylvania Packet.  John Watson, “DOCTOR, SURGEON, and APOTHECARY, at NEWCASTLE on Delaware,” competed for customers outside Philadelphia with an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Chronicle.

Speakman and Carter sought customers in the Philadelphia as well as “Orders from the country,” including New Castle and the surrounding area, and welcomed both wholesale and retail sales.  On September 22, they ran advertisements with identical copy (but variations in format) in the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal.  In addition to hawking the drugs and patent medicines they recently imported from London, Speakman and Carter advised “Wholesale Dealers and Practitioners in Medicine” that they “erected a commodious Elaboratory for the preparing Chemical and Galenical Medicines in large quantities.”  The apothecaries asserted that they could compound medicines “in large quantities” of the same quality “on as low terms [or prices] as they can be imported from England.”

Pennsylvania Chronicle (September 20, 1773).

The industrious apothecaries simultaneously ran a more elaborate advertisement in the September 20 edition of the Pennsylvania Chronicle.  It included all of the material that appeared in the advertisements in the other two newspapers as well as a list of some of their inventory.  Divided into two columns with one item per line, that list included “Jesuits bark,” “Purging salts,” “Lancets single or in cases,” “Neat mahogany medicine chests for gentlemen’s families,” and “Keyser’s pills, warranted genuine from the only importer in London.”  In addition, Speakman and Carter inserted an abbreviated version of the advertisement in the Pennsylvania Packet on the same day.  It featured just a small portion of the notices that appeared in the other newspapers, promoting “A LARGE assortment of the freshest Drugs and Patent Medicines, the most saleable articles in large quantities, which will be sold on reasonable terms.”  Though relatively brief compared to the others, publishing that advertisement meant that Speakman and Carter placed notices in all four English-language newspapers published in Philadelphia at the time.  (They did not pursue Henry Miller’s standing offer to translate any and all advertisements for the Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote.)  The apothecaries apparently considered it worth the investment to achieve market saturation with advertisements in so many newspapers.

May 18

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

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

Essex Gazette (May 18, 1773).

“DR. Baker’s Seaman’s Balsam … proves a most powerful Restorative.”

Nathaniel Dabney and Philip Godfrid Kast had a new competitor in the pages of the Essex Gazette.  Both apothecaries regularly ran advertisements in Salem’s only newspaper, Dabney for his shop “at the Head of Hippocrates” and Kast for his shop “at the Sign of the LION and MORTAR.”  On May 18, 1773, Josiah Lord commenced advertising a “general Assortment of DRUG, MEDICINES & GROCERIES” available at his “APOTHECARY-SHOP … Near the Sign of Grapes” in Ipswich.  He advised that “Those who will send their Orders shall be as well used as if present themselves.”  Lord likely hoped that prospective customers who previously did business with Dabney and Kast would instead visit his shop or take advantage of the convenience of sending orders through the post.  He operated the eighteenth-century equivalent of a mail order pharmacy.

The apothecary devoted most of his advertisement to describing several of the patent medicines among his inventory.  A few of them would have been widely familiar among colonizers, including “Dr. Anderson’s true Scots Pills … for Diseases of the Stomach, Head, Belly and for Worms,” “Dr. James’s Powder for Fevers,” and “Dr. Stoughton’s great Cordial Elixir for the Stomach.”  These medicines were so popular that apothecaries, shopkeepers, and even printers stocked them and promoted them in their newspaper notices, usually referring to them only as Anderson’s Pills, James’s Powder, and Stoughton’s Elixir.  Still, Lord gave more details in hopes of wooing customers.  For instance, he explained that a “few Doses of [James’s] Powder will remove any continual acute Fever in a few Hours, though attended with Convulsions, Light-Headedness, and the worst of Symptoms.”

