Connecticut Journal

April 3

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

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

“M‘Knight’s Harmony of the
Duhamel’s Husbandry     (Gospel.”

Connecticut Journal (April 3, 1776).

Like other printers throughout the colonies, Thomas Green and Samuel Green, the printers of the Connecticut Journal, stocked and sold an array of imported books, pamphlets, and other merchandise.  Beyond newspaper subscriptions and advertisements and job printing, they cultivated other revenue streams.  As newspaper printers, the Greens had ready access for promoting their wares, doing so, for instance, with an oversized advertisement in the April 3, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Journal.

Connecticut Journal (April 3, 1776).

Listing dozens of titles, that advertisement dominated the third page.  The format distinguished it from any other, extending across two columns in the upper left corner, yet the columns within the advertisement did not align with the rest of the columns in the newspaper.  Rather than the standard width, the Greens used three narrow columns.  They listed one title per line, leaving white space that made it easier for readers to navigate their notice than if they had resorted to a paragraph of dense text.  A couple of advertisements on the facing page received similar treatment.  Anthony Perit’s advertisement for a “large assortment of Dry GOODS” and William Battle’s advertisement for a “general assortment of GOODS suitable for the season” each had their inventory arranged in two columns with a line running down the center, but those notices did not exceed the standard width for the newspaper.  On the other hand, either the Greens or a compositor who set the type realized that one title per line in the catalog of books and pamphlets available at their printing office in New Haven would leave too much white space.  As a matter of both efficiency and design, their advertisement thus featured a format that distinguished it from others.

That efficiency included limiting the number of lines and the overall space required for the advertisement.  Near the bottom of the first column, an incomplete entry for “M‘Knight’s Harmony of the” concluded at the end of the next entry for “Duhamel’s Husbandry” with “(Gospel.”  The complete entry listed M‘Knight’s Harmony of the Gospel.”  The “(” signaled to readers that “Gospel” belonged with either the previous or the following entry.  Similarly, about one third of the way down the second column, an incomplete entry for “Manners & Customs of the Ro-” concluded with “(mans” on the line above and an incomplete entry for “Treatise on the Diseases of Wo-” near the bottom of the final column concluded with “(men” at the end of the previous line.  While not always elegant, the format enhanced the visibility of the advertisement the printers ran to promote book sales.

March 13

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

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

Connecticut Journal (March 13, 1776).

“That much esteemed Pamphlet, intitled, COMMON SENSE.”

Two months after Robert Bell published the first edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in Philadelphia, printers in other cities and towns in New York and New England published local editions that increased the circulation of the popular political pamphlet.  Advertisements for Common Sense proliferated as those printers marketed their editions and other printers and booksellers acquired copies that they sold in their communities.  On March 13, 1776, an advertisement for Common Sense appeared in the Connecticut Journal, published in New Haven, for the first time.

“Just published & to be sold by the Printers hereof,” Thomas Green and Samuel Green announced, “That much esteemed Pamphlet, intitled, COMMON SENSE; ADDRESSED To the INHABITANTS of AMERICA.”  The Greens, however, had not published their own local edition.  As was the case with so many other advertisements for books and pamphlets, eighteenth-century readers knew to separate the phrases “Just published” and “sold by the Printers hereof.”  The latter did not mean that the printers had published the pamphlet themselves; instead, it meant that the pamphlet was “now available” rather than “forthcoming” or “in the press.”

The Greens stocked an edition that included “an APPENDIX to Common Sense, and an Address to the Representatives of the People called Quakers.”  Paine included that additional material in his approved new edition published by William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, after he parted ways with Bell.  It did not take long for Bell to pirate those items and incorporate them into a supplementary pamphlet of essays he marketed as related to Common Sense.  On the same day that the Greens first advertised Common Sense in the Connecticut Journal, the Bradfords once again cautioned the public that the “Pamphlet advertised by Robert Bell, entitled Additions to Common Sense … consists of pieces taken out of the News-papers, and not written by the author of Common Sense.”  That the Greens did not mention any additional material except the “APPENDIX, and an Address to the Representatives of the People called QUAKERS” suggests that they stocked copies published by the Bradfords rather than by Bell.  The advertisement does not definitively demonstrate that was the case, but it does show that more and more printers made some version of the political pamphlet available to readers.  The Greens simultaneously advertised “EXTRACTS from the VOTES and PROCEEDINGS of the American CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,” supplying customers with other products to keep informed beyond what they read in the newspaper.

