Joint Advertisement

October 30

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

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (October 30, 1776).

“The extraordinary Advance in the Price of Paper … has obliged them to raise the Price.”

In the fall of 1776, William Hall, David Hall, and William Sellers announced that they would raise the price of their newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, starting on January 1, 1777.  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford made the same decision about the Pennsylvania Journal.  So did John James Humphreys, Jr., for the Pennsylvania Ledger and John Dunlap for Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet.  Although they competed for subscribers and advertisers, the printers of those newspapers collaborated in setting a new price and informing current and prospective subscribers.  They placed a joint notice, dated October 29, that appeared in each newspaper.

It first ran in the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal on October 30.  The Halls and Sellers made it the first item in the first column on the first page of the Pennsylvania Gazette to increase the chances that readers saw it.  The Bradfords did the same in the Pennsylvania Journal.  Humphreys followed their lead in the Pennsylvania Ledger on November 2.  When Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet came out on November 5, it also featured the joint advertisement in the same spot on the first page.

By announcing this change together, the “Publishers of the several weekly NEWS-PAPERS in this City” showed solidarity in the face of “the extraordinary Advance in the Price of Paper, and other Materials in the Printing Business” that “obliged them to raise the Price to FIFTEEN SHILLINGS per Annum.”  Printers throughout the new nation reported similar challenges during the Revolutionary War.  The printers in Philadelphia “hope[d] that their Customers will not take it amiss to find that Price charged from and after the First Day of January next,” yet they recognized that some subscribers would likely wish to withdraw.  For those “who should not incline to have the Papers sent after that Time,” the printers requested that they visit the appropriate office to settle accounts.  Otherwise, it was an opt out system rather than an opt in system.  If subscribers did not opt out, then the printers “shall conclude they agree to the advanced Price” and would continue to deliver newspapers for the higher subscription fee.  In placing a joint advertisement, the printers may have intended to reduce anger or frustration directed from their own subscribers directed at their newspaper by making it clear that the printers of several weekly newspapers found the price increase necessary and none set a higher price than any of the others.

This agreement among the “Publishers of the several weekly NEWS-PAPERS in this City” did not include Henrich Miller and Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, a German newspaper, nor Benjamin Towne’s Pennsylvania Evening Post that came out three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

April 2

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

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (April 2, 1776).

“HYNS TAYLOR, UPHOLSTERER, … AMELIA TAYLORS, MILANER and MANTUA MAKER.”

When Hyns Taylor, an upholsterer, relocated from London to Philadelphia, he introduced himself to prospective customers via an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Evening Post in the spring of 1776.  Like other artisans who migrated from the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the empire to the colonies, he encouraged consumers to associate sophistication with his prior experience.  Rather than merely stating that he was “from London,” as many did in their advertisements, he instead specified that he was “late from Saint James’s, London,” apparently believing that readers recognized the cachet of that address.  He also emphasized that he upholstered “all kind of furniture in the newest fashion,” including “drapery, Venetian, Gothic, canopy, four-post and couch beds.”  Even though the colonies were at odds with the empire, many colonizers even calling for independence as the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord approached, they still looked to London for that “newest fashion,” yet Taylor also took current events into account by noting that he also worked on “field and camp beds” with “all sorts of mattresses.”

Members of Taylor’s household may have assisted him in the upholstery shop, yet Amelia Taylor, most likely his wife, but perhaps a daughter or other female relation, pursued her own enterprise as a “MILANER and MANTUA MAKER.”  Hyns and Amelia devised a join advertisement.  He received top billing in the first paragraph, while the second paragraph informed prospective customers that she “makes up all sorts of milanery goods,” such as “child-bed linen, childrens robes, jams, frocks, vests and tunics, gentlemens shirts, stocks, and all kinds of needlework.”  She emphasized her skill, stating that she did her work “in the very neatest manner,” though the Taylors likely intended for readers to note her origins “from Saint James’s, London,” when they considered engaging her services.  Although Amelia appeared second in the advertisement, her name and occupation in capital letters received the same treatment as Hyns’s name and occupation.  Only the drop cap, the large letter “H” that began the advertisement, distinguished his name from hers.  That may have been by their own design when they composed the copy or it may have been a decision made by the compositor when setting the type.  Either way, it signaled a partnership in which both Hyns and Amelia contributed to the livelihood of the Taylor household.

February 10

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

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

South-Carolina and American General Gazette (February 10, 1775).

“JOHN HERRDENG, HAIR-DRESSER and PERFUMER.”

“MRS. HERRDING carries on the MANTUA-MAKING Business.”

“MISS HERRDENG will undertake to teach YOUNG LADIES the French Language.”

At a glance, the headline for an advertisement in the February 10, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette promoted goods and services provided by John Herrdeng, a “HAIR-DRESSER and PERFUMER, from LONDON,” yet when they perused it more closely readers discovered that the notice also included entrepreneurial activities undertaken by other members of the Herrdeng household.  Descriptions of “PERFUMERY GOODS” and medicines that Herrdeng made and sold accounted for the first two thirds of the advertisements.  The final third outlined Mrs. Herrdeng’s “MANTUA-MAKING Business” and Miss Herrdeng offering lessons in French, English, and Needlework to the “YOUNG LADIES” of Charleston.

On occasion, the Adverts 250 Project has examined newspaper advertisements jointly placed by husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, or other relations residing in the same household.  This unusual advertisement, however, featured three family members who each pursued their own occupations.  As was often (but not always) the case, the man of the household received top billing.  Not only did the description of John Herrdeng’s goods and services take up the most space in the advertisement, his name, in larger font, appeared as the headline.  The order that the other members of the household appeared indicated their status and, likely, their experience.

Mrs. Herrdeng and Miss Herrdeng were not the only female entrepreneurs who advertised in that issue of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette.  Ann Fowler ran an advertisement for paper hangings and textiles that she also placed in the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal.  It filled almost as much space as the Herrdengs’ notice.  At the top of the column, Jane Thomson, a milliner, encouraged consumers to avail themselves of her services.  These advertisements made Fowler’s and Thomson’s presence in the marketplace much more visible in the public prints than Mrs. Herrdeng and Miss Herrdeng.  The Herrdengs made different decisions about how to depict themselves as entrepreneurs, yet their advertisement testifies to the contributions they made to their household beyond assisting a husband and father in his occupation.  The Herrdeng women practiced their own trades, engaged with their own clients, and resorted to advertising to facilitate their work.