What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Boston-Gazette (March 22, 1773).
“An ORATION … to COMMEMORATE the BLOODY TRAGEDY of the FIFTH of MARCH 1770.”
Within a week of Benjamin Edes and John Gill announcing that “Dr. CHURCH’S ORATION will be Published by the Printers hereof as soon as possible,” advertisements for that pamphlet appeared in three of Boston’s newspapers. Edes and Gill referred to the address that Dr. Benjamin Church delivered “At the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of BOSTON” on the third anniversary of the Boston Massacre “to COMMEMORATE the BLOODY TRAGEDY.” Edes and Gill reported on the commemorations in their newspaper, the Boston-Gazette, on March 8, 1773, reporting that Church spoke about “the dangerous Tendency of Standing Armies” to the “universal Applause of his Audience.” Furthermore, “his Fellow Citizens voted him their Thanks, and unanimously requested a Copy of his Oration for the Press.” In the next weekly issue of the Boston-Gazette, Edes and Gill advised the public that they would soon publish Church’s Oration.
Boston Evening-Post (March 22, 1773).
Three days later, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter carried a notice that the “THIRD EDITION, corrected by the AUTHOR” was “Just Publish’d” and sold by Edes and Gill as well as Thomas Fleet and John Fleet, the printers of the Boston Evening-Post. Apparently, Joseph Greenleaf was the first printer to take Church’s Oration to press, but Edes and Gill produced a superior edition. In promoting the third edition, the printers gave their advertisement a privileged place in the Boston-Gazette. It appeared as the first item in the first column on the first page of the March 22 issue, making it difficult for readers to overlook. The same day, the Fleets ran the same notice in the Boston Evening-Post. Although not as prominently displayed as in the Boston-Gazette, the placement likely received special attention. Rather than nestled among the dozens of advertisements on the third and fourth pages, it ran as the sole advertisement on the second page. As readers moved from “Proceedings of the Town of Westminster” to news from London that arrived in the colonies via New York, they encountered the advertisement for Church’s Oration. In its own way, that notice served as news, continuing the coverage of current events and shaping how colonizers viewed their place within the empire.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (March 18, 1773).
“An ORATION … to Commemorate the bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March 1770.”
In their first issues published after the commemorations of the third anniversary of the Boston Massacre, the Boston Evening-Post and the Boston-Gazette reported that Dr. Benjamin Church delivered an oration “on the dangerous Tendency of Standing Armies being placed in free and populous cities.” According to that coverage, Church’s oration “was received with universal Applause: and his Fellow Citizens unanimously voted him their Thanks, and requested a Copy of his Oration for the Press.” The previous year, printers in Boston published and advertised the oration that Dr. Joseph Warren delivered on March 5, 1772, to commemorate the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre. They also hawked copies of the oration that James Lovell delivered following the first anniversary of “the Massacre in Boston.” Annual commemorations of the Boston Massacre quickly became a tradition, as did producing and promoting memorabilia associated with the commemorations.
Following coverage in the March 8 edition, the Boston-Gazette carried a short notice on March 15 to inform readers that “Dr. CHURCH’S ORATION will be Published by the Printers hereof as soon as possible.” Three days later, a notice in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter announced the sale of the Oration by “T. & J. FLEET,” printers of the Boston Evening-Post, and “EDES & GILL,” printers of the Boston-Gazette. That advertisement indicated that Edes and Gill printed “The THIRD EDITION, corrected by the AUTHOR.” How did they go from promising to publish the address “as soon as possible” to issuing a corrected third edition three days later? It appears that Edes and Gill competed with Joseph Greenleaf and the editions that he produced “at the NEW PRINTING-OFFICE, in HANOVER-STREET, near CONCERT HALL.” Seeking to beat the competition, Greenleaf likely rushed his edition to press. Apparently, he met sufficient demand to produce a second edition without advertising. Harbottle Dorr, the merchant now famous for annotating and indexing newspaper coverage of the imperial crisis that resulted in the American Revolution, for instance, purchased a copy of Church’s Oration printed by Greenleaf.
Printers in Boston recognized that demand existed for memorabilia associated with commemorating the Boston Massacre. They likewise believed that they could incite even more interest through advertising, keeping the events of “the bloody Tragedy of the Fifth of March 1770” in the public discourse long after the anniversary passed. Publishing and promoting memorabilia, in turn, contributed to shaping perceptions of the relationship between Britain and the colonies.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (March 4, 1773).
