What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (March 7, 1774).
“THE first number of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE is come to hand.”
It took time to distribute copies of Isaiah Thomas’s new Royal American Magazine to subscribers beyond Boston. For months, the industrious printer advertised the project in newspapers from New Hampshire to Maryland, calling on prospective subscribers to add their names to the roster and prospective contributors to forward their “LUCUBRATIONS” to include among its contents. Misfortune delayed publication of the first issue. Thomas finally announced that the January 1774 issue was available on February 7. It was not the inaugural issue alone that fell behind schedule. A month later, Thomas informed subscribers that “NUMBER II. Of THE ROYAL American Magazine” was “THIS DAY PUBLISHED” and sold at his printing office and “by the Printers and Booksellers in America.”
Newport Mercury (March 7, 1774).
The same day that notice ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, the Newport Mercury carried a short advertisement about the previous issue: “THE first number of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE is come to hand; all those persons who subscribed with the printer hereof for it, and have not had theirs, are desired to send for the same.” It was the first time that an advertisement for the magazine appeared in a newspaper outside of Massachusetts since Thomas took the Royal American Magazine to press. He advertised widely in Boston’s newspapers and the Essex Journal, a newspaper he operated in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges in Newburyport, but not elsewhere. Solomon Southwick, the printer of the Newport Mercury, became the first of Thomas’s associates to mention the magazine in the public prints after publication commenced.
Subscribers in Boston may have expected to receive the January issue sometime in January and the February issue sometime in February, but subscribers who lived at any distance had no such expectation. Southwick’s notice suggests that some subscribers likely received the January issue sometime in February, but others did not get their hands on it until March. Given the logistics of shipping books, pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines to other cities and towns, subscribers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other colonies understood they would experience some delay in receiving their copies of the Royal American Magazine. Subscribers in many places eventually had access to the same content as their counterparts in Boston, but that imagined community of readers consumed the essays and poetry in the new magazine on a staggered schedule.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this month?
Massachusetts Spy (February 3, 1774).
“NUMBER I. of The Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE.”
February 1774 was an important month for Isaiah Thomas and the Royal American Magazine. The enterprising printer of the Massachusetts Spyfirst announced his intention to publish a magazine in May the previous year. At the time, no other magazines were published in the colonies. Instead, colonizers purchased and read magazines that printers and booksellers imported from England. Over the past several decades, American printers attempted to establish magazines, but most lasted about a year before folding. Hoping for better results, Thomas marketed the Royal American Magazine in newspapers from New Hampshire to Maryland. The Adverts 250 Project has traced his advertising campaign throughout June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 1773 and January 1774. This entry provides an overview of advertisements for the Royal American Magazine published in February 1774.
All the advertisements for that month ran in newspapers published in Boston or the Essex Journal, the newspaper that Thomas recently began publishing in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges in Newburyport. During the months that Thomas attempted to drum up sufficient demand to make publishing the Royal American Magazine a viable endeavor, the subscription proposals and other notices appeared in newspapers far and wide. Once he took the magazine to press, however, he apparently did not consider it necessary to advertise as widely. Perhaps he was satisfied, for the most part, with the number of subscribers, though his advertisements did continue to encourage others to subscribe or risk missing out on the first issue.
In the February 2 edition of the Essex Journal, Thomas repeated, for the last time, an advertisement that explained the delay in publication of the first issue, originally planned for January. The next day, he announced in his own newspaper that the magazine would be published the following Monday. On that day, February 7, variant notices appeared in the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, both announcing that Thomas had indeed published the first issue of the Royal American Magazine. The same notice ran in the Boston-Gazette a week later, the last time that newspaper carried an advertisement about the new magazine that month.
Boston Evening-Post (February 14, 1774).