December 31

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

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

Connecticut Journal (December 27, 1775).

“He will publish No. I. of a News-Paper … THE NEW-YORK PACKET; OR THE AMERICAN ADVERTISER.”

The American Revolution resulted in an explosion of print.  The disruptions of the war led to the demise of some newspapers, but others continued, joined by new publications during the war and, especially, even more newspapers after the war ended.  The major port cities had one or more newspapers before the Revolutionary War.  Many minor ports also had a newspaper.  Once the new nation achieved independence, printers commenced publishing newspapers in many more towns.  Thoughtful citizenship depended in part on the widespread dissemination of news.  Samuel Loudon’s New York Packet was part of that story.

In December 1775, Loudon announced that he “will publish No. I. of a News-paper, (To be continued weekly)” on Thursday, January 4.  He initially advertised in other newspapers printed in New York, but by the end of the month others carried his proposals, including the Connecticut Journal, published in New Haven, and the Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia.  Newspapers circulated far beyond their places of publication.  Printers wanted them to supply content for their own newspapers.  The proprietors of coffeehouses and taverns acquired them for their patrons.  Merchants used them for updates about both commerce and politics.  Loudon had a reasonable expectation of attracting subscribers beyond New York.  A nota bene at the end of his advertisement in the Connecticut Journal noted that “Subscriptions [were] taken by the Printers, and all the Post Riders,” a network of local agents that assisted in distributing Loudon’s newspaper.

Pennsylvania Gazette (December 27, 1775).

To entice potential subscribers, Loudon explained that he “is encouraged to undertake this arduous work by the advice and promised literary assistance of a numerous circle of warm friends to our (at present much distressed) country.”  That signaled to readers that Loudon supported the American cause.  It also offered assurances that he had the means to acquire sufficient content to publish a weekly newspaper.  To that end, Loudon pledged “to do everything in his power to render it a complete and accurate NEWS-PAPER, that the Public may thereby receive the earliest intelligence of the state of our public affairs, and of the several interesting occurrences which may occasionally happen whether at home or abroad.”  In the spirit of newspaper providing the first draft of history, the printer declared that he “flatters himself that the NEW YORK PACKET, will influence every discerner of real merit, who may encourage the work, to preserve it in volumes, as a faithful Chronicle of our own time.”

In addition to expressing such ideals, Loudon also tended to the business aspects of establishing a newspaper.  He reported that he “already possessed himself of a neat and sizeable set of TYPES … together with every other necessary for carrying on a splendid News Paper.”  Soon enough, “the best of hands shall be procured to perform the mechanical part.”  Subscribers could expect the New York Packet “will be printed … on a large Paper, of a good Quality, and equal in Size to the other News-Papers published in this City.”  Subscriptions cost twelve shillings per year.  Loudon also solicited advertisements, indicating that they “will be inserted at the usual Price of Five Shillings, when of a moderate Length, and continued Four Weeks.”  As was the practice in other printing offices, “longer Advertisements to be charged accordingly.”

Loudon did indeed launch the New York Packet on January 4, 1776.  It lasted only eight months in New York, suspended after the August 29 edition, as Clarence S. Brigham explains, “immediately prior to the entry of the British into New York.  Loudon re-established the paper at Fishkill in January, 1777, and at the close of the War returned to New York.”[1]  Without changing the volume numbering, he continued publishing the New York Packet from November 13, 1783, through January 26, 1792.  By then, Loudon published the newspaper three times a week, part of that explosion of print that occurred during the era of the American Revolution.  Shortly after closing the New York Packet, Loudon and his son, Samuel, established a daily newspaper, The Diary; or Loudon’s Register.  Unfortunately, the issues of the New York Packet published in 1776 have not been digitized for greater access, though the run for 1783 through 1792 is available via Readex’s America’s Historical Newspapers.  That means that advertisements and other content from that newspaper will not be featured in the Adverts 250 Project, its story confined to the subscription proposals that ran in other newspapers.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 675.

