Isaiah Thomas

November 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (November 27, 1773).

“The Introduction to the Royal American Magazine … will be published on the first Day of January next.”

Isaiah Thomas’s efforts to promote the Royal American Magazine in the public prints intensified in November 1773.  The Adverts 250 Project has traced his marketing efforts, starting with an announcement, in May, that he would soon publish proposals for the magazine and the first insertion of those proposals in Thomas’s newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, at the end of June.  The printer ran ten advertisements in July, thirteen in August, fourteen in September, twenty in October, and forty-three in November.

Boston Evening-Post (November 1, 1773).

The month began with the Boston-Evening Post running Thomas’s “To be, or not to be” update for the first time and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy carrying it a second time on November 1.  Every newspaper then discontinued that notice, likely an acknowledgement of a note at the end of the version in the Boston Evening-Post: “by the appearance of the Subscription Papers in [Thomas’s] possession, there is great probability of [the magazine] going forward.”  Three days later, Thomas published an advertisement that appeared only three times, each time in his own Massachusetts Spy.  That brief notice called on local agents to send lists of subscribers to Thomas: “THOSE gentlemen, in this and the other provinces, who have subscription papers in their hands for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE, are earnestly desired to return them.”

Massachusetts Spy (November 4, 1773).

An advertisement that made its first appearance in some newspapers in the final week of October accounted for most of the notices that ran in November.  That advertisement advised “gentlemen and ladies, who incline to encourage the publication of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE” that “Subscription Papers will be returned to the intended Publisher in a few Days.”  That notice ran thirty-two times in November, supplementing its five appearances in October.  It became Thomas’s most widely disseminated newspaper advertisement for the proposed magazine.  The Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, carried the notice four times in November, the first time any of Thomas’s advertisements ran in the public prints that far south.  Previously, only newspapers in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania carried it.  The Norwich Gazette, a newspaper established in Connecticut in October, also ran the advertisement in late November.  It may have featured the advertisement earlier, but the first issues of that newspaper have not survived.  This advertisement did not appear in any newspapers published in Massachusetts.  Thomas relied on his other advertisements there.  Overall, the “Subscription Papers will be returned” advertisement ran in fourteen newspapers published in ten cities and towns in six colonies.

Thomas devised one more advertisement in November 1773.  It first appeared in the Massachusetts Spy, but by the end of the month the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy both heeded Thomas’s plea for “PRINTERS of all the Public Papers in America … to insert this Advertisement.”  In it, Thomas stated that the first issue of the Royal American Magazine “will undoubtedly appear on the first of January next.”  He solicited essays to include in the new publication.  He also made another appeal to prospective subscribers to send their names “if they chuse not to be disappointed” by missing the first issue.

Launching the only magazine published in the colonies at that time was a significant undertaking.  That Thomas would eventually take the magazine to press was not inevitable.  He needed to cultivate a community of subscribers that extended beyond Boston.  To achieve that goal, he devised an extensive advertising campaign, one surpassed only by Robert Bell in his efforts to create an American literary market.

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Newspaper Advertisements for November 1773

“To be, or not to be” Update

  • November 1 – Boston Evening-Post (first appearance)
  • November 1 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (second appearance)

“Subscription Papers will be returned” Update

  • November 1 – Newport Mercury (first appearance)
  • November 1 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (first appearance)
  • November 1 – Pennsylvania Packet (first appearance)
  • November 2 – Connecticut Courant (first appearance)
  • November 3 – Pennsylvania Journal (first appearance)
  • November 4 – Maryland Gazette (first appearance)
  • November 4 – New-York Journal (second appearance)
  • November 8 – Newport Mercury (first appearance)
  • November 8 – New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (first appearance)
  • November 8 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (second appearance)
  • November 8 – Pennsylvania Packet (second appearance)
  • November 9 – Connecticut Courant (second appearance)
  • November 10 – Pennsylvania Gazette (first appearance)
  • November 10 – Pennsylvania Journal (second appearance)
  • November 11 – Maryland Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 11 – New-York Journal (third appearance)
  • November 12 – New-Hampshire Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 12 – New-London Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 15 – Newport Mercury (second appearance)
  • November 15 – New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (second appearance)
  • November 15 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (third appearance)
  • November 18 – Maryland Gazette (third appearance)
  • November 18 – Norwich Packet (first known appearance)
  • November 20 – Providence Gazette (first appearance)
  • November 22 – New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (third appearance)
  • November 22 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (fourth appearance)
  • November 24 – Pennsylvania Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 25 – Maryland Gazette (fourth appearance)
  • November 25 – Norwich Packet (second appearance)
  • November 26 – New-Hampshire Gazette (third appearance)
  • November 27 – Providence Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 29 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (fifth appearance)