“AN ESSAY Concerning the true original Extent and End of CIVIL GOVERNMENT.”
In 1773, Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of the Boston-Gazette, published an American edition of John Locke’s Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government, the second of the political philosopher’s Two Treatises of Government. The printers promoted the book in their own newspaper and in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter.
Edes and Gill exercised their prerogative as printers to give their advertisement a privileged place in the Boston-Gazette. It appeared as the first item in the first column on the first page of the March 1 edition, immediately below the masthead. The lengthy advertisement filled the entire column and overflowed into the next. Even as Edes and Gill proclaimed that studying Locke’s treatise “will give to every Intelligent Reader a better View of the Rights of Men and of Englishmen” they published an advertisement offering an enslaved woman for sale in the lower right corner of the same page. In addition to generating revenue from that advertisement, they served as brokers. The anonymous advertiser instructed interested parties to “Inquire of Edes & Gill.” Their advertisement in the March 4 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter did not benefit from so prime a placement, running in the center column on the fourth page. Consisting of the same copy that ran in the Boston-Gazette, it extended nearly an entire column.
In their efforts to convince colonizers to purchase the book, Edes and Gill asserted, “IT is well known among the Learned, that Mr. Locke’s two Treatise’ on Government, of which this is the Principal and by far the most Valuable, contributed more essentially to the establishing the Throne of our Great Deliverer King William, and consequently to the securing the Protestant Succession, than the Battle of the Boyne, or indeed all the Victories since obtained.” They acknowledged that Locke’s “first Discourse has also been of great Use, as it is a most thorough Refutation of the Errors of Sir Robert Filmer,” known for defending the divine right of kings. In a postscript, the printers explained why they opted not to publish both treatises. Even though both had been “lately published together in England, and universally read and admired by all Lovers of Liberty there,” Edes and Gill did not consider the first treatise as essential for colonizers, in part because “few of [Filmer’s disciples] are yet to be found in this Country.” That decision also made the book less expensive and more accessible to consumers since the second treatise was not “incumbered with the prolix Confutation of Filmer.”
Edes and Gill argued that all colonizers had a duty to read Locke’s work and discuss it with others. They declared, “It should be early and carefully explained by every Father to his Son, by every Preceptor to his Pupils, and by every Mother to her Daughter.” Just as many colonizers encouraged women to participate in politics through the decisions they made as consumers, the printers envisioned a role for women in educating their children about civic virtue. In so doing, they drew upon the example of “Roman Ladies, especially those of the first Rank and Fashion” who “not only taught their Daughters, but their Sones, the first Rudiments of Learning.” They achieved significant results; those “noble Matrons by their Sense and Virtue, contributed in this and a Thousand other Instances, no less toward the building up their glorious Republic than the Wisdom and Valour of the greatest Captain’s.” Edes and Gill anticipated the notion of republican motherhood that citizens, male and female, embraced during the era of the early republic that followed the American Revolution.
Why did Edes and Gill publish and promote Locke’s Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government? Historians disagree about the motivations of printers, publishers, and booksellers who produced and sold political treatises during the imperial crisis. Did they align with the ideology in the books and pamphlets they published and sold, hoping to convert other colonizers to share their perspective? Or did they merely seek to generate revenues? Such motivations are not necessarily mutually exclusive. By the time they published an American edition of Locke’s Essay, Edes and Gill already established their reputation as patriot printers. They very likely considered printing, promoting, and selling this treatise a political act … but that did not mean they did not also seek to make money. For Richard Draper, the printer of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter, running an advertisement for Locke’s Essay may have been more about generating revenues, especially considering that he tended to support British officials. Edes and Gill may have chosen to advertise in his newspaper as a means of reaching readers less likely to peruse newspapers published by patriot printers, exposing them to some of Locke’s reasoning in the lengthy advertisement even if they opted not to purchase or read the Essay.
What was advertised in a colonial. American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Boston-Gazette (December 28, 1772).
“The only true and correct ALMANACKS from my Copy, are those printed by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. & [J.] Fleet.”