December 13

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

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

Connecticut Journal (December 13, 1775).

“FOUR different Views of the BATTLES of LEXINGTON, [and] CONCORD.”

The marketing of memorabilia that commemorated events associated with the American Revolution began before the Second Continental Congress declared independence.  Shortly after the Boston Massacre, for instance, Paul Revere, Henry Pelham, and others produced and advertised images depicting the “BLOODY MASSACRE perpetrated in King-Street.”  Revere also marketed a “Copper-Plate PRINT, containing a View of Part of the Town of Boston in New-England, and British Ships of War landing their Troops in the Year 1768.”  As the imperial crisis intensified, Charles Reak and Samuel Okey advertised a print depicting “that truly staunch Patriot, the Hon. SAMUEL ADAMS, of Boston.”  The production of commemorative items accelerated following the battles at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.

In December 1775, James Lockwood advertised “FOUR different Views of the BATTLES of LEXINGTON, CONCORD, &c. on the 19th of April, 1775.”  He provided a short description of each: “The Battle at Lexington,” “A View of the Town of Concord with the Ministerial Troops destroying the Stores,” “The Battle at the North Bridge in Concord,” and “The South Part of Lexington where the first Detachment were join’d by Lord Percy.”  Lockwood promoted both the quality and accuracy of the prints, noting that the “Four Plates are neatly engraved on Copper, from original Paintings taken on the Spot.”  He almost certainly stocked and sold a series of prints engraved by Amos Doolittle based on paintings by Ralph Earl.  Although Lockwood may have sold the prints separately on request, he promoted them as a package, charging six shillings for as set of “the plain ones” or eight shillings for “coloured” prints.  This collection of prints supplemented news coverage of the battles, helping educate colonizers about recent events, yet many consumers may have desired them as symbols of their patriotism and support of the American cause to display in their homes and offices.  During the first year of the Revolutionary War, the marketing of images that celebrated Americans who defended their towns and their liberties likely encouraged some colonizers to imagine declaring independence rather than merely seeking a redress of grievances.

June 7

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (June 7, 1775).

“He has left his Business and all his Property … for the Good of the Common Cause.”

In the summer of 1775, William Fallass, a “TAYLOR, from BOSTON,” relocated to New Haven, Connecticut.  Upon arriving in town, he placed a newspaper advertisement to introduce himself to his new neighbors and prospective customers.  Fallass announced that he “designs carrying on his Business in the Shop formerly occupied by Mr. Joseph Howell … and hopes to meet with Encouragement.”  The locals did not yet know him or his work by reputation, prompting him to declare that he “flatters himself that he shall give Satisfaction to those that please to favor him with their Custom.”  The newcomer pledged his best efforts for his clients.

He also offered another reason that residents of New Haven should hire his services.  He had not planned to relocate to another town but instead “left his Business and all his Property (Beds and Apparel excepted) for the Good of the Common Cause.”  The battles at Lexington and Concord and the ensuing siege of Boston upended Fallass’s life and livelihood.  In late April, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, meeting in Watertown, negotiated with General Thomas Gage, the governor, for safe passage in or out of Boston.  Loyalists could move into the city; Patriots and others could depart.  In each instance, they could take their “Effects” with them, “excepting their Fire-Arms and Ammunition.”  The unfortunate Fallass did not manage to move most of his “Effects,” just his clothing and bedding.  He hoped that sacrifice “for the Good of the Common Cause” would endear him to prospective clients and entice them to do business with him, a refugee.

In that regard, Fallass made a more explicit appeal than Polly Allen and Lucy Allen, milliners and mantuamakers from Boston, did when they ran a newspaper advertisement in Providence earlier in the week.  In both cases, however, advertisements help in tracing the movement of men and women who departed Boston during the siege.  They did not merely leave the city for the countryside; many relocated to other colonies and attempted to revive their businesses in new places as the Revolutionary War began.  Articles and “letters of intelligence” relayed some accounts of current events, yet advertisements played another role in revealing the effects of the war on some colonizers.