“subscription papers in their hands” Update

  • November 4 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
  • November 11 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
  • November 18 – Massachusetts Spy (third appearance)

“generous Patrons” Update

  • November 18 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
  • November 22 – Boston-Gazette (first appearance)
  • November 22 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first appearance)
  • November 26 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
  • November 29 – Boston-Gazette (second appearance)
  • November 29 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (second appearance)

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.

November 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (November 18, 1773).

“Humbly requesting the Favour of their LUCUBRATIONS, which he promises to convey to the World with the greatest Care and Attention.”

Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, advertised widely in his efforts to launch the Royal American Magazine.  On November 18, 1773, he once again published a notice calling on “gentlemen, in this and the other provinces, who have subscription papers in their hands … to return them as soon as possible.”  As readers very well knew, taking the magazine to press depended on generating a sufficient number of subscribers in advance to make it a viable endeavor.  Fortunately for both the printer and the “generous Patrons and Promoters of useful KNOWLEDGE, throughout AMERICA” who supported the project, that critical number of subscribers did present themselves by the middle of November.

Thomas inserted an update to inform subscribers and the public “that the first Number will undoubtedly appear on the first of January next.”  Now he needed another sort of assistance, “the Favour of their LUCUBRATIONS” or essays to publish in the magazine.  An American magazine needed content contributed by Americans.  In the proposals, Thomas acknowledged that he would select some pieces “from the labours of our European brethren,” but “shall not fail of making the strictest searches after curious anecdotes, and interesting events in British America.”  He requested “the assistance of the learned, the witty, the curious, and the candid, of both sexes, throughout this extensive continent” in sending their correspondence “for the public benefit.”  In his latest update, Thomas solicited those “LUCUBRATIONS” and “promises to convey [them] to the World with the greatest Care and Attention” after submitting them to a “Society of Gentlemen, for their Inspection and Approbation.”  In other words, Thomas would not publish every essay he received, but did intend to print those that earned the approval of an informal editorial board.

The printer also took the opportunity to make another appeal to “Gentlemen and Ladies who incline to encourage theRoyal American Magazine” who had not yet subscribed to submit their names as soon as possible.  If they did not do so, they ran the risk of “be[ing] disappointed of the first Number” when Thomas distributed the inaugural issue to subscribers.  He also inserted a note to “PRINTERS of all the Public Papers in America,” knowing that they perused newspapers for material to reprint and that many already served as local agents for the magazine so updates that appeared in the Massachusetts Spy would catch their attention.  Thomas requested that printers of other newspapers “insert this Advertisement as soon as may be, for which they shall be fully satisfied by their humble servant.”  Rather than expecting fellow printers to run his advertisement as an in-kind favor, Thomas indicated that he would send payment.  From recruiting subscribers to soliciting essays to publish to coordinating a marketing campaign, Thomas’s advertisements revealed several aspects of establishing the Royal American Magazine.

October 31

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (October 25, 1773).

“American Magazine. ‘To be, or not to be.’”

In the summer and fall of 1773, Isaiah Thomas advertised widely in his efforts to attract subscribers for the Royal American Magazine, a proposed publication that would become the only magazine published in the colonies at the time if the printer managed to generate enough interest to make it a viable venture.  On October 25, he placed advertisements in the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy with a secondary headline that proclaimed “To be, or not to be,” a familiar quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, to indicate that the prospects of the publication remained uncertain.  In both newspapers, Thomas requested that anyone who recruited subscribers return the subscription papers with the lists of names by the middle of November “as by that Time he shall be able to determine, whether the said Magazine will be Published or not.”  The advertisement in the Boston-Gazette also included a nota bene in which Thomas confided that “by the Appearance of the Subscription papers, in his Possession, there is the greatest Probability of its going forward.”  Thomas would indeed publish the first issue in January 1774, though the magazine lasted only sixteen months due to the disruptions of the imperial crisis and, eventually, the war that began with the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

