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

“He proposes to continue his business of pickling oysters and lobsters.”

James Rivington had sufficient content to include in the July 21, 1774, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer that he distributed a two-page supplement with the standard four-page issue.  The items in that supplement consisted entirely of paid notices, dozens of them.  In addition, advertising accounted for several columns alongside the news in the standard issue.  Only a few of those advertisements, however, featured visual images to aid in drawing the attention of readers.  Three had stock images of ships at sea, one for a sloop for sale, one seeking passengers and freight for a voyage to South Carolina, and one that “WANTS A FREIGHT, To any part of EUROPE.”  The printer supplied stock images for those notices.

Three other advertisements sported woodcuts commissioned by the advertisers for their exclusive use, each of them providing a visual representation of some aspect of their business.  Thomas Ash, “WINDSOR CHAIR-MAKER,” once again incorporated the image of a chair that had accompanied his advertisements for several months.  Abraham Delanoy and James Webb also deployed images that had become familiar sights to readers over several weeks.  Delanoy advised readers that he moved to a new location where he “continue[d] his business of pickling oysters and lobsters” and “puts up fried oysters so as to keep a considerable time even in a hot climate.”  A woodcut depicting a lobster trap and an oyster cage appeared above his message to consumers.  Like Ash, Delanoy devoted as much space to his image as his copy, apparently believing that a picture was indeed worth a thousand words.  He trusted that the woodcut would as effectively market his wares as anything he might write.  He may have also figured that he had already established his reputation in the local marketplace so his primary purpose for the image could have been increasing the likelihood that customers saw his announcement that he had moved “from Ferry-Street to a house in Horse and Cart-Street.”

James Webb, on the other hand, used his woodcut of a millstone to advance a new endeavor unfamiliar to readers of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Accordingly, he devised significantly more copy to sell the “FRENCH BURR MILL-STONES” that he made from “the best stones that could be picked in France for that purpose.”  Webb claimed that he was “the first in promoting [or undertaking] so useful a manufactory in this province,” making it even more necessary that he provide an overview of his enterprise.  He asserted that he made millstones “in a masterly manner of any size, on reasonable terms, at the shortest notice,” succinctly incorporating appeals to quality, price, and convenience.  He suggested that millers, merchants, and others were already familiar with such millstones and knew that “from repeated trials [they] have been found to exceed all other stones ever yet found out.”  His millstones had the added advantage of being made in the colonies at a time that colonizers discussed the prospects of boycotting goods imported from Britain in response to the Coercive Acts passed by Parliament following the destruction of tea now known as the Boston Tea Party.  Webb pledged that “no pains or expence shall be spared to render [his millstones] far superior to those imported into America ready made,” while simultaneously reminding readers that they had a duty to support domestic manufactures.  To that end, his millstones “are of the greatest utility to the colonies in general.”  Just in case all of that did not convince prospective customers, Webb added a nota bene advising that “Any gentleman may choose out stones before made, to his own liking, if he pleases.”  In the end, that would yield even greater satisfaction with the finished product.

In each instance, the woodcuts that Ash, Delanoy, and Webb included in their advertisements happened to be the only visual images that appeared on that page of the July 21 edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Most likely that was by coincidence rather than design, yet it still helped in distinguishing their notices from others.  (The three images of ships appeared in a cluster, one after the other, on another page.)  Ash, Delanoy, and Webb had to pay additional fees to commission their woodcuts, but they very well may have determined that doing so was worth the investment.