Lord gave even more attention to lesser-known patent medicines, marketing them as alternatives to familiar nostrums.  “DR. Baker’s Seaman’s Balsam” did not appear in advertisements for drugs and medicines nearly as often as certain other patent medicines, so Lord educated prospective customers about its uses.  He declared that this balsam “assuredly cures and prevents Putrefaction in the Gums, Kidneys, Liver and Lungs, and other noble Parts of the Body” and it “proves a most powerful Restorative in weak and lax Habits of Body, helping enfeebled Nature.”  Similarly, he dedicated a paragraph to directions for using the “celebrated Volatile Essence” to relieve a variety of symptoms.  “By only being smelt,” Lord declared, “it revives the Spirits to a Miracle, and recovers immediately from either Fainting or Hysterick Fits.  It is likewise a most admirable Medicine in the Head-Ach, Lowness of Spirits, and Nervous Disorders; in all which Cases being taken in the Quantity of a few Drops only, it gives immediate and surprising Relief.”  As an added bonus, “In the Heart-burn, a few Drops instantly removes it.”

Such descriptions of each medicine were extensive compared to the lists that appeared in many advertisements placed by apothecaries and others who sold patent medicines.  Given that Lord “Just OPENED” his “APOTHECARY-SHOP” in Ipswich, he may have wished to demonstrate his knowledge of a variety of medicines, both familiar and obscure, to prospective customers.  Doing so may have reassured them that Lord’s expertise rivaled that of Dabney, Kast, and other competitors in the area.

May 5

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 5, 1773).

“Chymist and Druggist … at the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head.”

Isaac Bartram, “Chymist and Druggist,” offered a variety of goods and services at his “new Medicine Store” in Philadelphia in the spring of 1773.  According to his advertisement in the May 5 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, he sold a “great variety of fresh Drugs and Patent Medicines, imported from the best houses in London.”  Prospective customers would have been familiar with the patent medicines that Bartram listed in his notice, just as modern consumers recognize various brands of over-the-counter medications.  Among other nostrums, the apothecary carried “Godfrey’s cordial, Bateman’s drops, … Walker’s Jesuits drops, Daffey’s elixir, [and] Anderson’s Lockyer’s and Hooper’s female pills.”  For those willing to try equivalent products, like modern consumers who purchase generics, Bartram marketed “Wine bitters, of a superior quality to what is commonly sold under the title of Stoughton’s elixir.”  He also stocked medical equipment, including syringes, vials, and surgical instruments, and prepared prescriptions “for physicians, or for family use.”

In addition to the copy, Bartram deployed an image to draw more attention to his advertisement.  He indicated that he kept shop “at the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head.”  Appropriately, a woodcut depicting a unicorn’s head enclosed within a border adorned the upper left corner of his notice, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the space occupied by his advertisement.  This certainly increased Bartram’s advertising costs since he had to commission the unique image associated with his business and then pay for the additional space.  Most advertisers did not invest in images for their notices, though a growing number adopted the practice in the early 1770s.  Elsewhere in the same issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Stephen Paschall and son Stephen Paschall, as they styled themselves, included an image of a scythe, a sickle, and other sort of iron work available at their workshop “at the Sign of the Scythe and Sickle.”  The initials “SP” marked one of the items.  The Paschalls first published the image a year earlier.  These images may have replicated the signs displayed by Bartram and the Paschalls, the only surviving visual representations of signs that colonizers glimpsed as they traversed the streets of Philadelphia.

Most advertisers relied solely on the text of their notices to encourage readers to visit their shops.  Such was the case for Robert Bass, an apothecary whose advertisement for a “new and fresh Assortment of DRUGS and PATENT MEDICINES” appeared on the same page as Bartram’s advertisement.  The woodcut depicting the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head certainly made Bartram’s notice much more visible to readers, prompting them to read about his wares and, in the process, quite possibly justifying the investment.

December 26

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

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

Pennsylvania Chronicle (December 26, 1772).

“Doctor GEORGE WEED … was a regular bred Physician, in New-England.”

George Weed, an apothecary, served patients in Philadelphia for decades in the middle of the eighteenth century.  In his advertisements, he styled himself as “Doctor GEORGE WEED.”  On occasion, he provided credentials to justify using that title.