As 1772 came to an end and the new year approached, Richard Draper, Benjamin Edes and John Gill, and Thomas Fleet and John Fleet continued their efforts to direct prospective customers to the edition of Nathaniel Ames’s almanac for 1773 that they collaboratively printed and sold. The final issues of the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy for 1772 once again carried advertisements with a note from the almanac’s author that warned against counterfeit editions and proclaimed that the “only true and correct ALMANACKS from my Copy, are those printed by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. & [J.] Fleet.”
None of those newspapers featured the extended version that ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on December 24. The Fleets even ran a streamlined version in the Boston Evening-Post, eliminated the introductory lines that declared “THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED, And TO BE SOLD by R. DRAPER, T. & J. FLEET, and EDES & GILL” as well as the final lines that advised “Purchasers, especially by the Quantity, are requested to be particular in enquiring whether they are printed by the above Printers, of whom ALMANACKS may be had at the cheapest Rate.”
The version of the advertisement in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy remained unchanged, as did the version in the Boston-Gazette. Edes and Gill did not include any fanfare about “JUST PUBLISHED” the first time they inserted the note from Ames in the Boston-Gazette. They positioned that note just below local news, implying that it was just as much a piece of newsworthy information as an advertisement for an item they sold. Those printers pursued a similar strategy the next time they ran the notice. This time it did not serve as a transition from news to advertising. Instead, it was the only advertisement that appeared on second page of the December 28 edition of the Boston-Gazette, running immediately below news from Warsaw. That made it even more likely that anyone carefully perusing the news would encounter the notice from the printers. Taking advantage of their access to the press to shape how information was disseminated to reader-consumers, Edes and Gill continued their practice of treating counterfeit almanacs that competed with their “true and correct” almanacs as news the community needed to know. As part of their marketing efforts, they used the placement of the notice on the page to enhance their insinuation that consumers had a duty to choose the “true and correct” copies over any counterfeits.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Boston-Gazette (December 21, 1772).
“Purchasers, especially by the Quantity, … be particular in enquiring whether they are printed by the above Printers.”
All three newspapers published in Boston on December 21, 1772, carried a notice concerning Nathaniel Ames’s almanac for 1773. Two of them announced that the almanac was “JUST PUBLISHED” and “sold by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. and J. Fleet.” All three contained a note from the author to advise consumers that the “only true and correct ALMANACKS from my Copy, are those printed by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. & [J.] Fleet.” Either Ames or, more likely, the printers added an additional note suggesting that “Purchasers, especially by the Quantity, … be particular in enquiring whether they are printed by the above Printers; of whom ALMANACKS maybe had at the cheapest Rate.”
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (December 21, 1772).
The printers who printed the “only true and correct” editions of Ames’s popular almanac each inserted the warning about counterfeit editions in their newspapers. The Fleets ran in the Boston Evening-Post on December 21, the same day that Edes and Gill published it in the Boston-Gazette. Richard Draper ran a more extensive version in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on December 24. To disseminate the message even more widely, the printers arranged to have the advertisement also appear in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on December 21. Of the five newspapers published in Boston at the time, only Isaiah Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy did not carry the notice. Instead, it featured an advertisement for the version printed by Russell and Hicks on December 24.
The brief version of the advertisement devised by Draper, Edes and Gill, and the Fleets in the Boston-Gazette, the variation that did not announce the publication of the almanac, appeared immediately below news items and, unlike other advertisements, without a line to separate it from other content. In making those choices about placement and typography, Edes and Gill implied that information about pirated editions was newsworthy rather than solely a notice directed at consumers. Blending news and advertising, they sought to serve the best interests of prospective customers while simultaneously protecting their own interests.
It was an interesting turn of events considering that a few years earlier it had been Draper, Edes and Gill, and the Fleets who published a pirated edition of Ames’s almanac.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Boston-Gazette (November 2, 1772).
“The Sale of this Book has been so surprizingly rapid, as to demand Three Editions in New-York and Philadelphia.”
Two advertisements for “A DISSERTATION on the GOUT, and all CHRONIC DISEASES” by William Cadogan, “Fellow of the College of Physicians,” ran in the November 2, 1772, edition of the Boston-Gazette, one right above the other. Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of that newspaper and printers of a Boston edition of Cadogan’s book, inserted the first advertisement. Joseph Edwards, a bookseller, placed the other notice.