The Adverts 250 Project has traced the advertising campaign that promoted the Royal American Magazine in June, July, August, and September.  An even greater number of advertisements appeared in colonial newspapers in October than in any previous month, a total of twenty advertisements in ten newspapers in eight towns in six colonies.  Three of those advertisements ran in Thomas’s own Massachusetts Spy, while other newspapers carried the vast majority of them. Fourteen of the advertisements appeared in newspapers published beyond Boston.  Thomas sought subscribers who read newspapers published in Salem, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New-Hampshire; Newport, Rhode Island; New Haven and New London in Connecticut; and New York and Philadelphia.  Previously, the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, and the Providence Gazette also carried the subscription proposals for the Royal American Magazine.  Thomas knew the number of prospective subscribers in Boston alone would not justify an investment of the time and resources required to publish a magazine.  He devised an advertising campaign that extended to all of the colonies in New England as well as New York and Pennsylvania.

Newport Mercury (October 4, 1773).

In October 1773, the subscription proposals appeared once again in the Connecticut Journal and the Pennsylvania Journal.  The printer’s update addressed “To the Public” made additional appearances in the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy.  It also ran for the first time in the Essex Gazette, published in Salem, and had two more insertions during the month.  Having published the subscription proposals in July and August, the Newport Mercury carried a unique advertisement, likely devised by Solomon Southwick, the printer and Thomas’s local agent for collecting the names of subscribers, rather than by Thomas himself.  It announced, “SUBSCRIPTIONS taken in by the Printer hereof, FOR THE ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE: WHICH will soon be published by Mr. ISAIAH THOMAS, in Boston.  Price 10s4 per annum.”

Connecticut Journal (October 22, 1773).

That advertisement expressed greater certainty about the prospects for the magazine than Thomas’s “To be, or not to be” notice that ran in Boston later in the month, as did another update that Thomas placed in newspapers in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York near the end of the month.  That advertisement informed “Gentlemen and Ladies, who incline to encourage the Publication of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE … that the Subscription Papers will be returned to the intended Publisher in a few Days, in order that he may ascertain the Number subscribed for.”  Those who had not yet submitted their names to the local printing office had only a limited time to do so.  As an enticement to those still contemplating whether they wished to subscribe, a nota bene promoted “two elegant Copper Plate Prints” that would accompany the first issue of the magazine.  The nota bene also indicated a publication date, “the first Day of January next.”  Along with the magazine, prospective subscribers did not have much time to qualify for these premiums.  If they decided to subscribe at some time in the future, they would miss out on the gift given to those who supported the magazine even before the first issue went to press.

Thomas hoped to publish the Royal American Magazine, but first he needed to determine if a market existed to support it.  His subscription proposals and other advertisements served a dual purpose: they incited demand for the magazine while also assessing interest and determining the total number of subscribers willing to pay for the publication.  Some subscription proposals, no matter how widely they circulated, never resulted in publishing the proposed book, magazine, map, or other item.  Over the course of several months, Thomas managed to identify and incite sufficient demand to publish the Royal American Magazine.

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Newspaper Advertisements for October 1773

Subscription Proposals

  • October 8 – Connecticut Journal (second known appearance; fourth possible appearance)
  • October 20 – Postscript to the Pennsylvania Journal (second appearance)

“To the PUBLIC” Update

  • October 4 – Boston-Gazette (third appearance)
  • October 7 – Massachusetts Spy (third appearance)
  • October 12 – Essex Gazette (first appearance)
  • October 14 – Massachusetts Spy (fourth appearance)
  • October 19 – Essex Gazette (second appearance)
  • October 21 – Massachusetts Spy (fifth appearance)
  • October 26 – Essex Gazette (third appearance)

“SUBSCRIPTIONS” Notice

  • October 4 – Newport Mercury (first appearance)
  • October 11 – Newport Mercury (second appearance)
  • October 18 – Newport Mercury (third appearance)
  • October 25 – Newport Mercury (fourth appearance)

“Subscription Papers will be returned” Update

  • October 22 – Connecticut Journal (first appearance)
  • October 22 – New-Hampshire Gazette (first appearance)
  • October 22 – New-London Gazette (first appearance)
  • October 28 – New-York Journal (first appearance)
  • October 29 – Connecticut Journal (second appearance)

“To be, or not to be” Update

  • October 25 – Boston-Gazette (first appearance)
  • October 25 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first appearance)

September 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (September 20, 1773).

