John Carter

March 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (March 9, 1776).

“Just PUBLISHED … An APPENDIX to Common Sense.”

Advertisements for Thomas Paine’s Common Sense continued to proliferate in the March 9, 1776, edition of the Providence Gazette.  Three weeks earlier, John Carter, the printer, announced that he had a local edition of the pamphlet “Now in the PRESS” and expected that copies would be ready for sale within a week.  To stoke anticipation, he trumpeted, “This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that in the Course of a few Weeks three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia, and to in New-York, besides a German Edition.”  The following week, he updated the advertisement to alert the public that he “JUST PUBLISHED” the pamphlet and sold it for “One Shilling single, or Eight Shillings per Dozen.”

Rather than continuing to run that advertisement, he once again revised it for the March 1 edition of the Providence Gazette.  This version eliminated the comment about the “very great Demand” for the pamphlet.  Carter also described his edition as “A NEW EDITION OF Common Sense,” replicating how William Bradford and Thomas Bradford described the edition they produced in collaboration with Thomas Paine after the author parted ways with Robert Bell, the publisher of the first edition of Common Sense.  Given that the Bradfords did not announce publication of that edition until February 14, the edition that Carter had “Now in the PRESS” on February 17 must have drawn from one of Bell’s editions or from John Anderson’s New York edition (drawn from one of Bell’s editions) published on February 8.  Why did Carter consider it necessary to revise his advertisement to describe his edition as “A NEW EDITION”?

He may have seen the dispute, first between Bell and Paine and later between Bell and the Bradfords, play out in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers published in Philadelphia.  After all, printers exchanged newspapers so they could reprint news, letters, editorials, and other content.  During that dispute, the Bradfords emphasized that their edition included new material written by Paine, “An APPENDIX, and an Address to the People called QUAKERS.”  It did not take long for Bell to pirate those items and add them to “Large ADDITIONS to COMMON SENSE,” a collection of essays from newspapers, none of the written by Paine.

Carter acquired one of those pamphlets.  On March 9, he once again ran his advertisement promoting the “NEW EDITION.”  In a second advertisement, he announced publication of “An APPENDIX to Common Sense,” a separate item that sold for “Ninepence single, or Six Shillings per Dozen.”  Richard Gimbel indicates that this pamphlet included the “Address to the People called Quakers.”[1]  Perhaps Carter updated his advertisement in solidarity with the Bradfords.  He did not, after all, publish a local edition of “Large Additions.”  Carter did not explicitly wade into that controversy that gained so much attention in Philadelphia.  Instead, he kept the focus on distributing Common Sense and Paine’s supplementary materials.

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[1] Richard Gimbel, Thomas Paine: A Bibliographical Check List of Common Sense with an Account of Its Publication (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956), 90.

February 17

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

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

Providence Gazette (February 17, 1776).

“This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that … three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia.”

On February 17, 1776, John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, became the first printer in New England to announce plans to publish a local edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.  “Now in the PRESS,” he proclaimed, “And on Thursday next will be Published … Common Sense: Addressed to the INHABITANTS of AMERICA, on the following interesting Subjects.”  Carter then listed the titles of the sections of the political pamphlet, replicating many of the advertisements that previously ran in newspapers published in Philadelphia and New York.  He even included the epigraph from “Liberty,” a poem by James Thomson, that appeared on the first page of the first edition published by Robert Bell and in many of Bell’s advertisements for the pamphlet.

