Henry-Walter Tinges

October 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (October 20, 1775).

“We hope we need make no further apology to those who are real friends to their country.”

John Mycall and Henry-Walter Tinges, the printers of the Essex Journal, found themselves in a situation similar to the one that Daniel Fowle, the printer of the New-Hampshire Gazette, experienced in the fall of 1775.  A disruption in Fowle’s supply of paper in Portsmouth had forced him to print his newspaper on smaller sheets on a few occasions, including the October 17 edition.  Three days later, Mycall and Tinges did the same in Newburyport.  Instead of four pages of three columns each, that issue had four pages of two columns each.  The masthead featured plain type for the title rather than presenting “Essex Journal” in the usual scrolling script.  The woodcuts that usually flanked the title, an Indigenous man with a bow and arrow on the left and a packet ship at sea on the right, did not appear at all.

Immediately above the advertisements, the printers inserted their own notice to explain what happened.  “THE only apology we can make at this time for printing on no better paper,” Mycall and Tinges stated, “we can borrow from other printers who have lately been obliged to make use of the same sort, which was as they say, because they could procure no better.”  They closely paraphrased portions of Fowle’s notice to his readers a couple of weeks earlier: “The only Apology the Publisher can make for this Day’s Paper, is that he could not procure any other.”  Mycall and Tinges printed their newspaper on different paper only as a last resort.  “We have been at the cost to send [an order for more paper] to Milton this week in order to avoid using this,” they informed readers, “but without success.”  With the disruptions and displacements that occurred in the six months since the battles at Lexington and Concord, securing paper became difficult.  The printers tried to get more from the paper mill on the Neponset River in Milton, but to no avail.  They expected their readers to understand, especially those who held the right sort of political principles.  “We hope we need make no further apology to those who are real friends to their country,” Mycall and Tinges proclaimed, “as we are determined to us [the substitute paper] no oftener than necessity requires.”  They hoped that readers would see the smaller newspaper as a minor inconvenience given the stakes of the contest between the colonies and Great Britain.  They did their best with the resources available to continue to disseminate news and advertising to their subscribers and other readers.

July 28

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

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

Essex Journal (July 28, 1775).

“Encourage their children and servants to save the old Rags … and send them to the Printing-office.”

John Mycall and Henry-Walter Tinges, the printers of the Essex Journal in Newburyport, Massachusetts, concluded the July 28, 1775, edition of their newspaper with an advertisement that presented colonizers an opportunity to aid the American cause.  “We hope our kind Readers and others, who desire to encourage American Manufacture,” Mycall and Tinges declared, “will please to encourage their children and servants to save the old Rags that are often swept out of doors, and send them to the Printing-office.”  The printers offered cash for the rags, explaining that without them “we cannot long be supplied with that necessary article, Paper.”  Mycall and Tinges oversaw a recycling venture imperative in producing an essential article for continuing to publish their newspaper and anything else.  They were not the only printers in the region who experienced a disruption in acquiring paper in the months after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Daniel Fowle, the printer of the New-Hampshire Gazette, had a similar experience.

Throughout the imperial crisis, collecting rags to recycle into paper had been imbued with political significance.  Producing paper in the colonies meant that printers did not need to import as much paper from England.  As nonimportation agreements went into effect in 1768, Christopher Leffingwell of Norwich, Connecticut, described collecting rags as “an entire Saving to the COUNTRY” and encouraged “every Friend and lover thereof [to] save every Scrap” of discarded linen.  For years, John Keating regularly promoted his “Paper Manufactory” in New York’s newspapers, arguing that economic resistance during the “present alarming situation of the colonies” was the “safest and most efficacious method of convincing the Ministry of Great-Britain of their error.”  He suggested that each household designate a “certain place” for collecting rags and cultivate a habit that would “establish this valuable manufactory upon a permanent foundation.”  Who undertook such work?  John Dunlap, the printer of the Pennsylvania Packet, hoped “to prevail upon our LADIES to grant us a little of their industry and assistance,” believing that “the welfare of their country will influence them” to do their part in collecting rags to recycle into paper.  Mycall and Tinges extended the call to include “children and servants.”  As men mustered to defend their liberties, women, children, and servants had their own role to play.  They could contribute to the American cause by supporting “American Manufacture,” including collecting rags to transform into the newspapers and pamphlets that disseminated the rhetoric of the Revolution.

July 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (July 22, 1775).

“THE extreme Difficulty of the Times having rendered it very difficult to procure a sufficiency of Paper.”