“The Royal American Magazine is likely in a short Time to make its Appearance.”

Throughout September 1773, Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued marketing the Royal American Magazine.  He hoped to attract enough subscribers to make the publication a viable venture.  Although printers from New Hampshire to Georgia supplied colonizers with more than two dozen newspapers, including five printed in Boston, none of them published a magazine.  Instead, printers, booksellers, and shopkeepers imported magazines from England.  Realizing that he likely needed subscribers from beyond Massachusetts if he wished to take the magazine to press, Thomas advertised in several colonies.

In the first half of September, Thomas ran the proposals for the Royal American Magazine six more times, inserting them in four newspapers in two colonies.  The proposals appeared for the first time in the Connecticut Journal, published in New Haven, on September 3 and in the Pennsylvania Journal, published in Philadelphia, on September 8. By the end of the month, they had their second and third insertions in the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, and the New-London Gazette.  The proposals may have run again in the Connecticut Journal on September 17 and 24.  Those issues are not available via America’s Historical Newspapers.  While Thomas may have sent subscription papers in the form of broadsides, handbills, or pamphlets to local agents in other colonies, he did not arrange to have the proposals printed in newspapers south of Pennsylvania.  The proposals did state that “the printers and booksellers in Americas” accepted subscriptions.

Starting on September 9, Thomas circulated an update, a much shorter notice that first appeared in the Massachusetts Spy and then in other newspapers published in Boston.  This announcement, addressed “To the PUBLIC,” advised readers that the magazine “is likely in a short Time to make its Appearance” as a result of the “generous Encouragement of a great Number of Gentlemen in this Province.”  Thomas requested that “those Gentlemen and Ladies, who incline to be Promoters of this useful Undertaking” submit their names “with all convenient Speed” because he planned to commenced publication “as soon as he hears what Numbers of Subscribers there are in the other Colonies.”  Subscribers did not need to send any payment “until the delivery of the first Number.”  Thomas published and distributed the first issue of the Royal American Magazine in January 1774.

The printer devised an extensive advertising campaign in preparation of launching the magazine, coordinating newspaper advertisements in several colonies and corresponding with printers and other local agents.  Other printers pursued similar strategies when they set about new projects, using subscription proposals to incite demand.  Those advertisements simultaneously served as market research, informing printers whether they should take a project to press and, if so, how many copies to produce.

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Subscription Proposals

  • September 3 – Connecticut Journal (first appearance)
  • September 3 – New-London Gazette (second appearance)
  • September 7 – Connecticut Courant (second appearance)
  • September 8 – Pennsylvania Journal (first appearance)
  • September 10 – New-London Gazette (third appearance)
  • September 14 – Connecticut Courant (third appearance)
  • September 17 – possible second appearance in Connecticut Journal
  • September 24 – possible third appearance in Connecticut Journal

“To the PUBLIC” Update

  • September 9 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
  • September 13 – Boston Evening-Post (first appearance)
  • September 13 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first appearance)
  • September 16 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
  • September 20 – Boston-Gazette (first appearance)
  • September 20 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (second appearance)
  • September 27 – Supplement to the Boston-Gazette (second appearance)
  • September 27 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (third appearance)

September 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (September 9, 1773).

“The Royal American MAGAZINE is likely in a short time to make its appearance.”

Isaiah Thomas, printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued his efforts to solicit subscribers for a new endeavor, the Royal American Magazine, in the fall of 1773.  Like many other projects proposed by printers, publishers, and booksellers, he would not take the magazine to press until his subscription proposals garnered sufficient interest to justify further investment.  Thomas began with a brief announcement in his own newspaper on May 27, declaring that he would soon publish “PROPOSALS for printing by Subscription, The ROYAL American MAGAZINE.”  On June 24, the proposals appeared in the Massachusetts Spy.  Thomas may have also distributed the proposals as a separate broadside or handbill.