Carter disseminated this advertisement on a Saturday, but readers had to wait until the following Thursday for the pamphlet to go on sale.  To stoke anticipation even more, he reported, “This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that in the Course of a few Weeks three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia, and two in New-York, besides a German Edition.”  Indeed, Bell first advertised Common Sense on January 9 and soon after advertised an unauthorized second edition.  Unhappy with Bell’s failure to earn a profit on the first edition, Paine turned to William Bradford and Thomas Bradford to publish a new edition with additional content.  Before its publication on February 14, Bell and Paine engaged in bitter exchanges in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers.  In their advertisement, the Bradfords also indicated that a “German edition is likewise in the press.”  Meanwhile, John Anderson advertised his local edition, the first printed in New York, on February 7.  Even if readers of the Providence Gazette had not previously heard much about Paine’s incendiary political pamphlet, Carter intended for its popularity in Philadelphia and New York to encourage sales of his local edition.  He clearly intended for retailers to purchase it to sell again, offering a discount of “One Shilling single, or Eight Shillings per Dozen.”  Perhaps he expected that supporters of the American cause would also purchase by the dozen and distribute them to friends and relations.  Allowing such a steep discount likely helped the pamphlet achieve even greater circulation.

December 30

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

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

Providence Gazette (December 30, 1775).

“Great Allowance made to those that take a Quantity.”

The collaboration between John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, and Benjamin West, an astronomer and mathematician, continued for another year.  An advertisement in the final issue of the Providence Gazette for 1775 alerted readers that the “NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, Or, Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our LORD 1776” by Benjamin West was “Just Published, and to be Sold by the Printer hereof.”  At the end of the advertisement, a manicule directed attention to a note that informed shopkeepers and others of a “Great Allowance made to those that take a Quantity.”  In other words, Carter offered steep discounts to retailers who purchased a significant number of copies to sell to their own customers.  That pricing scheme allowed them to turn a profit by setting prices that competed with customers acquiring the almanac at the printing office.

To entice customers of every sort, Carter provided an overview of the contents of the almanac.  In addition to the “usual astronomical Calculations,” it included “a particular Account of the Transit of Mercury, which will happen on the 2d Day of November, 1776.”  Carter stoked anticipation for that event, making it even more appealing by providing those who purchased the almanac detailed information to help them understand it.  The almanac also contained useful reference material, including “a Table of Coins, Time of holding Friends yearly Meetings; Courts in the New-England Government; List of public Officers; a compleat Table of Interest, at any Rate per Cent. Time of the Arrival and Departure of the Posts; [and] Description of the Roads.”  The almanac also served as a medical manual with several remedies, such as “a certain Cure for the Canker, a Cure for the Bite of a Rattle-Snake; [and] a Cure for the Dysentery, or Bloody-Flux.”  In addition to all that, the almanac had items selected to entertain or to educate readers, including a short essay “on Contentment,” “Humanity, a Poem,” and “a concise geographical Description of CANADA.”  That last item may have been of particular interest given the American invasion of Canada in hopes of winning support for the American cause.  Despite capturing Montreal in November, the attack on Quebec City failed in late December.  American forces withdrew.  The “concise geographical Description of CANADA” would not serve the intended purpose once word arrived in New England, though readers could consult it to supplement reports they read in the Providence Gazette and heard from others.  Overall, Carter aimed to convince prospective customers that this almanac has an array of features that merited selecting it for use throughout the new year.

August 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

“EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress.”

Providence Gazette (August 12, 1775).

In the first advertisement that readers encountered in the August 12, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, John Carter announced “On Tuesday next will be Published, and Sold by the Printer hereof, EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress, held at Philadelphia on the Tenth Day of May, 1775.”  In the next issue, he inserted an updated advertisement confirming that he had indeed published the work and had copies available for sale.  Carter also listed some of the contents to entice prospective customers: “An Address to the People of Ireland, an Address to the Assembly of Jamaica, a Letter to the Lord Mayor of London, and the Opinion of Congress on the boasted conciliatory Plan offered by Administration in Parliament, February 20, 1775.”  Once again, the printer placed his notice first among the advertisements.  That was not merely an attempt to increase sales by drawing more attention to it.  In both instances, Carter treated his advertisement for Extracts from the Proceedings of the American Continental Congress as a bridge between news and advertising.  The book he hawked provided more extensive coverage of the news that he published in his weekly newspaper.