A notice on the first page of the July 22, 1775, edition of the Essex Journal, Or, the Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser informed readers that the “Co-partnership between Ezra Lunt and Henry-Walter Tinges,” the publishers of the newspaper, “is mutually dissolved” and called on “those Indebted to them” to settle accounts.  Yet the printing office in Newburyport was not being shuttered.  Instead, a nota bene declared, “Printing and Book-binding carried on by John Mycall and Henry-W. Tinges.”  Mycall became Tinges’s third partner in less than three years.  The young printer first went into business with Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy in the late fall of 1773.  The more experienced printer remained in Boston while his junior partner oversaw the printing office and their new newspaper.  The partnership lasted less than a year.  On August 17, 1774, they notified the public that they “mutually dissolved” their partnership, but the “Printing Business is carried on as usual, by Ezra Lunt and Henry W. Tinges.”

Nearly a year later, Lunt departed and Mycall took his place.  As their first order of business, the new partners addressed some of the challenges the newspaper faced since the battles at Lexington and Concord three months earlier.  “THE extreme Difficulty of the Times having rendered it very difficult to procure a sufficiency of Paper for carrying on the Printing Business,” they lamented, “the Publishers hereof request it may serve as a sufficient Apology for having immitted one or two weekly Publications.”  Indeed, publication had been sporadic during May, immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, returned to a regular schedule in June, and then missed a week in July before announcing the departure of Lunt and arrival of Mycall.  The Essex Journal had missed only two issues, but the publishers did not consistently distribute the newspapers on the same day each week.  That likely added to the impression that they had not supplied all the newspapers that their customers expected.  In addition, the two most recent issues, June 30 and July, and the one that carried the notice about the new partnership consisted of only two pages rather than the usual four.  Mycall and Tinges vowed that “they are determined to spare no Pains, for the future to serve, as well as gratify their Customers.”  Mycall and Tinges kept that promise.  Publication returned to a regular schedule with only minor disruptions.

February 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (February 15, 1775).

“We have enlarged our Paper to such a Size, that no one of our Customers can find fault.”

An advertisement in the February 15, 1775, edition of the Essex Journal, printed in Newburyport, Massachusetts, revealed important details about its production and circulation.  Ezra Lunt and Henry-Walter Tinges, the publishers, inserted an address “To the Public” to celebrate that they recently “enlarged our Paper to such a Size, that no one of our Customers can find fault unless it be that it is too lengthy.”  Lunt and Tinges coyly declared that they would “apologize” for the length by “making a collection of the most material pieces contained the Portsmouth, Salem, Boston, Connecticut, Rhode-Island, New York, Philadelphia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Quebec news-papers.”  They asserted that they “are now regularly supplied with” newspapers from all those places.  Like other colonial printers, Lunt and Tinges participated in exchange networks with their counterparts in other cities and towns.  Upon receiving newspapers, they scoured them for content to include in their own publication, usually reprinting articles, editorials, essays, and letters word for word.  One header in the February 15 edition, for instance, stated, “From the Massachusetts Spy.”  They supplemented news from far and wide with “Original pieces our good Town and Country Correspondents are pleased to favour us with.”

Lunt and Tinges’s also gave details about the circulation of the Essex Journal, both where to subscribe and logistics for delivery.  They informed readers that subscriptions “are taken in by Dr. John Wingate, and Mr. Grenough, in Haverhill; Mr. John Pearson, in Kingstown; Col. Samuel Folsom, in Exeter; Mr. Enoch Sawyer, in Hampstead.”  That list of local agents resembled the one that appeared in the colophon of each issue of the Massachusetts Spy, printed by Isaiah Thomas in Boston.  At the bottom of the last page, readers glimpsed an announcement that “J. Larkin, Chairmaker, and Mr. W. Calder, Painter, in Charlestown; Mr. J. Hiller, Watch maker, in Salem; Mr. B. Emerson, Bookseller, in Newbury-Port; Mr. M. Belcher, in Bridgewater; and [] Dr. Elijah Hewins, in Stoughtonham” collected subscriptions for the Massachusetts Spy.  Tinges likely learned about recruiting local agents from Thomas, a founding partner of the Essex Journal.  When it came to delivering the newspaper to subscribers, Lunt and Tinges promoted the services of both a post rider whose route included Exeter, New Hampshire, and the carriage that Lunt operated between Newburyport and Boston.  This network “facilitate[ed] business between Boston, Salem, and the country” in addition to disseminating newspapers.

Intended to increase the number of subscribers (and, in turn, advertisers), this advertisement in the Essex Journal testified to several business practices followed by printers throughout the colonies.  Lunt and Tinges described the various kinds of networks that played a role in gathering subscriptions, collecting news and other content, and delivering newspapers to readers.  Each played a role in making information more widely available to the public during the era of the American Revolution.

December 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (December 21, 1774).

“Intend to enlarge the paper equal to any in the province the year ensuing.”