A few days later, the first two of four variants of longer advertisements ran in the Massachusetts Spy and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter. The version in Thomas’s own newspaper led with the price, promoted the copperplate engravings that accompanied the issue, listed the contents, and warned those who had not yet subscribed that they risked missing out on the inaugural issue. A shorter version in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter included the contents and listed the engravings, but did not carry the other material. That was the only appearance of that variant. As the month progressed, that newspaper published a third variant that first ran in the Boston Evening-Post on February 14. It made all the same appeals as the one in the Massachusetts Spy, but in a different order. The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, on the other hand, used the same copy as the Massachusetts Spy, perhaps as early as February 14 (that issue is missing) and in subsequent issues. On February 16, the Essex Journal carried its own variant, with the headline, “Lately PUBLISHED,” the only primary difference from the version in the Massachusetts Spy. Thomas likely dispatched the copy he used in Boston to his partner in Newburyport. Those two newspapers were the only ones that carried excerpts from the Royal American Magazine to entice readers. Except for the Boston-Gazette, each of the newspapers published in Boston carried one of the longer advertisements more than once in February.
Massachusetts Spy (February 17, 1774).
Midway through the month, in an advertisement in the Massachusetts Spy, Thomas ran yet another advertisement, that one asking “Gentlemen” to submit essays for the magazine because “Numb. II. is now in the Press.” There was still time for new submissions to appear, but only if they were “sent with all speed” to Thomas’s printing office. That February issue would not be available until March. Thomas continued disseminating newspapers advertisements via the public prints, seeking to enhance the visibility of the new magazine, secure its reputation, and attract additional subscribers.
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“Types are now arrived” Update
February 2 – Essex Journal (fifth appearance)
“MONDAY next will be published”
February 3 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
“THIS DAY PUBLISHED” (shorter variant)
February 7 – Boston-Gazette (first appearance)
February 14 – Boston-Gazette (second appearance)
“This Day published” (variant promoting engravings)
February 7 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first appearance)
“NUMBER I” (contents and engravings variant)
February 10 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (first appearance)
“NUMBER I” (price, engravings, contents, and subscribers variant)
February 10 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
February 14 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (possible first appearance)
February 17 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
February 21 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (first known appearance; possible second appearance)
February 24 – Massachusetts Spy (third appearance), accompanied by excerpt
February 28 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (second known appearance; possible third appearance)
“NUMBER I” (price, contents, engravings, and subscribers variant)
February 14 – Boston Evening-Post (first appearance)
February 17 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (first appearance)
February 21 – Boston Evening-Post (second appearance)
February 24 – Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (second appearance)
“NUMBER I” (“Lately PUBLISHED” variant)
February 16 – Essex Journal (first appearance)
February 23 – Essex Journal (second appearance), accompanied by excerpt
“Numb. II. is now in the Press”
February 17 – Massachusetts Spy (first appearance)
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?
Massachusetts Spy (February 10, 1774).
“Those who do not chuse to be disappointed of the first number, are requested to be speedy in subscribing.”
After months of distributing subscription proposals, advertising in newspapers from New Hampshire to Maryland, seeking submissions, and providing updates, Isaiah Thomas finally published the first issue of the Royal American Magazine on February 7, 1774. He ran advertisements to that effect in the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on the day the magazine became available to current and prospective subscribers. Three days later, when he published the next edition of his own weekly newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, Thomas inserted an even more elaborate advertisement. He ran a similar notice, a slightly shorter variation, in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on the same day.
Thomas began the version in the Massachusetts Spy with the pronouncement, “This day was published.” Readers understood that meant that printed material, whether book, magazine, pamphlet, or almanac, was available to purchase, not necessarily that it was first printed that very day. After all, newspaper advertisements proclaiming, “This day was published,” usually ran for weeks and sometimes even months without revision. Thomas then reviewed the price, ten shillings and eight pence per year, with just over half, five shillings and eight pence, “to be paid on subscribing,” and promoted the copperplate engravings that “Embellished” the first issue of the magazine. Only after providing that information did Thomas name the publication, “NUMBER I. of THE ROYAL American Magazine, Or UNIVERSAL Repository of Instruction and Amusement, For JANUARY, 1774.” That Thomas published the January edition in early February likely did not seem odd to colonizers. The few magazines published in eighteenth-century America tended to be printed and distributed at the end of the month rather than the beginning.