Providence Gazette (August 19, 1775).

Carter was the first printer to advertise extracts from the meeting of the Second Continental Congress.  In the fall of 1774, printers throughout the colonies advertised local editions of a similar volume that documented the First Continental Congress’s meetings in September and October.  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, ran an advertisement almost as soon as the meetings adjourned.  Newspaper notices radiated out from Philadelphia as printers in other towns acquired copies and produced local editions for their own customers.  The Bradfords eventually published a Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress.  Only one other printer, Hugh Gaine in New York, produced and advertised a local edition.

In this case, Carter was the first printer to publish and advertise extracts from the Second Continental Congress, doing so in faraway Providence rather than in Philadelphia where the delegates met.  He did so during the brief adjournment that lasted from August 2 through September 13, 1775.  His Extracts, a pamphlet of twenty-two pages, included only the items listed in his second advertisement.  The Bradfords did publish a complete Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress that covered May 10 through August 1, but advertisements for that 239-page volume began appearing in December.  The scope of the project meant that it took the Bradfords some time to accomplish it.  The timing of the advertisements demonstrates that Carter did not merely reprint a set of extracts selected by printers in Philadelphia and then reproduced from town to town as local printing offices received copies.  Instead, he acquired the contents of his Extracts through other means, chose which items to include, and marketed the pamphlet to readers in Rhode Island.

March 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (March 18, 1775).

“The Proceedings of the late Continental CONGRESS.”

It was a brief yet important notice: “A few Copies of the Proceedings of the late Continental CONGRESS May be had at the Printing-Office.”  It was the first advertisement that appeared in the March 18, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, immediately following the local news.  During the era of the American Revolution, printers often gave advertisements they considered significant, often advertisements for political pamphlets and other publications, that privileged place.  Such notices marked a transition between news selected by the printer and other content submitted by advertisers.  Printers may have expected that readers were more likely to give their attention to notices that followed (or even appeared to continue) the news than if they had been interspersed among other advertisements.

John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, stocked a variety of political publications at his printing office “at Shakespear’s Head, in Meeting-Street, near the Court-House.”  He previously advertised “EXTRACTS From the VOTES and PROCEEDINGS of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.”  Once the First Continental Congress concluded its meetings in Philadelphia at the end of October 1774, printers in many towns, including Carter, published and advertised local editions of the Extracts to supplement coverage provided in their newspapers.  Not nearly as many printers, however, published the “JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS.”  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, published a Philadelphia edition.  Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, published another edition.  Printers and booksellers in other cities and towns apparently acquired copies of the Journal from the Bradfords or from Gaine rather than devoting resources to producing local editions.  They believed that a market existed for that publication, even if local customers demanded only “A few Copies” to read along with the Extracts that provided so much information about the work of the First Continental Congress.  As the imperial crisis intensified in the first months of 1775, Carter suspected that readers of the Providence Gazette might desire their own copies of the Journal.

November 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , ,

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

Providence Gazette (November 5, 1774).

“The Manual Exercise … the best calculated for Appearance and Defence.”

As was often the case, John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, placed several advertisements in his own newspaper on November 5, 1774, hoping to advance other revenue streams in his printing office.  He placed five notices of varying lengths.

If they perused the contents of that issue from start to finish, readers first encountered an advertisement for books that Carter sold on the third page.  It listed dozens of items, starting with “THE surprising, yet real and true Voyages and Adventures of Monsieur Pierre Viaud, a French Sea Captain, adorned with an elegant engraving of Madam La Couture and her Son, with Capt. Viaud and his Negro, upon a desolate island” that previously had been featured separately in a much more extensive advertisement and concluded with “the Manual Exercise, as ordered by his Majesty in 1764, together with Plans and Explanations of the Method generally practised at Reviews and Field Days,” a publication that had recently received some attention in Boston as well.  Carter added a short note, advising that “this Method of Exercise is now universally taking Placer, and is recommended by the Provincial Congress as the best calculated for Appearance and Defence.”  The printer did not specify the threat that colonizers faced; as the imperial crisis intensified following the passage of the Coercive Acts, readers understood the context for promoting that book.

