What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (April 20, 1774).
“A large experience of 34 years at sea.”
Joseph Atkins took to the pages of the Essex Journal to inform the public that “he still continues to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic” in the spring of 1774. He apparently accepted both boys and girls, though he taught them separately. In a nota bene, he advised that he “intends to open a school for young ladies” at the end of April.
In addition to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, Atkins also provide instruction in navigation “after the most approv[e]d methods. Experience mattered to the schoolmaster, not just experience in the classroom but also experience on ships. He asserted that his confidence in how he taught navigation to his pupils flowed from “a large experience of 34 years at sea.” Navigation was not merely academic to Atkins but instead a practical matter, an essential part of the occupation he previously pursued. Prospective students and their parents, he suggested, should feel similar confidence that his decades at sea prepared him to teach navigation to boys and young men who had prospects of working on vessels themselves. Newburyport was, after all, a maritime community.
The placement of Atkins’s advertisement on the third page of the April 20 edition of the Essex Journal underscored that was the case. It ran immediately below the “MARINE LIST,” a roster of ships that recently “ARRIVED” and “SAILED” from the “PORT of NEWBURY.” A day earlier, the town welcomed the Dove from Antigua and the Newhall from Guadeloupe. Most of the ships that departed in the past ten days made their way to the “West-Indies,” though the Larkventured to Newfoundland. Although Atkins’s time at sea was presumably behind him, he aimed to pass along a valuable skill to young men who might join the crew of any of the vessels that visited Newburyport. His “large experience of 34 years at sea” recommended him as a teacher as much as anything he could say about his methods of instruction.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (April 6, 1774).
“The business will be carried on as usual by his sons.”
In the spring of 1774, Patrick Tracy of Newburyport, Massachusetts, ran an advertisement in the Essex Journal to request those he owed money to call on him to settle accounts because he had “quitted the business he has been in of late years.” Only after that did the conscientious entrepreneur also instruct “all who are indebted to him … to make speedy payment, more especially those whose debts have been long standing.” Tracy made what he owed his priority, signaling how he did business and suggesting to current and prospective customers that they could expect similar treatment from his sons who carried on the business. Tracy considered that business well enough known that he did not indicate his occupation.
His sons, however, revealed that they “have taken the business lately carried on by their honoured father” and “carry on the distillery as usual” in an advertisement that conveniently appeared immediately below Tracy’s notice in the April 6 edition of the Essex Journal. Their father deployed more subtle means in attempting to pass along his clientele to his sons, while they instead emphasized their desire for “the continuance of his good customers and the custom of all others.” The elder Tracy established a reputation during his many years in business. His sons hoped to benefit from the customer loyalty their father had cultivated, asserting a “mutual advantage” for all involved.
To that end, they also made clear that they put the interests of their customers and associates first. In addition to operating the distillery “as usual,” they also stocked “an assortment of English Goods, which they will sell by wholesale upon reasonable terms, and so as to afford a profit to the purchaser.” Though they intended to make money on those transactions, the distillers associated “profit” with their customers who purchased imported goods from them, reversing the usual relationship between sellers and buyers. Shopkeepers and others who purchased those items to sell retail would acquire them at low enough prices that Jackson, Tracy, and Tracy practically guaranteed that they could in turn offer such bargains that retail customers would purchase their wares.
In their newspaper advertisements, Tracy and his sons carefully choreographed his departure from the family business and their role in continuing its operations. They sought to maintain and even expand the existing clientele by emphasizing certain principles, including paying what they owed to associates and selling merchandise at such “reasonable terms” that everyone involved benefited from the transactions.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Spy (February 24, 1774).
“POETS CORNER. From the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE.”
Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued promoting a new venture, the Royal American Magazine, in the February 24, 1774, edition of his newspaper. He once again ran an advertisement announcing that “This day was published … NUMBER I. of THE ROYAL American Magazine,” noting the price, promoting the two copperplate engravings that accompanied the inaugural issue, listing the contents, and encouraging “those who do not chuse to be disappointed of the first number … to be speedy in subscribing.” That was not the extent of Thomas’s efforts to market the Royal American Magazine in that issue of the Massachusetts Spy. The “POETS CORNER,” a regular feature in the upper left corner of the final page, featured a poem entitled, “A PROPHECY of the FUTURE GLORY of AMERICA.” A note of introduction indicated that the verses came “From the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE.” Thomas conveniently placed the advertisement for the magazine immediately below the poem, guiding readers toward subscribing.