Both advertisements attempted to leverage the popularity of the book in other markets to generate sale in Boston. Edes and Gill confided that the “above Pamphlet had Nine Editions in England in the short Space of Five Months.” Edwards provided a similar figure, stating that the “Book is so much esteemed in England, that it has already past through Eight Editions.” It had also gained following in the colonies. “The Sale of this Book has been so surprizingly rapid, as to demand Three Editions in New-York and Philadelphia.” Several months earlier, William Bradford and Thomas Bradford deployed a similar strategy in marketing their Philadelphia editions. Given that so many other readers already purchased the book, the printers and the bookseller in Boston suggested that prospective customers should not miss out on acquiring copies of this bestseller.
Such demand suggested that the “rational and natural Method of CURE” for gout and other chronic illnesses that Cadogan proposed in the book was indeed effective. Indeed, Edes and Gill even made a joke at the expense of colonizers in New York. They observed that the book “has had such an Effect on the veteran Bacchanalians of New-York, that Madeira is no longer a fashionable Prescription for the Cure of this Disease.” The printers included a short blurb from the book, explaining how “strong Wines” like Madeira actually made gout worse rather than better. Cadogan was so convincing and his cure so effective that even New Yorkers who previously imbibed too much Madeira in their quest to quell the symptoms of gout had given up that remedy in favor of a more “judicious” approach.
Edwards did not resort to such levity. Instead, he emphasized the accessibility of Cadogan’s writing. A wide array of readers, not just physicians, could understand the discourse and recommendations in the book. “The Doctrines advanced in it,” Edwards declared, “are rational and philosophical, and are delivered in a familiar style, which renders them intelligible to Gentlemen of all professions, as well as to Physicians.” The bookseller sought to avoid the impression of a niche market for the medical text.
In their newspaper notices, the printers and the bookseller promoted the popularity of Cadogan’s Dissertation on the Gout, the effectiveness of the “Method of “CURE” outlined in it, and the accessible style. Running simultaneous advertisements also testified to the popularity of the book. Edes and Gill as well as Edwards aimed to encourage sales by creating a wide market that extended beyond physicians.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Boston-Gazette (October 12, 1772).
“New Advertisements.”
Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of the Boston-Gazette, wanted to increase the chances that readers took notice of their call to settle accounts in the fall of 1772. In the October 12 edition, they inserted an announcement that “ALL Persons indebted for this Paper, whose Accounts have been above 12 Months standing, are requested to make immediate Payment.” The copy was standard for such notices, placed by printers throughout the colonies, but Edes and Gill deployed a format intended to increase the attention the notice received. Decorative type enclosed the printers’ notice to delinquent subscribers within a border. Edes and Gill did not however, devise that format for their own purposes. Instead, they adopted a strategy already in use by some of their advertisers. Herman Brimmer and Andrew Brimmer, for instance, enclosed “Variety of Goods,” the headline to their lengthy advertisement listing scores of items, within an ornate border. Jonathan Williams, Jr., had a border around his entire advertisement.
Edes and Gill also selected an advantageous place on the page for their notice, inserting it at the top of the first column on the final page. It appeared immediately below a headline for “New Advertisement,” another design element intended to direct attention to the printers’ call for subscribers to pay their bills. That headline helped to distinguish advertisements on that page from others that ran on the second and third pages. A brief note on the third page also aided Edes and Gill’s efforts to highlight their notice. The advertisements on the third page commenced with instructions: “For New Advertisements, See last Page.” The printers incorporated a variety of means of increasing the visibility of their notice. They exercised their prerogative in placing it first among the notices labeled “New Advertisements” and used notes elsewhere in the issue to direct readers to one of the only advertisements that featured a border composed of decorative type. Edes and Gill used graphic design to demand attention for an otherwise mundane notice.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Boston-Gazette (June 29, 1772).
“The Gentlemen who subscribed … for the American Edition of BLACKSTONE’S Commentaries … are desired to apply for the second Volume.”
Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of the Boston-Gazette, inserted a brief notice at the bottom of the final column of the June 29, 1772, edition. “The Gentlemen who subscribed with Edes and Gill for the American Edition of BLACKSTONE’S Commentaries on the Laws of England,” they announced, are desired to apply for the second Volume.” In addition, “A few of the First Volume may be had by applying as above.” Edes and Gill did not publish this “American Edition.” Instead, they served as local agents for Robert Bell, a printer and bookseller based in Philadelphia.
