Joseph Atkinson

December 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette (December 11, 1775).

“The Times make it uncertain how long he will be able to keep his Store open in Town.”

Joseph Atkinson placed an advertisement in the December 11, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette to advise prospective customers that he “Continues to keep open his Store, in Charles-Town as formerly.”  He listed an array of merchandise, including a variety of textiles, “Mens Cotton and Worsted Caps, two Cases of Silver handled Knives and Forks, Womens Beaver and Chip Hats, … Gloves and Ribbons a good Assortment, Complete Sets of Table and Tea China, … and sundry other Articles in the Ironmongery Way.”  Atkinson sought to liquidate his stock, declaring that “Considerable Allowance will be made to any Person taking to a large Amount for Cash.”  Furthermore, “any one purchasing the Whole, shall have them at a good Bargain.”

The shopkeeper also confessed that the “Times make it uncertain how long he will be able to keep his Store open in Town.”  He declared that he “therefore would be glad to receive the Orders of his Customers as soon as possible.”  To underscore the point about uncertain times, the items on the first page of that issue featured updates from the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia and the colony’s own congress, including a call for provisions “to supply the REGIMENT of ARTILLERY in the Service of this Colony.”  What Atkinson and readers of the South-Carolina Gazette did not know was that the newspaper would soon cease publication.  The December 11 edition became the last known issue, though Clarence S. Brigham reports it “was followed by one other number, probably Dec[ember] 18.”[1]  Peter Timothy, the printer, revived the newspapers as the Gazette of the State of South-Carolina sixteen months later, on April 9, 1777.  As the title indicates, the colonies declared independence by the time Timothy resumed publishing his newspaper.

The demise of the South-Carolina Gazette meant less news and advertising circulating in that colony and the region.  Four months earlier, the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal folded.  Now only the South-Carolina and American General Gazette remained.  For nearly a decade, three competing newspapers served Charleston and the rest of the colony, many issues devoting more space to advertising than news.  Although the South-Carolina and American General Gazette continued publication, with occasional suspensions, until February 28, 1781, issues published after 1775 have not been preserved and digitized for wider access.  That means that advertisements from South Carolina, including the urban port of Charleston, will no longer be part of the Adverts 250 Project and the Slavery Adverts 250 Project.  As the projects continue to tell stories about the era of the American Revolution, they will focus on New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the Chesapeake, drawing on those newspapers that continued publication (or commenced publication during the Revolutionary War) and that have been preserved and digitized.  So many stories remain to be told, but, for a time, South Carolina will be largely absent from this project’s featured advertisements.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 1038.

October 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (October 15, 1771).

“JOSEPH ATKINSON … HAS imported a new and general ASSORTMENT of EUROPEAN MANUFACTORIES.”

Joseph Atkinson’s advertisement in the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal almost certainly caught the attention of readers.  After all, it comprised nearly two-thirds of the front page of the October 15, 1771, edition.  Immediately below the masthead, it filled the first two columns before news from London in the remaining column.  In addition, Atkinson’s name served as a headline, printed in larger font than even the name of the newspaper in the masthead.

Other graphic design elements also demanded notice.  Atkinson’s name and an introduction to the imported goods available at his store near the New Exchange in Charleston ran across two columns, making that portion of the advertisement even more distinctive.  Most of the notice, however, was divided into two columns that matched the width of others throughout the rest of the issue.  In those columns, Atkinson listed his merchandise.  Instead of dense paragraphs of text common in many advertisements of the period, he placed only one or two items on each line.  That left a significant amount of white space, having the simultaneous effects of making the list easier to read and separating it visually from other content.  A line of ornamental type ran between the two columns, an additional flourish.

Atkinson’s advertisement served as a catalog for prospective customers.  Indeed, the size and format suggest the possibility that it did not appear solely in the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal.  Instead, the merchant may have hired Charles Crouch, the printer, to produce handbills or broadsides to distribute or post around town.  In that case, Crouch would have streamlined his efforts in creating marketing materials for Atkinson, choosing to set type just once in a format that fit the newspaper but also lent itself well to printing handbills and broadsides.  Unfortunately, such items were more ephemeral than newspapers, making them much less likely to have survived to today.