February 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (February 8, 1775).

“Attend to this Advertisement!”

When Joseph Holbrook sought to sell a house, two mills, and a farm in Woodbury in the winter of 1775, he placed an advertisement in the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy.  In it, he assured prospective purchasers that “said place is the best situation for maintaining a large family with ease.”  The house and mills were new.  The gristmill “grinds 5000 bushels in one year for common custom,” while the sawmill “cuts 100,000 feet of boards every year.”  They operated throughout the year because the mills “never fail of water [during] the driest season,” nor did they flood at other times.  The land included “good meadow, orchard, pasture and plow land.”

Holbrook’s notice looked much like other advertisements in colonial newspapers except for a headline that proclaimed, “Attend to this Advertisement!”  That headline almost certainly drew the attention of readers, making them curious about what appeared in the notice.  Such a command distinguished Holbrook’s advertisement from others, not only because it gave instructions but because it had a headline at all.  Several notices in the February 8 edition of the Connecticut Journaldid not have headlines, just the first word in capital letters with a dropped capital for the first letter.  Some had the first line in larger font, such as one that began, “Pursuant to a Request made to,” and another that started, “This is to give notice to all.”  Among those with headlines, the name of the advertiser usually served that purpose.  One headline announced, “Jacob Dagget” in a larger font than anything else on that page.  Another used “JOSEPH HOWELL” as the primary headline with two secondary headlines, “Choice good Train & blubber Oil” and “Dry’d and pickled COD-FISH.”  Holbrook, however, did not resort to the usual wording and format for advertisements.  The headline for his advertisement, in italics and a larger font than its body, suggested that something of consequence followed the edict to “Attend to this Advertisement!”  The advertiser and the compositor deployed both copy and design to encourage readers to peruse what otherwise would have been an ordinary real estate notice.

January 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR: Dominic Bonanno

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

Connecticut Journal (January 18, 1775).

“HENRY DAGGETT TAKES this method to acquaint his customers and others …”

The advertisement from the Connecticut Journal that I have selected was published by Henry Daggett.  He created it with three different purposes. First, Daggett mentions that he has stopped accepting lines of credit as payments from customers: he “renounced the practice of trusting out his goods; and, for the future, purposes to sell only for pay in hand.”  He wanted customers to pay the same day as their purchases.  Next, Daggett moves into stating that he has an assortment of goods to sell in his store “on the lowest terms” or for the lowest prices.  Finally, Daggett aggressively mentions that anyone who is in debt to him “either by note or book” must settle with him immediately or he will take them to court, what he called “the expence and trouble of the law.”

In addition to figuring out why Daggett placed this advertisement, I wanted to know more about how it was distributed to the public.  I read about “Printing Presses and Distribution” on the webpage about “Connecticut’s Newspaper History” created by the Connecticut State Library.”  Once newspapers were printed, “[d]istribution of the final product was usually by the carrier, often the printer’s apprentice.  Subscribers who had the paper delivered to their homes were charged a fee.  …  Outside of town, the post rider was the main distributor of newspapers. The post, or mail, came in once a week in the early days.  Often the printer was also postmaster and would see that newspapers were carried free of charge from office to office.”  I imagine that Henry Daggett got his point across to the public because of wide distribution of newspapers in Connecticut during the era of the American Revolution.  They were delivered not only in the town of publication but also to many other towns as well.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes

When Dominic and I met to discuss this advertisement, I asked him why he chose Henry Daggett’s notice in the Connecticut Journal.  He was especially interested in the circulation of newspapers and the advertisements they contained.  As Dominic outlines, Daggett had several reasons for running his advertisement.  He wanted to know more about how confident Daggett would have been that others, especially prospective customers and former customers who still owed him for previous purchases, would see the advertisement.  That gave us a chance to talk about readership and distribution throughout the colonies and then look for secondary sources about newspapers published in Connecticut in the eighteenth century.