Bell also stated that those who assisted him in this venture engaged in “peaceable, yet active Patriotism.” In case that was not enough to recruit local agents like Edes and Gill in Boston, he also pledged that “All Persons who collect the Names and Residence, and deliver the Books to twelve Subscribers, have a Claim of Right, and are allowed fourteen to the Dozen for their Assiduity.” In other words, local agents received two copies gratis for each dozen they sold to subscribers. The copies of the first volume of Blackstone’s Commentaries that Edes and Gill offered for sale when they announced that subscribers could pick up the second volume may have been copies they received for gathering subscriptions in Boston. Bell devised marketing strategies to entice both reader-consumers and local agents.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (April 9, 1772).
“The Second Edition.”
In the spring of 1772, Benjamin Edes and John Gill marked the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre by printing “AN ORATION DELIVERED MARCH 5th … TO COMMEMORATE THE BLOODY TRAGEDY Of the FIFTH of March, 1770.” Dr. Joseph Warren gave the address to “the INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON.” Edes and Gill advertised the pamphlet widely, starting with a lengthy notice in their own Boston-Gazette on March 23. The next day, the Essex Gazette carried an advertisement alerting readers in Salem and nearby towns that Samuel Hall stocked copies of Warren’s oration “published in Boston.” Over the next week, Edes and Gill ran advertisements in other newspapers, including the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on March 26 and the Boston Evening-Post on April 1.
Did those advertisements work? Perhaps. Edes and Gill sold enough copies of Warren’s oration that they printed a second edition and began advertising it in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on April 9. Their new advertisement, much more extensive than the one that previously appeared in that newspaper, proclaimed that “The Second Edition” was “THIS DAY PUBLISHED … by EDES and GILL.” It informed prospective customers that they could acquire the address for nine pence. It also included two other details that appeared in Edes and Gill’s original advertisement in the Boston-Gazette but not in subsequent advertisements in other newspapers, a quotation in Latin by Virgil and a note that the printers also had on hand “A few of Mr. LOVELL’S ORATIONS Deliver’d last April, on the same Occasion.” Why did Edes and Gill decide to include Lovell’s address from the first anniversary of the Boston Massacre in this new advertisement? Did they believe that the advertisements in several newspapers incited such demand for the address that Warren recently delivered that they had a good chance of selling surplus copies of Lovell’s oration? That Edes and Gill expanded their advertising campaign for “The Second Edition” of Warren’s oration suggests that they considered their first round of notices successful and effective.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Boston Evening-Post (March 30, 1772).
“An ORATION … to commemorate the BLOODY TRAGEDY.”
On the second anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Dr. Joseph Warren delivered “An ORATION … at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of BOSTON, to commemorate the BLOODY TRAGEDY of the FIFTH of MARCH, 1770.” Colonizers gathered to listen to the address, but attending that gathering was not their only means of participating in the commemoration of such a significant event. Benjamin Edes and John Gill, printers of the Boston-Gazette, published Warren’s “ORATION” and marketed it widely in Massachusetts.
They placed their first advertisement in their own newspaper less than three weeks after Warren addressed “the Inhabitants of the Town.” Their lengthy notice in the March 23, 1772, edition of the Boston-Gazette included an extensive excerpt about “the ruinous Consequences of standing Armies to free Communities.” Edes and Gill also stated that they stocked “A few of Mr. LOVELL’S ORATIONS Deliver’d last April, on the same Occasion.” Prospective customers had an opportunity to collect memorabilia related to the “FATAL FIFTH OF MARCH 1770.” The following day, Samuel Hall, one of the printers of the Essex Gazette, informed readers that he sold copies of Warren’s address “published in Boston.” His advertisement did not include an excerpt from the address, nor did subsequent advertisements that Edes and Gill placed in other newspapers in Boston. They inserted a brief notice in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on March 26 and then repeated it in the Boston Evening-Post on March 30.
Edes and Gill advertised widely. That increased the chances that consumers would see their notices and contemplate purchasing copies of Warren’s “ORATION,” but those patriot printers likely aimed for more than generating sales. Their advertisements in several newspapers contributed to a culture of commemoration of the American Revolution years before the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. Their work in the printing office, publishing newspapers and marketing pamphlets that commemorated the Boston Massacre, played an important role in shaping public opinion as colonizers considered current events and the possibility of declaring independence.