On the fourth page, the second and third columns began and ended with advertisements from Carter.  At the top of the second column, he declared that he had “JUST PUBLISHED” Benjamin West’s “NEW-ENGLAND A[L]MANACK, OR, Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our LORD, 1775.”  Two weeks earlier, he inserted a notice that publication of this annual collaboration with West, an astronomer and mathematician, was imminent.  Carter completed the column with a short advertisement for “BLANKS of various Kinds to be sold by the Printer hereof.”  The fourth column featured an advertisement addressed to the “FRIENDS of LIBERTY and USEFUL KNOWLEDGE,” alerting them that they could acquire copies of “ENGLISH LIBERTIES, OR, The free-born Subject’s INHERITANCE” at Carter’s printing office.  He published that volume by subscription, a project that took quite some time.  Upon publication, this advertisement appeared regularly in the Providence Gazette.  The column ended with a call for “clean Linen Rags … and old Sail-Cloth” to supply the “PAPER MANUFACTORY in Providence.”  Carter offered the “best Prices” to colonizers who supplied these items so essential to the printing trade.

In addition to his own advertisements, the printer inserted a brief note that “Advertisements omitted will be in our next.”  How many advertisements did not appear?  Did Carter’s own notices crowd out paid notices submitted by customers?  Or had some advertisements arrived at the printing office too late to include in the November 5 edition?  Carter had to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of giving too much space to advertisements concerning his own endeavors when others wished to pay for space in his newspaper.

October 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (October 22, 1774).

“On Wednesday next will be published, and sold by the Printer hereof, WEST’s ALMANACK.”

Although he sometimes ran advertisements on the first page of his newspapers, John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, opted to place all of them at the end of the October 22, 1774, edition.  News filled most of the first three pages, with the final third of the last column on the third page given to advertising and then the entire fourth page as well.  As usual, the news concluded with local updates, including accounts of sheep being sent to the “distressed Towns of Boston and Charlestown” to relieve the residents while the Boston Port Act remained in effect and coverage of the capture of a suspected burglar.

As readers finished with the news, they immediately encountered an advertisement for “WEST’s ALMANACK, For the Year of our Lord 1775” before paid notices submitted by Carter’s customers.  That advertisement announced that the printer would publish and sell the almanac on the following Wednesday, the first mention of Benjamin West’s almanac for the coming year in the Providence Gazette.  The public likely anticipated its publication and marketing since West, an astronomer and mathematician, had been collaborating with the printer of the Providence Gazette for more than a decade.  The partnership began before Carter became the proprietor of the newspaper, passing from printer to printer as the Providence Gazette changed hands.  West initially worked with William Goddard, followed by Sarah Goddard, before Carter ran the printing office.

For his part, Carter often gave advertisements for the works that he printed, whether books or West’s almanac, a privileged place.  Sometimes they appeared as the first item on the first page, while other times he positioned them as the first item following the news.  Either way, he increased the chances that readers would see and take note of advertisements that promoted his own endeavors in the printing office.

October 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , ,

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

Providence Gazette (October 15, 1774).

“At the Printing-Office may likewise be had, Lockyer’s Pills, Turlington’s Balsam of Life.”

Colonial printers devised multiple revenue streams to earn their livelihoods.  John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, was no exception.  In addition to seeking subscribers and advertisers for his newspaper, the colophon in each issue announced that “all Manner of Printing-Work is performed with Care and Expedition” at his printing office.  Carter took orders for job printing, everything from handbills and broadsides to printed blanks and circular letters.  Like other printers, he was also a bookseller, dealing primarily in imported volumes rather than books and pamphlets produced in his own shop.  In the October 15, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette, Carter inserted an advertisement that listed a couple of dozen titles that he had on hand, including “FORDYCE’s excellent Sermons to young Women, the Family Instructor, Doddridge’s Rise and Progress, Mrs. Rowe’s Letters, likewise he Works compleat, in 4 Vols.”  Each fall, Carter collaborated with Benjamin West, an astronomer and mathematician, in publishing an almanac.  Separate advertisements for that useful work would commence soon, though the printer did not yet promote it in the middle of October.