For instance, in an advertisement hawking a variety of medicines in the December 26, 1772, edition of the Pennsylvania Chronicle, Weed provided an overview of his training before describing his “SYRUP of BALSAM” for coughs and colds, his “ROYAL BALSAM” for wounds, bruises, and sores, his “BITTER TINCTURE” for dizziness and upset stomach, and other medicines that he compounded at his apothecary shop.  Weed asserted that he “was a regular bred Physician, in New-England, and served his time with Ephraim Warner, a licenced Doctor.”  In other words, he received training from “one of the greatest and most successful Practitioners of Physic, in New England, in his day.”  Rather than ask the public to take his word for it, Weed concluded his advertisement with an affirmation from a minister.  Thomas Lewis declared, “That Doctor GEORGE WEED, living in Newtown Township, was under the Instructions and Directions of a judicious Practitioner of Physic, in New-England, for some Years, is certified by me.”  Careful readers may have noted that the affirmation was nearly two decades old, dated October 6, 1753.  Weed apparently believed that it served his purpose in helping to convince prospective patients to purchase his medicines.

To strengthen his pitch, Weed noted that he had “above 34 years successful practice,” including serving as “Apothecary to the Pennsylvania Hospital.”  He no longer held that position, instead operating his own shop on Market Street.  Through his long experience, he proclaimed, Weed “brought to perfection, some medicines, which have proved extraordinary in curing many diseases.”  Although the apothecary mentioned that he carried a “general assortment of Medicines,” he emphasized those that he made himself.  Other apothecaries, retailers, and even printers imported, advertised, and sold a variety of patent medicines produced in England.  Weed suggested to consumers in Philadelphia that the combination of his training and long experience serving patients in the colonies resulted in creating better products to cure common maladies.  They did not need remedies produced elsewhere when they could consult directly with a skilled apothecary who compounded medicines to order.

December 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (December 16, 1772).

“Physicians prescriptions, or family receipts put up in the most careful manner.”

Moses Bartram ran a shop that he called “the OLD MEDICINAL STORE.”  In December, 1772, he ran a newspaper advertisement advising residents of Philadelphia that he “CONTINUES to carry on the business in its various branches” and offered a variety of goods and services.  He stocked “a fresh and general assortment of DRUGS and MEDICINES, Chymical and Galenical preparations of the best quality.”  He also carried patent medicines and, like many apothecaries, both “shop furniture for Practitioners” and “painters colours for either oil or water.”  Bartram filled “orders from town and country.”  He also prepared “Physicians prescriptions” and “family receipts” or remedies “in the most careful manner.”

In marketing the goods and services available at the Old Medicinal Store, Bartram placed his advertisement in three of the five newspapers published in Philadelphia at the time.  Doing so helped him achieve greater market saturation with his notices.  His notice first appeared in the Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote, a German-language newspaper, on December 15.  A note that ran across the bottom of the masthead advised “All ADVERTISEMENTS to be inserted in this Paper, or printed single by HENRY MILLER, Publisher hereof, are by him translated gratis.”  The following day, Bartram’s advertisement ran in both the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal.

Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote (December 15, 1772).

The apothecary chose not to place his advertisement in the two newest newspapers published in the city, the Pennsylvania Chronicle and the Pennsylvania Packet.  Both of them had a healthy number of advertisements each week, suggesting that other advertisers had confidence in the circulation numbers for those newspapers.  The Pennsylvania Packet frequently distributed a two-page supplement to accommodate all of the advertisements submitted to the printing office.  In making his choices about where to advertise, Bartram clustered the dissemination of his notices on Tuesdays (Wöchentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote) and Wednesdays (Pennsylvania Gazette and Pennsylvania Journal).  He could have spread out the days by placing his advertisements in the Pennsylvania Packet, published on Mondays, or the Pennsylvania Chronicle, published on Saturdays.

Given that all of these newspapers were published only once a week rather than daily, allowing readers more time to peruse the contents before discarding an earlier issue in favor of the newest one, Bartram may not have considered it necessary to spread out the days that his advertisements initially appeared in print.  Other factors, including price, his existing relationships with the various printers, and his perceptions of the circulation of each newspaper, may have been more important to Bartram in choosing where (and when) to advertise.

