Delayed Publication

July 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (July 29, 1774).

“(The Particulars in our next)”

In the summer of 1774, Richard Champney took to the pages of the New-Hampshire Gazette to announce that he “has just open’d a fresh Assortment of most Kinds of English and Hard Ware GOODS” at his shop in Portsmouth.  He pledged that customers could acquire his merchandise “as low as can be purchased in any shop in Town.”  When his advertisement first ran on July 22, it did not list any of those items.  Instead, a note promised, “The Particulars in our next.”  Most likely the compositor devised that note due to lack of space in that issue; Champney’s advertisement appeared in the final column on the third page, the last of the content that would have been prepared for any edition.

The following week, however, his advertisement did not include the “Particulars.”  It ran exactly as it had, without any revision, though the compositor managed to find room for a new advertisement that featured an extensive catalog of goods that John Penhallow “Imported from LONDON” and sold at his store.  Had someone in the printing office overlooked the copy that should have appeared in Champney’s advertisement?  Did the shopkeeper raise an objection when his complete advertisement did not run as planned?  Was he frustrated that a competitor achieved greater visibility in the public prints even though he submitted his advertisement a week earlier?

Some exchange might have occurred between Champney and the printing office to rectify the situation.  The complete advertisement finally found its way into print in the August 5 edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette, two weeks after the shopkeeper first alerted readers that he had a “fresh Assortment” of goods.  It listed dozens of items to entice consumers, simultaneously demonstrating that the choices he offered to customers rivaled what Penhallow and other advertisers presented to the public.  Promising the “Particulars” in the next issue may have encouraged anticipation among prospective customers, especially in an issue that included only one other advertisement for imported wares, that one from a milliner who promoted a narrow range of goods, but not following through on it did not serve Champney well when his competitors published their own catalogs of merchandise.  Even though his complete notice eventually ran, any advantage from being the first in print had been squandered.

January 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (January 12, 1774).

“Said MAGAZINE was not published on Saturday last, agreeable to his promise.”

Throughout the second half of 1773, Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy, attempted to launch another publication, the Royal American Magazine.  If he could attract a sufficient number of subscribers to take the project to press, it would be the only magazine published in the colonies at the time.  After a few months, Thomas announced that subscribers had indeed answered his call, responding to the proposals and other advertisements he placed in newspapers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  He planned to distribute the first issue of the Royal American Magazine on January 1, 1774.

That, however, did not come to pass.  In the January 6 edition of the Massachusetts Spy, the first issue of the new year, Thomas inserted an update that explained that “the only Reason why said MAGAZINE was not published on Saturday last, agreeable to his Promise, was, that he sent to England for a compleat Set of Types, for said Work” and the ship that was supposed to deliver them to Boston ran ashore on Cape Cod about three weeks earlier.  Fortunately, “the Cargo was saved.”  Thomas eventually received the new type, but not by “the Day intended for Publication.”  He assured subscribers that the magazine “will THIS WEEK be put in the Press, and published on the first Day of February next.”  In the eighteenth century, monthly magazines often came out during the final days of the month rather than the beginning of the month, so this plan still allowed Thomas to produce a January issue.

This misfortune also presented an opportunity for “Gentlemen and Ladies who intend subscribing for the Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE” but had not yet done so to “send in their Names immediately, otherwise they may be disappointed of having the first Number.”  In addition to encouraging more subscribers, Thomas also continued soliciting “LUCUBRATIONS” or essays for the inaugural issue.  Given the delay caused by not receiving the type by the expected date, Thomas had more time to collect content produced by American authors for the magazine.

After this update ran in the Massachusetts Spy on January 6, Thomas placed it in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on January 10 and the Essex Journal, published in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on January 12.  Thomas had recently commenced publishing the Essex Journal in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges.  Not surprisingly, his advertisement was the only one to appear on the front page of Essex Journal.  Other advertisements appeared elsewhere in the issue.