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (February 10, 1774).
Thomas devoted about half of the advertisement to a list of contents of the January issue of the Royal American Magazine, including essays on “Liberty in General,” “Thoughts on Matrimony,” and “Advice to the Ladies,” instructions “To die Woollen blue,” “To print on Linen or Cotton,” and “To die tanned Skins of a durable blue,” and several items under the headings “POETICAL ESSAYS” and “HISTORICAL CHRONICLE.” Several authors apparently heeded his earlier calls for submissions, “requesting the Favour of their LUCUBRATIONS, which he promises to convey to the World with the greatest Care and Attention.” Thomas also listed “Governor Hutchinson’s History of Massachusetts-Bay” at the end of the contents. In the subscription proposals for the magazine, he offered Hutchinson’s History as a premium, pledging to include a portion with each issue of the magazine “in such a manner as to be bound up by itself.” Subscribers could opt to have multiple issues of the magazine bound together into a single volume at the same time they had bookbinders collate and bind the pages of Hutchinson’s History.
Thomas concluded with a note to encourage prospective subscribers who had hesitated to submit their names soon or risk missing out. “But a few copies were printed more than were subscribed for,” he declared, so “those who do not chuse to be disappointed of the first number, are requested to be speedy in subscribing.” Customers could purchase the magazine from Thomas and “Printers and Booksellers in AMERICA.” With all the fanfare around the first issue of the magazine, Thomas hoped to entice even more subscribers for his latest venture. An advertising campaign that began months earlier continued with the publication of “NUMBER I” of the Royal American Magazine.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (February 7, 1774).
“Embellished with a (Quarto) View of the Town of Boston … neatly engraved on Copper.”
The Royal American Magazine was a popular magazine during a run cut short due to the fighting of the American Revolution. It was first published in 1774 by Isaiah Thomas, a renowned printer who ran the Massachusetts Spy, a newspaper, since 1770. The Royal American Magazine lasted from January 1774 to early spring of 1775. Not many successful magazines were started in America before the American Revolution. Frank Luther Mott states that there were only fifteen magazines published in America before the Royal American started, most of them lasting a year or less.[1] Isaiah Thomas’s advertisement campaign for the Royal American, however, helped to make it one of the most successful American magazines prior to independence.
The Royal American Magazine was known for having many more engravings than other American magazines at the time; engravings are visual images inserted into a written work, and were made by carefully carving a reverse image onto a copper plate, coating it with ink, and then transferring the image to paper in a printing press. The engravings representing a “View of the Town of Boston, and a Representation of a Thunder Storm,” as mentioned in this advertisement, enticed more people to subscribe to the magazine. According to Mott, “its distinctive feature was a little series of engravings by Paul Revere.”[2] The fact that the advertisement does not include the name of Paul Revere as the engraver for the magazine shows that Paul Revere’s fame increased after the American Revolution. Despite the Royal American Magazine containing so many engravings and other content, it did not last much longer than a year. Nevertheless, it was one of the most popular magazines printed in America before the American Revolution.
Visit the “Royal American Magazine Plates,” part of the “Illustrated Inventory of Paul Revere’s Works at the American Antiquarian Society,” to view the engravings and learn more about them.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes
Later than he intended (and later than he had advertised), Isaiah Thomas published the first issue of the Royal American Magazine in early February 1774. The Adverts 250 Project has tracked Thomas’s extensive advertising campaign over many months in 1773 and 1774, including his announcements that he would publish the first issue in January 1774 and an explanation that a ship running aground delayed delivery of the types for the magazine to Boston. On Thursday, February 3, he inserted a brief notice in his own newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, pledging that “MONDAY next will be published … NUMBER I. of The Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE.” Just as he would do four days later in the advertisement Kolbe examines today, he promoted copperplate engravings of a “View of the Town of Boston, and a Representation of a Thunder Storm.” Subscribers could leave the engravings intact or, as many likely did, remove them to display in their homes, shops, or offices.