That was not the only instance of the industrious printer publishing an excerpt from the magazine in his efforts to increase its visibility and gain new subscribers. On February 23, the Essex Journal, a newspaper that Thomas recently launched in Newburyport in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges, carried the advertisement on the final page and an excerpt “From the Royal American Magazine” on the first page. In this instance, the excerpt was a short essay “Against IDOLATRY and BLASPHEMY” that critiqued the practice of using “epithets” including “Most gracious Sovereign” and “Most excellent Majesty” because they “can justly be applied to none but GOD; and therefore, applying them to men, is idolatry.” The author, identified only as “A CHRISTIAN,” took the opportunity to take a swipe at “Roman catholics … paying divine honours to a vain empty Pope.” Yet they were not much better than “protestants and Englishmen” who were “in some degree partakers of the same guilt.” Americans, on the other hand, could avoid “this sin” by “pay[ing] honour to whom honour is due, among men” and “pay[ing] supreme honour to none by the SUPREME.” In selecting that piece to excerpt, Thomas played to the prejudices of Protestants in New England, many of them descended from Puritans who first colonized the region. The excerpt on the first page and the advertisement on the last page bookended the contents of that issue of the Essex Journal, the reiterating reminding readers to subscribe and read the new magazine.
In both newspapers, Thomas inserted excerpts to create a buzz around the Royal American Magazine. He offered previews to prospective subscribers, both in the list of contents and the excerpts themselves, in hopes of inciting curiosity and demand for the new publication.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (February 2, 1774).
“He assures the Public that No. I. for January 1774, will this week be put in the Press.”
Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued promoting a new venture, the Royal American Magazine, throughout January and into February 1774. As the month began, he once again placed an update in the Essex Journal, the newspaper the industrious printer recently began publishing in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges in Newburyport. That update advised the public that publication of the first issue of the magazine had been delayed because the ship carrying new types “was cast ashore at Cape Cod … and although the cargo was saved” the types did not arrive in Boston in time for “the day intended for Publication.”
The Adverts 250 Project has tracked Thomas’s advertising campaign for the Royal American Magazine throughout June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 1773. The printer and his associates advertised in Boston, throughout New England, in New York and Pennsylvania, and as far south as Maryland. Eighteen more advertisements for the Royal American Gazette appeared in newspapers in January 1774, half of them the update about the types.
A notice that “Subscription Papers will be returned to the intended Publisher in a few Days” that previously circulated widely made its final appearance in the Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, in that newspaper’s first issue of the year. An earlier update, that one addressed to “generous Patrons and Promoters of useful KNOWLEDGE throughout AMERICA,” that had also circulated widely ran twice in the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, and once in the Maryland Journal, published in Baltimore. That notice had not previously appeared in the Connecticut Courant. It was the first time that any advertisement about the Royal American Magazine ran in the Maryland Journal, extending the reach of Thomas’s marketing efforts.
He also opted to insert the complete subscription proposals in the Massachusetts Spy once again. In the January 13 edition, he added a note of explanation: “It being a considerable time since the PROPOSALS for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE (which is now in the Press) were first published, and many Gentlemen and Ladies being desirous of seeing them, they are for that reason again inserted in this paper.” Thomas had not published the complete subscription proposals in the Massachusetts Spy since August 19, 1773. He claimed that he merely responded to the wishes of “many Gentlemen and Ladies,” though that may have been a ploy to suggest the sort of interest and demand that might prompt prospective subscribers to reserve their copies. Running the complete subscription proposals once again also buttressed his update about the types that appeared on another page of that issue, while his assertion that the magazine “is now in the Press” underscored that those who had hesitated to subscribe until it became clear that Thomas would actually publish the magazine could no longer wait. In the next issue, the complete subscription proposals and the update about the types ran one after the other on the first page of the January 20 edition of the Massachusetts Spy.
The update about the types ran in various newspapers at least nine times in January. It may have first appeared in the January 3 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, an issue no longer extant. When it ran in the January 10 edition, the dateline read, “Boston, January 3, 1774,” suggesting that it could have been in the previous issue as well. Throughout the rest of the month, the update appeared in the Essex Journal four times and in the Massachusetts Spy three times. Newspapers published by Thomas almost exclusively carried that update, circulating it throughout Massachusetts and other colonies in New England as post riders delivered subscriptions far and wide. In addition to the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, the New-Hampshire Gazette also carried the update about the types in January. Dated “January 2d,” it ran in the January 28 edition.