October 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Gazette (October 20, 1772).

“At his Shop at the Head of Hippocrates, in SALEM.”

In the fall of 1772, Nathaniel Dabney’s name would have been familiar to regular readers of the Essex Gazette.  The apothecary frequently placed advertisements encouraging prospective customers to visit his shop “at the Head of Hippocrates, in SALEM.”  A woodcut that depicted a bust of the physician from ancient Greece, often known as the “Father of Medicine,” atop a pillar adorned many of his advertisements.  Rather than appearing in the upper left corner, as was often the case for woodcuts, the narrow image extended the length of Dabney’s advertisements.  The apothecary first incorporated the woodcut into his advertisements in the fall of 1771.

A year later, he opted to publish an advertisement that did not include his signature image, though he continued to associate the “Head of Hippocrates” with his business.  In this advertisement, he relied on a double headline.  “Fresh DRUGS” ran in a large font on the first line, followed by his name in an even larger font on the second line.  The copy suggested that his previous advertising efforts had been effective.  The apothecary “RETURNS his Thanks to those Persons in Town and Country, who have been pleased to favour him with their Custom.”  He then informed current and prospective customers that he just imported “a few Articles, which compleat his Assortment in the DRUG and GORCERY WAY.”  He sold them “very cheap” in “large or small Quantities.”

Why did Dabney decide not to use the woodcut that became so familiar to readers and served as a logo for his shop?  Perhaps he decided that he achieved sufficient visibility and name recognition that he no longer needed to include it in every advertisement.  The cost of advertising may have also influenced his decision.  The colophon for the Essex Gazette stated that “ADVERTISEMENTS not exceeding eight or ten Lines are inserted for Three Shillings.”  Advertisers paid by the amount of space their notices occupied, not the number of words.  Dabney’s long and narrow woodcut and the copy that accompanied it extended far beyond “eight or ten Lines.”  The apothecary may have determined that he wished to keep his name in the public eye without assuming the expense of printing the woodcut in each advertisement.

September 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (September 30, 1772).

“WILLIAM SMITH, HAS removed his Medicinal Store from Front-street.”

In the fall of 1772, William Smith placed newspaper advertisements to inform the public that he recently moved yet “continues to carry on the Drug Business.”  He invited customers to visit his “Medicinal Store” at his new location, the Rising Sun on Second Street in Philadelphia.  He pledged that he was “determined always to pay particular attention to the quality of his medicines, and hopes by his care and fidelity to render full satisfaction to Practitioners in Physic, and others, who may please to favour him with their custom.”

In an effort to enlarge his share of the market, Smith placed the same advertisement in multiple newspapers.  On Wednesday, September 30, it ran in both the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal.  Later in the week, it also appeared in the Pennsylvania Chronicle on Saturday, October 3.  The advertisements in the three newspapers featured identical copy, though the compositors made different decisions about format, including font sizes and capitalization.

Smith did not choose to place his advertisement in the city’s remaining English-language newspaper, the Pennsylvania Packet, on Monday, October 5, nor did he insert it in the Wochentliche Pennsylvanische Staatsbote for the benefit of German-speaking residents in and near Philadelphia.  The printer, had a standing offer in the masthead that “All ADVERTISEMENTS to be inserted in this Paper, or printed single, by HENRY MILLER, Publisher hereof, are by him translated gratis,” but Smith did not avail himself of that service.  Perhaps the apothecary felt that advertising in three newspapers was sufficient.  Perhaps he spent as much as he considered prudent on marketing so opted to forego the other two newspapers.

Whatever the reason, Smith aimed for a greater level of market saturation than advertising in just one publication allowed.  That may have been especially important to him considering that he ran his shop from a new location.  He did not want customers to experience any frustration upon visiting his former location and then decide to visit competitors who continued to do business in familiar locations.  After all, Robert Bass and Townsend Speakman, both prolific advertisers, continued operating their own apothecary shops on Market Street.  Smith did not wish to lose customers to either of them, making his advertisements in three newspapers a sound investment.