Boston-Gazette (February 7, 1774).
Thomas had aggressively advertised in other newspapers, including several published in Boston. He once again did so when he finally took the magazine to press. In addition to the version that ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on February 7, featured above, he placed a shorter notice in the Boston-Gazette on the same day. Extending only three lines, it declared, “THIS DAY PUBLISHED, (by I. THOMAS,) Number I. of The Royal American MAGAZINE.” Perhaps he submitted copy that included the blurb about the copperplate engravings to the printing office only to have the compositors edit it for length to fit on the page with the rest of the news and advertising in that issue. Whatever the case, Thomas fulfilled the promise he made in the Massachusetts Spy on February 3. He did indeed publish the Royal American Magazine on the following Monday. He followed up with much more extensive advertisements in the Massachusetts Spy and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on February 10, announcing his success and encouraging more readers to subscribe.
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[1] Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939), 787-788.
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)
Isaiah Thomas, patriot printer and founder of the American Antiquarian Society, was born on January 19 (New Style) in 1749 (or January 8, 1748/49, Old Style). It’s quite an historical coincidence that the three most significant printers in eighteenth-century America — Benjamin Franklin, Isaiah Thomas, and Mathew Carey — were all born in January.
Isaiah Thomas (January 30, 1739 – April 4, 1831). American Antiquarian Society.
The Adverts 250 Project is possible in large part due to Thomas’s efforts to collect as much early American printed material as he could, originally to write his monumental History of Printing in America. The newspapers, broadsides, books, almanacs, pamphlets, and other items he gathered in the process eventually became the initial collections of the American Antiquarian Society. That institution’s ongoing mission to acquire at least one copy of every American imprint through 1876 has yielded an impressive collection of eighteenth-century advertising materials, including newspapers, magazine wrappers, trade cards, billheads, watch papers, book catalogs, subscription notices, broadsides, and a variety of other items. Exploring the history of advertising in early America — indeed, exploring any topic related to the history, culture, and literature of early America at all — has been facilitated for more than two centuries by the vision of Isaiah Thomas and the dedication of the curators and other specialists at the American Antiquarian Society over the years.
Thomas’s connections to early American advertising were not limited to collecting and preserving the items created on American presses during the colonial, Revolutionary, and early national periods. Like Mathew Carey, he was at the hub of a network he cultivated for distributing newspapers, books, and other printed goods — including advertising to stimulate demand for those items. Sometimes this advertising was intended for dissemination to the general public (such as book catalogs and subscription notices), but other times it amounted to trade advertising (such as circular letters and exchange catalogs intended only for fellow printers, publishers, and booksellers).
Thomas also experimented with advertising on wrappers that accompanied his Worcester Magazine, though he acknowledged to subscribers that these wrappers were ancillary to the publication: “The two outer leaves of each number are only a cover to the others, and when the volume is bound may be thrown aside, as not being a part of the Work.”[1]
Detail of Advertising Wrapper, Worcester Magazine (Second Week of April, 1786).
Thomas’s patriotic commitment to freedom of the press played a significant role in his decision to develop advertising wrappers. As Thomas relays in his History of Printing in America, he discontinued printing his newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, after the state legislature passed a law that “laid a duty of two-thirds of a penny on newspapers, and a penny on almanacs, which were to be stamped.” Such a move met with strong protest since it was too reminiscent of the Stamp Act imposed by the British two decades earlier, prompting the legislature to repeal it before it went into effect. On its heels, however, “another act was passed, which imposed a duty on all advertisements inserted in the newspapers” printed in Massachusetts. Thomas vehemently rejected this law as “an improper restraint on the press. He, therefore, discontinued the Spy during the period that this act was in force, which was two years. But he published as a substitute a periodical work, entitled ‘The Worcester Weekly Magazine,’ in octavo.”[2] This weekly magazine lasted for two years; Thomas discontinued it and once again began printing the Spy after the legislature repealed the objectionable act.
Third Page of Advertising Wrapper, Worcester Magazine (Fourth Week of May, 1786).