Connecticut Gazette (January 7, 1774).
One other advertisement about the Royal American Magazine ran in January, this one exclusively in the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London. A brief notice informed readers that “Subscriptions for the Royal-American MAGAZINE are taken in by the Printer of this Paper.” Thomas may or may not have arranged with Timothy Green to publish this advertisement. It appeared in three consecutive issues before being discontinued, standard practice for other advertisements submitted to the printing office. Thomas could have sent instructions (and promised to pay) for the advertisement. That seems most likely, especially since it was the first time that any advertisements for the Royal American Magazine ran in the Connecticut Gazette. On the other hand, Green may have taken the initiative, aware from his participation in a network of printers that crisscrossed New England and other colonies that Thomas would soon publish the first issue of the magazine. Green may have collected subscriptions as a service to his local customers as much as a favor to Thomas, encouraging them to visit his printing office to acquire reading materials rather than purchase them elsewhere.
Thomas’s advertising campaign for the Royal American Magazine continued in January 1774, though it also continued to taper off compared to previous months. He exerted more effort in disseminating the subscription proposals widely and inciting interest in the prospects of the new magazine than in promoting it once publication commenced. Once he achieved sufficient demand to make the magazine viable, he did not advertise as widely.
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“Subscription Papers will be returned” Update
January 6 – Maryland Gazette (tenth appearance)
“generous Patrons” Update
January 4 – Connecticut Courant (first appearance)
January 11 – Connecticut Courant (second appearance)
January 20 – Maryland Journal (first appearance)
Subscription Proposals
January 13 – Massachusetts Spy (ninth appearance)
January 20 – Massachusetts Spy (tenth appearance)
“Types are now arrived” Update
January 5 – Essex Journal (first appearance)
January 6 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
January 10 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first known appearance; possible second appearance)
January 12 – Essex Journal (second appearance)
January 13 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
January 19 – Essex Journal (third appearance)
January 20 – Massachusetts Spy (third appearance)
January 26 – Essex Journal (fourth appearance)
January 28 – New-Hampshire Gazette (first appearance)
“Subscriptions … taken in”
January 7 – Connecticut Gazette (first appearance)
January 14 – Connecticut Gazette (second appearance)
January 21 – Connecticut Gazette (third appearance)
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.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (January 5, 1774).
“At the sign of the Golden-Eagle, in Newbury Port.”
George Deblois recognized an opportunity to place his advertisements before as many prospective customers as possible. The savvy merchant ran a shop “at the sign of the Golden-Eagle” in Newburyport, Massachusetts. For several years, he placed advertisements in the Essex Gazette, published in nearby Salem and the New-Hampshire Gazette in Portsmouth. When Isaiah Thomas and Henry-Walter Tinges announced their intention to establish a new newspaper in Newburyport, Deblois became one of the first advertisers in the Essex Journal.
In late November 1773, Thomas took to the pages of the newspaper he published in Boston, the Massachusetts Spy, to announce the impending publication of the first issue of the Essex Journal on December 4. He advised that the “Number I” would be “distributed and given, GRATIS, to the Inhabitants” of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In addition, he suggested that “THOSE who incline to ADVERTISE in said paper, in this or the neighbouring Towns, may find it GREATLY to their ADVANTAGE, especially the Merchants and Shopkeepers in BOSTON, as a very large Number will be printed off, and distributed throughout the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire. [Gratis.]”
Deblois did not want any of those “Merchants and Shopkeepers in BOSTON” displacing him by capturing any of the market that he already managed to gain in the region the Essex Journal would serve. In addition to maintaining his current clientele, he also wished to expand his customer base. For both reasons, he heeded the call for advertisements, submitting a notice to include in the inaugural issue. When Thomas and Tinges commenced weekly publication of the Essex Journal on December 29, Deblois ran the same advertisement. It appeared once again on January 5, 1774, inviting consumers to acquire merchandise from among “a fine assortment of ENGLISH and HARDWARE GOODS … at so cheap a rate as cannot fail to give full satisfaction to every reasonable purchaser.” Deblois listed dozens of items he stocked and promised “a great variety of other articles too tedious to enumerate in an advertisement.” As access to print culture expanded with a new newspaper printed in the town where he kept shop, Deblois made certain that readers encountered his advertisements as they perused the Essex Journal.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (December 29, 1773).