After inserting the proposals in his own newspaper, Thomas set about disseminating them to an even broader market by placing them in all of the newspapers printed in Boston as well as newspapers published in other colonies.  In July, the proposals ran fourteen times, appearing in seven newspapers printed in Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Providence.  In August, the proposals appeared thirteen more times in eight newspapers.  They ran for the first time in newspapers published in Hartford and New London.  Along the way, Thomas, who had achieved a reputation for opposing the British government with the news and editorials in the Massachusetts Spy, issued a separate clarification that the Royal American Magazine “will never be GUIDED or INFLUENCED by any PARTY whatever,” despite allegations to the contrary.  However, when Thomas began publishing the magazine in January 1774, it quickly became a vehicle for delivering propaganda that favored the patriot cause.

In September 1773, Thomas dispensed with running the lengthy proposals in the Massachusetts Spy in favor of a shorter notice that encouraged the public, presumably familiar with the project, to become “promoters of this useful undertaking” by “send[ing] in their names with all convenient speed.”  He required “NO Money” until subscribers received the first issue, which he planned to publish “as soon as he hears what number of subscribers there are in the other colonies.”  Thomas pledged that the magazine “is likely in a short time to make its appearance” thanks to “the generous encouragement of a great number of gentlemen in this province.”  Through reporting that the magazine already had so many subscribers, Thomas leveraged existing demand in hopes of generating more demand among those who had not yet subscribed.  To increase the likelihood that prospective subscribers would see and take note of this shorter advertisement, he gave it a privileged place immediately after the news in the September 9 edition of the Massachusetts Spy.

August 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (August 24, 1773).

“PROPOSALS, For printing by SUBSCRIPTION, A NEW Periodical Production, entitled, The ROYAL American Magazine.”

Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy, continued his efforts to garner subscribers for a new publication, the Royal American Magazine, in August 1773.  He previously disseminated subscription proposals in his own newspaper, first on June 24 and then in four of the five issues published in July.  By the end of that month, he inserted the extensive proposals in two other newspapers published in Boston (the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boyand the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter) as well as both newspapers published in Rhode Island (the Newport Mercury and the Providence Gazette) and one each in New York (the New-York Journal) and Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania Chronicle).  In total, subscription proposals for the Royal American Magazine appeared fourteen times in seven newspapers in five towns in July.

In August, those proposals ran another thirteen times, as listed below.  Thomas inserted them in his own newspaper three more times.  He also concluded the cycle in three other newspapers.  Most printers charged a set rate for an advertisement to run three times and then additional fees for each insertion after that.  The proposals made their second and third appearances in both the Newport Mercury and the Pennsylvania Chronicle in August (and already made three appearances in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy in July).  According to the colophon for the New-York Journal, advertisements ran four times before the printer assessed additional fees.  The proposals made their third and fourth appearances in the New-York Journal in August 1773.  They also ran for the first time in the Boston Evening-Post and the Boston-Gazette.  That meant that all of the newspapers published in Boston carried the proposals at least once, reaching readers in that city and beyond who did not regularly read the Massachusetts Spy.  Thomas may have struck a deal with his fellow printers in town since three of those newspapers printed the proposals only once.  Thomas also added another newspaper to the roster of those that disseminated the subscription proposals.  The Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford, carried them on August 24, the first time for a newspaper in that colony.  The proposals filled nearly two columns (out of twelve) in that issue.  Three days later, the proposals ran in the New-London Gazette.

Thomas realized that to successfully attract enough subscribers to make the only magazine published in America at the time a viable venture, he needed to market the proposed publication widely.  That meant saturating the market in Boston as well as establishing a network that included towns in other colonies.  Advertisements in newspapers published in New York, Philadelphia, Providence, New London, Newport, and Hartford reached even wider audiences than the Massachusetts Spy and its counterparts in Boston.  Thomas engaged “the printers and booksellers in America,” near and far, to act as local agents who collected subscriptions for the Royal American Magazine on his behalf.

  • August 2 – Boston-Gazette (first appearance)
  • August 2 – Newport Mercury (second appearance)
  • August 2 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (second appearance)
  • August 5 – Massachusetts Spy (sixth appearance)
  • August 5 – New-York Journal (third appearance)
  • August 9 – Newport Mercury (third appearance)
  • August 9 – Pennsylvania Chronicle (third appearance)
  • August 12 – Massachusetts Spy (seventh appearance)
  • August 12 – New-York Journal (fourth appearance)
  • August 16 – Boston Evening-Post (first appearance)
  • August 19 – Massachusetts Spy (eighth appearance)
  • August 24 – Connecticut Courant (first appearance)
  • August 27 – New-London Gazette (first appearance)
Connecticut Courant (August 24, 1773).