Isaiah Thomas was not interested in advertising for its own sake to the same extent as Mathew Carey, but his political concerns did help to shape the landscape of early American advertising. Furthermore, his vision for collecting American printed material preserved a variety of advertising media for later generations to admire, analyze, ponder, and enjoy. Happy 275th birthday, Isaiah Thomas!
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[1] Isaiah Thomas, “To the CUSTOMERS for the WORCESTER MAGAZINE,” Worcester Magazine, wrapper, second week of April, 1786.
[2] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers, and an Account of Newspapers, vol. 2 (Worcester, MA: Isaac Sturtevant, 1810), 267-268.
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?
Massachusetts Spy (December 30, 1773).
“THE Editor of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE, presents his most respectful Compliments.”
After advertising the Royal American Magazine more widely than in any previous month in November 1773, Isaiah Thomas placed fewer advertisements in December. In total, he ran twenty advertisements in seven newspapers in six towns in five colonies, compared to the forty-three advertisements he published in November. The success of his marketing efforts in June, July, August, September, October, and November likely explains the decline in the number of advertisements for December. Thomas distributed subscription proposals to determine whether or not he could entice enough subscribers to make the magazine a viable venture and, if so, how many copies he needed to print. Once he determined that sufficient interest existed to merit moving forward with the project, he did not need to disseminate the subscription proposals or notices about submitting them to his printing office as widely. He could instead devote more attention to launching a newspaper, the Essex Journal, in Newburyport in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges.
Thomas also shifted his attention to the production of the magazine, including gathering contents. His advertisement addressed to the “generous Patrons and Promoters of useful KNOWLEDGE throughout AMERICA” solicited “the Favour of their LUCUBRATIONS” or essays to publish in the magazine. In November, that notice appeared only in Boston, but in December it ran in newspapers published in Boston and Newburyport, Massachusetts; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Newport, Rhode Island. Still, Thomas’s own publications carried the notice six of the twelve times it ran in December, five times in the Massachusetts Spy, where it originated, and once in the free inaugural issue of the Essex Journal. That advertisement included a request for “PRINTERS of all the Public Papers in America” to insert it “as soon as may be,” but fewer took note of it than a notice asserting that “subscription papers will be returned to the intended publisher in a few days.” That advertisement appeared five times in October, thirty-two times in November, and eight more times in December. Only two newspapers, the Maryland Gazette and the Norwich Packet, carried it in December. Having commenced publication the previous month, the Norwich Packet may have been eager for both the content and, especially, advertising revenue.
Thomas continued to advertise the Royal American Magazine in 1774. He regularly announced the publication of new issues each month. He did not, however, place such advertisements as widely as the subscription proposals and other notices calling on subscribers to submit their names as soon as possible or risk missing out on the magazine. His marketing campaign concentrated on establishing the magazine rather than promoting it once it began publication.
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“Subscription Papers will be returned” Update
December 2 – Maryland Gazette (fifth appearance)
December 2 – Norwich Packet (third appearance)
December 9 – Maryland Gazette (sixth appearance)
December 9 – Norwich Packet (fourth appearance)
December 16 – Maryland Gazette (seventh appearance)
December 16 – Norwich Packet (fifth appearance)
December 23 – Maryland Gazette (eighth appearance)
December 30 – Maryland Gazette (ninth appearance)
“generous Patrons” Update
December 2 – Massachusetts Spy (second appearance)
December 3 – New-Hampshire Gazette (first appearance)
December 4 – Essex Journal (first appearance)
December 6 – Newport Mercury (first appearance)
December 9 – Massachusetts Spy (third appearance)
December 13 – Boston-Gazette (third appearance)
December 13 – Newport Mercury (second appearance)
December 16 – Massachusetts Spy (fourth appearance)
December 20 – Newport Mercury (third appearance)
December 23 – Massachusetts Spy (fifth appearance)
December 24 – New-Hampshire Gazette (second appearance)
December 30 – Massachusetts Spy (sixth appearance)
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.