“The Number of at present, is insufficient to defrey the expence attending the Printing of a News-Paper.”
After published an inaugural issue of the Essex Journal and distributing it gratis to incite interest in the first newspaper published in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Isaiah Thomas and Henry-Walter Tinges paused publication to gather the names of subscribers. More than three weeks after that first issue appeared on December 4, 1773, Thomas and Tinges commenced weekly publication of the Essex Journal. In a notice on the first page, they confessed to “such Gentlemen and Ladies who wish well to this undertaking and have not yet subscribed that THEIR helping hands are wanted to bear up this Fabrick, … which if not well supported will fall, and lay the Foundation in Ruins.” In other words, “the Number of Subscribers at present, is insufficient to defrey the expence attending the Printing of a News-Paper.”
Still, Thomas and Hinges took a chance, hoping that publishing a second and subsequent issues would convince prospective customers who intended to subscribe but had not yet done so to submit their names to the printing office. According to the printers, some had indicated that was their plan: “we were assured that many intended to subscribe on the appearance of a second paper, and others would, at times, drop in.” The fate of the newspaper depended on the “kindness and generosity” of subscribers.
In addition to printing a second issue to demonstrate the usefulness of the venture to readers in Newburyport and other towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Thomas and Hinges adjusted the publication date to suit the needs of the community. They distributed the inaugural issue on a Saturday, but learned that “meets not the public approbation,” so they “altered the day of publication to WEDNESDAY, which is greatly approved of.” In turn, that required a new investment on the part of the printers: “we intend establishing a rider from Boston to this place, that we may have the most early and authentic intelligence.” Thomas also published the Massachusetts Spy in Boston on Thursdays. He may have originally thought that the Essex Journal could reprint content from that newspaper on Saturdays, but delivering “the most early and authentic intelligence” on Wednesdays likely meant drawing more content from the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, all of them published on Mondays. Thomas and Hinges noted the “not very inconsiderable” expense, but also declared their commitment “to spare no pains or cost in our power to tender, in future, THIS paper as useful and entertaining as any News-Paper in America.”
Thomas and Hinges apparently gained more subscribers as well as advertisers. They published the Essex Journal on every Wednesday in 1774 and Hinges and a new partner continued into 1775. Then publication became sporadic in May, following the fighting at Lexington and Concord, and moved to Fridays for the remainder of the year, throughout most of 1776, before moving to Thursdays and ceasing in February 1777.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Essex Journal (December 4, 1773).
“THOSE LADIES and GENTLEMEN who are desirous of seeing the curious ART of PRINTING, are hereby informed that on MONDAY next the Printing Office, will be opened for their reception.”
When Isaiah Thomas and Henry-Walter Tinges formed a partnership to publish the Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet: Or, the Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser in the fall of 1773, they devised a savvy marketing campaign. Thomas already published the Massachusetts Spy in Boston. He continued overseeing that newspaper, while Tinges ran the printing office in Newburyport. To generate interest in the new publication, the partners inserted a notice in the November 26 edition of the Massachusetts Spy, informing both prospective subscribers and prospective advertisers that they would distribute the inaugural issue of the Essex Journal “GRATIS” on December 4. They envisioned “a very large Number will be printed off, and distributed throughout the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire.”
Thomas and Tinges used that first issue as a vehicle for further promoting the newspaper as well as several ventures Thomas already had underway. An extensive address “To the PUBLIC” from the printers and “PROPOSALS For CONTINUING the ESSEX JOURNAL” filled most of the first page, appearing below a masthead that included woodcuts of the arms of the colony, an indigenous man holding an arrow in one hand and a bow in the other, on the left and a packet ship under sail, presumably carrying newspapers and letters, on the right. The title of the newspaper ran between the images. At short advertisement for a magazine that Thomas already marketed extensively completed the final column: “SUBSCRIPTIONS for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE, which will speedily be published by I. THOMAS, in Boston, are taken in at the Printing-Office.” A longer advertisement addressed to “the generous Patrons and Promoters of useful KNOWLEDGE, throughout AMERICA,” a notice that previously appeared in several newspapers published in Boston, appeared on the final page of the inaugural issue. In it, Thomas solicited articles for the Royal American Magazine and warned prospective subscribers to submit their names soon or risk missing the first issue. A shorter advertisement on the final page promoted “Thomas’s Boston Sheet ALMANACK for the year ensuing, proper for all Merchants, Shopkeepers, &c. to paste or hang up in their Stores or Shops.”