This also gave me an opportunity to share with Dominic that the production of newspapers in Connecticut differed from other many other colonies in early 1775.  The sites of publication were more centralized in other colonies.  For instance, three newspapers were published in South Carolina, all of them in Charleston, and disseminated throughout the colony from there.  Similarly, two newspapers were published in Virginia (with a third established only a few weeks after Daggett’s advertisement ran on January 18, 1775).  Printers in Williamsburg published those newspapers.  In Pennsylvania, three English-language newspapers were published in Philadelphia (with two more established by the end of the month) and two German-language newspapers were published in Germantown.  Three newspapers were published in New York, all of them in New York City.

The situation was a little different in most colonies in New England.  While the New-Hampshire Gazette, published in Portsmouth, was the only newspaper in that colony, Rhode Island has two newspapers, the Newport Mercury and the Providence Gazette, and Massachusetts had five newspapers printed in Boston as well as Essex Gazette, published in Salem, and the Essex Journal, published in Newburyport.  In early 1775, Connecticut was the only colony with newspapers published in four towns: the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer, the Connecticut Gazette (published in New London), the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, and the Norwich Packet and the Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Rhode-Island Weekly Advertiser.  As the full title of the Norwich Packet suggests, colonial newspapers circulated widely beyond their sites of publication.

Advertisers in Boston, Charleston, New York, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg could easily visit or send messages to multiple printing offices when they wished for their notices to appear in more than one newspaper.  In contrast, advertisers in Connecticut had ready access to one printing office, if they happened to live in one of the four towns with a newspaper, yet had to devote more effort in submitting their notices to other printing offices when they wished to disseminate them in multiple newspapers.

January 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , ,

GUEST CURATOR:  Nicholas Arruda

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

Connecticut Journal (January 11, 1775).

“A fresh Assortment of European & India GOODS.”

Osborne and Leavenworth advertised a “fresh Assortment of European & India GOODS” in the Connecticut Journalon January 11, 1775.  Their advertisement was dated December 13, 1774, very shortly after the implementation of the Continental Association on December 1.  In October 1774, the First Continental Congress organized that nonimportation agreement in response to the oppressive policies of Great Britain, especially the Coercive Acts.  Osborne and Leavenworth may have been undertaking a clearance sale on stock acquired prior to the importation ban.  In The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution, 1763-1776, Arthur M. Schlesinger observes that merchants had to comply with boycott agreements while they had preexisting inventories to manage.  He observes that “the enforcement of non-importation agreements placed merchants in a precarious position, compelling them to balance between patriotic compliance and economic survival.”[1]  Osborne and Leavenworth probably advertised goods imported before the Continental Association went into effect and colonists refused to import British goods as a sign of unity.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  Carl Robert Keyes

Osborne and Leavenworth’s advertisement does indeed raise questions about when they received their goods compared to when the Continental Association went into effect.  They placed their notice to advise prospective customers that they had moved to a new location and received a new shipment that they “are now opening.”  They did not specify when that “fresh Assortment” arrived, though they likely hoped that readers would assume they acquired their wares before December 1.  After all, it took time to unpack goods and prepare them for sale, especially when setting up shop in a new location.  Alternately, the goods may have arrived in the colonies, likely New York, prior to December 1 before merchants there dispatched them to Osborne and Leavenworth in New Haven.

The date that appeared in their advertisement made it possible to reach the conclusion that they peddled only wares imported before December 1.  Other merchants and shopkeepers who advertised in the same issue of the Connecticut Journal did not give any indication about when they received merchandise that they promoted as new arrivals.  Jeremiah Atwater, for instance, “just received a fresh Assortment of GOODS.”  Similarly, Anthony Perit “just received a large and general Assortment of English and India GOODS.”  Yet neither of them included any dates nor mentioned the Continental Association.  Josiah Burr proclaimed that he “just receiv’d a large Assortment of GOODS” and gave an extensive list of imported textiles, housewares, and groceries (including tea) in an advertisement dated “Jan. 1775,” well after the Continental Association commenced.  Perhaps each of these local retailers had received new goods from merchants in New York rather than directly from English ports.  After all, five out of six ships that the custom house in New Haven listed as “ENTERED IN” in the January 11 edition of the Connecticut Journal arrived from New York.  In that case, neither advertisers nor readers may have been concerned about breaking the prohibition on buying and selling imported goods.  Six weeks after the Continental Association went into effect, advertisements for consumer goods in the Connecticut Journal looked much the same as they had for years, unlike some advertisements in newspapers published in major ports that announced the sales of imported goods under the direction of local Committees of Inspection.