July 31

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (July 31, 1773).

“SUBSCRIPTIONS for the Royal American Magazine are taken in by the Printer hereof.”

Although it took longer for Isaiah Thomas to publish the subscription proposals for the Royal American Magazine than he first anticipated, once they appeared in his newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, on June 24, 1773, he set about building an advertising campaign to attract subscribers from Boston and beyond.  In the month of July, the subscription proposals appeared in newspapers fourteen times.  In the initial insertion, Thomas declared that he accepted subscriptions, as did “many gentlemen in the country whose name will short be published” and “the printers and booksellers in AMERICA.”  He had plans to create an extensive network.

By the end of July, the subscription proposals ran in the Massachusetts Spy four more times (July 1, 8, 15, and 29) and in six other newspapers.  They first appeared in another newspaper published in Boston and then in newspapers in four other cities.

  • July 12 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Bost-Boy
  • July 19 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy
  • July 22 – New-York Journal
  • July 24 – Providence Gazette
  • July 26 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy
  • July 26 – Newport Mercury
  • July 26 – Pennsylvania Chronicle
  • July 29 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter
  • July 29 – New-York Journal
  • July 31 – Providence Gazette

Booksellers throughout the colonies imported magazines from England, but no other colonial printers published magazines.  Thomas intended that the Royal American Magazine would serve all of the colonies rather than one city or region.  He also realized that he needed to enlist subscribers from beyond Boston and the surrounding towns if he wanted to make the magazine a viable venture.  Printers had attempted about a dozen magazines in the colonies over the past thirty years, but most of them folded within a year.  None lasted longer than three years.  Thomas marketed a monthly publication of “essays, instructive and entertaining to all classes of men,” that “men of the greatest abilities in the literary world” would collect and preserve in their libraries, unlike newspapers “only noticed for a day, and then thrown neglected by.”  At ten shillings and four pence, the Royal American Magazine cost more than a subscription to the Massachusetts Spy, at six shillings and eight pence, for only twelve issues rather than fifty-two weekly issues throughout the year.  Even if the contents appealed “to all classes of men,” only certain colonizers could afford to subscribe.  That meant that Thomas needed to widen his marketing efforts far beyond Boston.  Inserting the subscription proposals in newspapers published in New York and Philadelphia, two of the largest cities in the colonies, as well as Newport and Providence, two more busy ports, helped the printer reach the sorts of genteel and affluent colonizers likely to have an interest in supporting an American magazine that catered to them as an alternative to imported English publications.

July 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (July 29, 1773).

“ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE … will never be GUIDED or INFLUENCED by any PARTY.”

As Isaiah Thomas attempted to entice enough subscribers to launch the Royal American Magazine, at a time that no magazines were published anywhere in the colonies, he found himself in the position of defending against rumor about what kind of content the publication would feature.  On July 29, 1773, he once again ran the subscription proposals as the first item in the front page of his newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy.  On the third page, the inserted another notice with the headline “ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE” to comment on the gossip.  “WHEREAS it has been reported, (notwithstanding the declaration of the intended publisher, in his proposals),” Thomas stated, “that the Royal American Magazine will be influence by a PARTY; this may serve to acquaint the public, that notwithstanding what might be reported, whenever this intended work shall make its appearance, it will never by GUIDED or INFLUENCED by a PARTY, whatever, while published by “I. THOMAS.”  In other words, some meddling colonizers suggested that Thomas, known for the critiques of the British government that he published in his newspaper, would deploy the new magazine for the same purpose.

As Thomas reminded readers, the proposals did indeed preemptively address any suspicions on that count.  Immediately before listing the conditions, such as price and publication dates, in the proposals, Thomas devoted a paragraph to that very question.  “The public may be assured,” the printer pledged, “that the Royal American Magazine, is not by any means to be a Party affair, or any ways tend to defame or lessen private characters.”  That being the case, he “therefore begs no one would conceive an unfavourable opinion of it, as his design is to render it acceptable to ALL honest men, of whatever religious or political principles they may be.”  Colonists in and near Boston could choose from among five newspapers printed in the city, some, like the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Spy, known for their support of the Sons of Liberty and others, like the Boston Post-Boy and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter, known for their Loyalist sympathies.  With only one magazine to serve all the colonies, however, Thomas aimed to select content that would make the publication “acceptable to ALL honest men.”