Essex Journal (December 4, 1773).
On the third page, the first advertisement immediately following the news invited “LADIES and GENTLEMEN who are desirous of seeing the curious ART of PRINTING” to visit the printing office on the following Monday. The printers planned to open their shop to the public, prepared to “wait on all who will do them the honour of their company.” Thomas and Tinges highlighted demonstrations scheduled for “eleven o’clock in the forenoon, and at three in the afternoon.” They hoped that such exhibitions would help convince prospective subscribers and prospective advertisers to do business with them. Opening the printing office to the public “for their reception” anticipated open houses that many businesses now host to draw attention to new endeavors. Another advertisement, this one on the final page, asked “GENTLEMEN and LADIES in this and the neighbouring towns who will encourage the Publication of this Paper” to “send in their names with all convenient speed.” Thomas and Tinges suggested that publishing subsequent issues of the Essex Journal was not a foregone conclusion. Instead, they needed prospective subscribers to confirm their commitment before the next issue would go to press. A second issue depended on “a sufficient number of Subscribers.” As a final bonus, a supplement accompanied the inaugural issue. It featured news about “the detestable TEA sent out by the East-India Company, part of which being just arrived in [Boston] harbour,” that made its way to Newburyport the previous day via “Friday’s Post.” With the supplement, Thomas and Tinges made the point that subscribers to the Essex Journal could expect to receive the latest news as soon as it arrived in Newburyport rather than waiting for the Essex Gazette, published in Salem, the New-Hampshire Gazette, published in Portsmouth, or any of the newspapers published in Boston.
Despite these efforts, it took a few weeks for Thomas and Tinges to collect enough subscriptions to convince them of the viability of publishing the Essex Journal. The various marketing strategies incorporated into the inaugural issue, from distributing free copies to the extensive subscription proposals to the open house at the printing office to the news supplement, likely helped generate interest, but the process took time. Thomas and Tinges did not publish the second issue of the Essex Journal for more than three weeks. It appeared on December 29, once again carrying the proposals and conditions to entice readers who had not yet subscribed.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Spy (November 26, 1773).
“THOSE who incline to ADVERTISE in said paper … may find it GREATLY to their ADVANTAGE.”
At the same time that Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, set about launching the Royal American Magazine, he made plans to publish another newspaper, the Essex Journal, and Merrimack Packet: Or the Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser. For that endeavor, Thomas entered into partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges. Thomas planned to remain in Boston, overseeing his printing office there, while Tinges would manage the Essex Journal at the printing office in Newburyport. The proposed publication would become only the second newspaper in Massachusetts printed outside of Boston, joining the Essex Gazette published in Salem since August 1768.
To incite interest in the Essex Journal, Thomas inserted an advertisement in the November 26, 1773, edition of the Massachusetts Spy, announcing that the first issue of a “New Weekly NEWS-PAPER” would be “distributed and given, GRATIS, to the Inhabitants of both Provinces,” Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He hoped that the free issue would encourage those who received it to become subscribers. Yet he did not focus solely on prospective subscribers. The printer also advised merchants, shopkeepers, artisans, and others that they did not want to miss this opportunity to place their notices before the eyes of so many readers. “THOSE who incline to ADVERTISE in said paper, in this or the neighbouring Towns,” Thomas proclaimed, “may find it GREATLY to their ADVANTAGE, especially the Merchants and Shopkeepers in BOSTON, as a very large Number will be printed off, and distributed throughout the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New-Hampshire.” He reiterated that the inaugural issue would be “[Gratis],” underscoring that advertisers could expect many colonizers, even those who did not subscribe to other newspapers, to receive copies and peruse the contents.
Thomas accepted advertisements at his printing office in Boston. Tinges also accepted them at his printing office in Newburyport. The printer promoted “very reasonable prices” for placing notices in the new newspaper, but did not specify the rates. When the first issue of the Essex Journal went to press, it included two dozen advertisements that accounted for slightly more than four of the twelve columns. Thomas and Hinges placed a quarter of the notices, but they managed to attract several advertisers who sought the advantages interested in reaching readers who received free copies of the new newspaper.