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[1] Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution, 1763-1776 (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1957), 240.

November 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (November 18, 1774).

“THE New-Haven Committee for soliciting Subscriptions for Relief of their suffering Brethren at Boston.”

Colonizers in Connecticut and other places rallied to support residents of Boston once the Boston Port Act went into effect on June 1, 1774.  In retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed legislation that closed and blockaded the harbor until the town made restitution for the property that had been destroyed.  As Bob Ruppert explains, “All shipping and commerce came to standstill.  Ships-of-war appeared in the harbor, army regiments arrived from England and only food was allowed to enter the town (by way of the town of Marblehead, sixteen miles to the north).”

As far away as South Carolina, patriots formed committees to aid Boston.  In Connecticut, the “New-Haven Committee for soliciting Subscriptions for Relief of their suffering Brethren at Boston” provided an update of their activities and invited readers to join their efforts in an advertisement in the November 18 edition of the Connecticut Journal.  It ran in the same column as advertisements for the “Votes & Proceedings Of the American CONTINENTAL CONGRESS” and a “likely Negro Girl, about 10 Years old,” for sale.  The committee advised their “generous Subscribers to being in their Grain, &c. [et cetera] on Thanksgiving Week, as they expect a Vessel will then be lying at the Long-Wharf for the purpose of taking in such Benefactions.”  In other advertisements, Josiah Burr hawked an “Assortment of GOODS suitable for the Season,” Jacob Daggett promoted a “fresh Assortment of Goods,” and Joseph Howell touted a “good Assortment of English and India GOODS,” making overtures to consumers.  In contrast, the Committee for the Relief of Boston put advertising to another purpose, alerting the public to an opportunity to play a part in current events and express their political principles.  Their notice also served as a news update, supplementing the content selected for inclusion by the printers of the Connecticut Journal.

November 11

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

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

Connecticut Journal (November 11, 1774).

“To be sold by the Printers hereof, And by Nathan Hicok, Post-Rider.”

Throughout the colonies, printers provided updates from the First Continental Congress during its meeting in September and October 1774.  After the delegates adjourned and traveled home, printers quickly set about publishing, advertising, distributing, and selling a pamphlet that included an overview of the “Votes & Proceedings” as well as “the Bill of Rights, a List of Grievances, occasional Resolves, the Association, an Address to the People of Great Britain, a Memorial to the Inhabitants of the British American Colonies, and an Address to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec.”  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, first made the pamphlet available in Philadelphia just a week after the meeting ended.  Other printers soon joined them, producing their own local editions.

That included Thomas Green and Samuel Green, the printers of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy.  On November 4, they alerted readers that the “Proceedings of the Continental Congress will shortly be ready for sale at the Printing Office.”  A week later, they ran a new advertisement, this time announcing that they sold the pamphlet.  Yet customers did not have to visit the printing office or send an order to acquire copies because the Greens enlisted Nathan Hicok, a post rider, in selling as well as delivering the “Votes & Proceedings” to colonizers seeking to keep informed beyond the coverage in newspapers.  It was not the first time that the Greens designated Hicok as one of their agents for disseminating printed items that supported the patriot cause.  On September 30, 1774, they advertised “The celebrated SPEECH, of the Bishop of St. Asaph, on the Bill for altering the Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay.  To be sold by the Printers, and Nathan Hicok, jun.”  Advertisements in several newspapers demonstrate that several post riders became partners with printers in marketing and selling political pamphlets as the imperial crisis intensified.  Even more post riders, though not named in newspaper advertisements, may have assumed similar responsibilities, actively promoting sales of such items rather than merely delivering them at the behest of printers and their customers.