Whatever his intentions may have been (and whether or not he accurately represented them to prospective subscribers and the public), the Royal American Magazine did seem “GUIDED or INFLUENCES by a PARTY” when Thomas began publishing it at the end of January 1774.  In A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850, Frank Luther Mott notes that “propaganda for the patriot cause was prominent.”[1]  Perhaps “ALL honest men” included only those patriots who shared Thomas’s perspective, any others not honest at all in his view.

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[1] Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939), 84.

July 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (July 19, 1773).

“THE ROYAL American MAGAZINE, Or UNIVERSAL REPOSITORY.  [To be published monthly.]”

Nearly three weeks after Isaiah Thomas inserted “PROPOSALS For printing by SUBSCRIPTION, A NEW Periodical Production, entitled, THE ROYAL American MAGAZINE, Or UNIVERSAL REPOSITORY,” in his own newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, those proposals appeared in the July 12, 1773, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy and continued throughout the rest of the month.  In those iterations, the proposals did not benefit from the same privileged place.  Thomas ran the lengthy advertisement in the first two columns on the first page of the Massachusetts Spy.  Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, in contrast, used smaller type and condensed the proposals to a single column on the final page of their newspaper.  The proposals ran alongside all sorts of other advertisements.  Still, they appeared in their entirety.

That included an address “To the PUBLIC” in which Thomas encouraged prospective subscribers to contemplate the value, not just the utility, of the magazine.  He contrasted magazines with newspapers, “only noticed for a day; and then thrown neglected,” asserting that magazines contained literature, a category that encompassed all manner of inquiry, that merited preserving and passing down from generation to generation.  Thomas lamented, “Before the art of printing was known, the sons of science suffered greatly; and it is beyond a doubt that for the want of that useful vehicle the PRINTING PRESS, in those days, many very valuable essays of the ancients have been buried in oblivion.”  In his role as printer, Thomas could play a part in preventing that from happening again, but he needed subscribers as partners in that endeavor.  He explained to prospective subscribers that “In this polite age when printing flourishes, the man of genius may hand his performances to the public, who may give them to their children, and so transmit them down to posterity.”  Subscribers thus played as important a role as any “man of genius” who composed essays and the printer who served as a broker in disseminating them.

Thomas also asserted that the colonies had a particular need for a “NEW Periodical Publication” in the form of a magazine so “the productions of men of genius might be more universally known.”  Colonial printers produced other periodicals – weekly newspapers and annual almanacs – but the lack of monthly magazines, according to Thomas, “has long been complained of by men of the greatest ingenuity in the American world.”  The printer imagined that those men “would undoubtedly much oftner favour the public with essays, instructive and entertaining to all classes of men, if there was a suitable periodical publication for their insertion.”  Booksellers imported magazines from London that featured works by European authors, but those magazines rarely included essays composed by colonizers in North America and the West Indies.  For the most part, they did not capture distinctively American perspectives or experiences.

The Royal American Magazine provided a forum for both American and European authors.  “Several gentlemen of know abilities,” Thomas announced, “have kindly promised to favour the public through THIS channel, with essays on various subjects for instruction and amusement.”  He pledged that “Their productions will no doubt fill a considerable part of this work,” but also acknowledged that he would draw content from “British Magazines, [and] Reviews.”  Thomas emphasized that this involved “selecting from the labours of our European brethren,” but he wished to prioritize American content.  To that end, he requested “the assistance of the learned, the witty, the curios and the candid of both sexes throughout this extensive continent, and hopes they will favour him with their correspondence for the public benefit.”  Thomas apparently imagined a place for women as both readers and contributors to “this American performance” or magazine.

The call for subscribers and contributors eventually radiated out from Boston, appearing in newspapers published in other cities.  The Adverts 250 Project will examine other aspects of the lengthy subscription proposals while tracing their dissemination in American newspapers.  Thomas expected the proposals to circulate so widely that “printers and booksellers in AMERICA,” from New England to Georgia, would compile lists of local subscribers on his behalf.