His advertisement did, however, conclude with a separate list of patent medicines that he stocked at the printing office: “Lockyer’s Pills, Turlington’s Balsam of Life, Stoughton’s Elixir, the Golden Medical Cephalic Snuff, British Tooth-Powder, Tincture for the Gums, and Essence for the Teeth.”  Apothecaries imported and sold these popular remedies, as did merchants and shopkeepers … and printers.  Throughout the colonies, printers frequently advertised patent medicines in addition to goods and services associated with the book trade.  They did not need to possess any specialized medical knowledge to peddle these eighteenth-century versions of over-the-counter medications.  Customers already knew which patent medicines treated which maladies.  In addition, the various pills, powders, and elixirs frequently came with printed instructions that absolved printers and other retailers from having to provide any guidance about their use.  When it came to acquiring patent medicines, consumers may have found it just as convenient to visit the local printing office as any other shop.  For his part, Carter accommodated them, supplementing the revenues he earned from printing and selling books.

August 27

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

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

Providence Gazette (August 27, 1774).

“This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”

It took nearly two years, but John Carter finally published an American edition of English Liberties, or The Free-born Subject’s Inheritance in August 1774.  The printer of the Providence Gazette previously circulated a subscription proposal addressed to “the Friends of Liberty and useful Knowledge.”  Dated November 7, 1772, the proposal appeared in newspapers in several towns in New England.  On occasion, Carter inserted updates on the progress of the project in his own newspaper, often giving them a privileged place.  He did so once again on August 27, 1774, when he announced, “This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”  Harkening back to his original subscription proposal, the printer called on “the FRIENDS of LIBERTY and USEFUL KNOWLEDGE” to purchase the book or, if they had already subscribed, “to call or send for their Books.”

As had been his practice with the various updates, Carter gave this announcement a privileged place as the first item in the first column on the first page the first time it appeared in the Providence Gazette.  It filled nearly the entire column, followed by a short legal notice.  News filled the remainder of the page, with the remainder of the advertisements running at the end of the issue.  Carter deliberately chose where his notice appeared.  Though subscribers had reserved copies in advance, the printer apparently produced surplus copies that he hoped to sell to those who had previously missed the opportunity to acquire the book.

To that end, his extensive advertisement included a lengthy list of the contents and an extract from the “short Preface … annexed to the fifth Edition, printed in the Year 1721.”  Like modern blurbs from trusted authorities, it outlined why readers should purchase the book, invoking the “favourable Reception which all the former Impressions of this Treatise of the Liberties of the Subjects of England have met with from the Public.”  In turn, the preface recommended that “by perusing this Treatise” readers could “deeply imprint in our own Minds the Laws and Rights that from Age to Age have been delivered down to us from our renown’d Forefathers.”  At the time, few colonizers advocated for independence from Britain; instead, they wished for redress of their grievances with Parliament.  That included enjoying the same rights in the colonies as English subjects possessed in England.  Both the book and its advertisement reinforced that rhetoric.

In a nota bene, Carter also informed prospective customers that “A Number of excellent Forms for Justices of the Peace … are inserted in this Edition.”  That provided a very practical reason for some colonizers to obtain copies.  In addition, the printer supplemented what had been included in earlier editions with “some Extracts from several late celebrated Writers on the British Constitution, which serve to illustrate and enforce the very important Doctrines advanced by the ingenious Author.”  Carter hoped that bonus content would help in marketing the book.