The Essex Journal and Merimack Packet: Or The Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser completed its first year of publication with its December 21, 1774, edition.  For the last time, the masthead stated, “VOL. I.”  The compositor updated that to “VOL. II” the following week.  Isaiah Thomas and Henry-Walter Tinges launched the newspaper, published in Newburyport, with a free preview issue on December 4, 1773, then commenced weekly publication on December 29.  Thomas withdrew from the partnership in August 1774, about the same time that he transferred proprietorship of the Royal American Magazine to Joseph Greenleaf.  Ezra Lunt joined Tinges in publishing the Essex Journal without a disruption in distributing the newspaper to subscribers.  Despite those disruptions and the “many disadvantages and great expence that unavoidably attend the establishing a Printing Office in a new place,” the Essex Journal made it through its first year and continued into a second.

In a notice in the final issue of Volume I, Lunt and Tinges announced their plans to improve and expand the newspaper.  They proclaimed that they “are ambitious to give our customers as much, or more, for their money, as any of our Brother Types” who published the Essex Gazette in Salem, the New-Hampshire Gazette in Portsmouth, or any of the five newspapers printed in Boston at the time.  To that end, Lunt and Tinges confided, “we have been at an additional expence, and intend to enlarge the paper equal to any in the province the year ensuing.”  Furthermore, they sought to improve the newspaper for subscribers in other ways.  In order that “those of our customers who live in the country may be better and more regularly served, we have engaged a person to ride from this town every Wednesday, through Haverhill, Exeter,” and other towns.  Lunt and Tinges published the Essex Journal on Wednesdays.  As soon as the ink dried, they gave copies to a postrider to deliver to subscribers throughout the countryside, improving on the services provided throughout the previous year.

Printers often noted when their newspapers completed another year of publication, often marking the occasion with calls for subscribers and others to settle overdue accounts.  Lunt and Tinges did not make any mention of subscribers who were delinquent in making payment.  Instead, they expressed their appreciation and sketched their plans for the next year, hoping to increase support and enthusiasm for the newest newspaper published in Massachusetts.

August 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (August 17, 1774).

“The co partnership between ISAIAH THOMAS and HENRY W. TINGES, of this Town, Printers, is mutually dissolved.”

When the Essex Journal commenced publication on December 4, 1773, Henry-Walter Tinges printed it in partnership with Isaiah Thomas.  Tinges managed the printing office in Newburyport, while Thomas continued printing the Massachusetts Spy in Boston.  Less than a year passed before their partnership ended.  On August 17, 1774, “No. 35” of the Essex Journal carried a notice “to inform the Public, that the co partnership between ISAIAH THOMAS and HENRY W. TINGES, of this Town, Printers, is mutually dissolved.”  A nota bene further explained, “The Printing Business is carried on as usual, by Ezra Lunt and Henry W. Tinges.”  The young printer had a new partner.  He also updated the colophon on the final page to reflect this change.

Many decades later, Thomas provided a brief account of his partnership with Tinges in The History of Printing in America (1810).  Thomas recollected that he “opened a printing house” in Newburyport “[a]t the request of several gentlemen,” taking Tinges as a partner “who had the principal management of the concerns at Newburyport.”[1]  The young man had previously “served part of his apprenticeship with [John] Fleming,” one of the Tory printers of the Boston Chronicle, “and the residue with Thomas.”[2]  Although the newspaper’s colophon stated that the new printing office in Newburyport accepted job printing orders that would be completed “in a neat manner, on the most reasonable Terms, with the greatest Care and Dispatch,” Tinges devoted most of his time to printing the Essex Journal.  Thomas did not specify why the partnership was “mutually dissolved,” though he may have been frustrated that the printing office did not attract more business or distracted with the responsibilities of running his busy shop in Boston at the same time that the closure of the harbor mandated by the Boston Port Act introduced all sorts of challenges.  Whatever the reason, Thomas “sold the printing materials to Ezra Lunt, the proprietor of a stage, who was unacquainted with printing; but he took Tinges as a partner.”[3]  Tinges contributed his experience and knowledge of the printing trade, while Lunt provided the capital for the necessary equipment.  Even though Tinges performed the bulk of the labor in the printing office, his name appeared second in the colophon during his partnership with Thomas and again during his partnership with Lunt.  Although he may have taken direction from his partners on occasion, Tinges collated the news, engaged with subscribers, advertisers, and other customers, and disseminated additional information in response to “enquire of the printer” advertisements in the Essex Journal.

Essex Journal (August 17, 1774).

**********

[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York; Weathervane Books, 1970), 179.

[2] Thomas, History of Printing, 180.

[3] Thomas, History of Printing, 179.

December 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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.

December 4

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

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.

November 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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.