According to the subscription proposal, Carter originally sought five hundred subscribers.  In one update, he asserted that “Very few will be printed that are not subscribed for,” yet he produced enough additional copies to merit an elaborate advertisement that deployed multiple marketing strategies rather than publishing a brief notice that called on subscribers to collect their books.  He may have intended all along to print more than just a few copies “not subscribed for,” but wanted to create a sense of scarcity to encourage prospective subscribers to commit to the project.  He then reinvigorated his marketing campaign following publication of the book.

July 16

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

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

Providence Gazette (July 16, 1774).

“Extract from the Preface of Mrs. GRIFFITH, the Translator of VIAUD’s Voyages and Adventures.”

In addition to printing the Providence Gazette, John Carter also sold books at his printing office “at Shakespear’s Head.”  In July 1774, he ran a lengthy advertisement that listed about a dozen familiar titles before noting that he “just received” a new book about “the suprising, yet real and true VOYAGES and ADVENTURES of Monsieur PIERRE VIAUD, a French Sea-Captain.”  The volume was “ornamented with an elegant Frontispiece of Madam LA COUTURE and her Son, with Captain VIAUD, and his Negro, on the desolate Island.”  The book recounted the wreck of Le Tigre, a French vessel, near Dog Island off the Gulf coast of Florida while en route to New Orleans in 1766.  It was published in French in 1768, with an English translation appearing in 1771.  The book achieved considerable popularity in the eighteenth century.  As a bonus, the edition advertised by Carter included “the SHIPWRECK, a sentimental and descriptive Poem, in three Cantos, by WILLIAM FALCONER, an English Sailor.”

Carter’s marketing startegy included providing an “Extract from the Preface of Mrs. GRIFFITH, the Translator of VIAUD’s Voyages and Adventures” to entice readers.  The excerpt underscored that the book told a true story: “The Work here offered to the Public is certainly the most incredible Story that ever was authenticated.”  Beyond the “Writer’s Veracity” derived from the “Inenuousness of his Stile,” the narrative contained “concurrent and corroborating Circumstances enough … to evince the Truth of his Narrative.”  Griffith also emphasized that in France the book “was universally received, not as a Romance, but as a series of surprising, interesting and extraordinary Facts.”  Carter did not advertise a novel, like The Life and Strange Suprizing Advertures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1719), but instead an accurate account of Viaud’s travels that readers would find inspiring rather than merely entertaining.  In the extract from the preface, Griffith exclaimed that the survival and rescue of Viaud and his companions “amounts almost to a Proof, that Patience, Resolution, and Perseverance, are a Match for Difficulty and Danger, and are sometimes able to combat Death itself.”

The printer and bookseller also included other assertions intended to generate interest in the books.  Griffith stated that the “Original of this Work ran through several Editions in France.”   Such popularity demanded attention in other places.  Furthermore, the translator claimed that so many people clamored for Viaud’s tale that “the Gentleman who was so obliging to lend the Book to me, could not procure another for himself.”  Smart readers in Providence needed to acquire their copies before they sold out.  Carter also inserted a “Memorandum in America” in hopes that it would make the book resonate with local readers.  That excerpt reported that Viaud “in the Fall of the Year 1766, was for some Months entertained ay the House of Mr. Depeyster, Merchant, in New-York.”  During that time, he “was well known and respected by many of its genteelest Inhabitants.”  That connection to British North America not only testified to the veracity of Viaud’s narrative but also gave readers more of a stake in engaging with the narrative.

Carter did not simply announce that he stocked Viaud’s Voyages and Adventures.  Instead, he deployed several marketing techniques.  He promoted the frontispiece and poem that accompanied the book in addition to printing an extensive excerpt from the translator’s preface.  Carter made sure prospective customers knew about the popularity that the book already achieved while also establishing that it was a true narrative rather than a fictional account.  He noted Viaud’s time in New York to further excite local interest.  All in all, Carter crafted a sophisticated marketing strategy for the book.