“For Neatness and Elegance … they are able to excel any of the Business ever arrived in Annapolis.”
When John Finlater and Company set up shop in Annapolis in the spring of 1773, they placed an advertisement that ran for six weeks in the Maryland Gazette. Newcomers to the town, the wheelwrights explained that they were “Late fromEurope” and “propose carrying on the various Branches of the Business.” They crafted “Wheels of all kinds” for a variety of carriages, including “Coaches, Berlins, Post-Chariots, Curricles, Sulkies, and single Horse Chaises.” In addition, they made wheels for “Waggons, Carts, Ploughs, and Harrows,” promising “the neatest Construction” for all their work. As an ancillary service, Finlater and Company also painted and varnished carriages and wheels “in the best Manner.”
Unlike other artisans who extolled their training and experience when they settled in the colonies after migrating across the Atlantic, Finlater and Company did not provide details about the work they had undertaken in Europe. They did, however, extend some of the usual promises to prospective clients. “Those who please to honour them with their Commands,” the wheelwrights declared, “may be assured, that a speedy Execution of their Work and Attention to Business will entitle them to their Favours.” In turn, Finalter and Company intended that the quality of their work with their initial customers would help in cultivating a good reputation and “in some Measure recommend them to the Encouragement of the Publick.” In other words, they hoped that satisfied customers would spread the word so others would seek out their services.
The wheelwrights concluded with a bold claim. When it came to “Neatness and Elegance” of the wheels they constructed and the carriages they painted and maintained, Finlater and Company proclaimed that “they are able to excel any of the Business ever arrived in Annapolis.” They were better wheelwrights than any who had previously labored in the town. In making that claim, they challenged prospective customers to test that assertion for themselves. As newcomers without an established reputation, Finlater and Company resorted to other means of attracting attention to their business and distinguishing themselves from the competition.
“Every Subscriber shall have his Name and Title printed in the Title Page, in a Label adapted for that Purpose, as in the above Scheme, provided their Signature come timely to Hand.”
For several weeks in the winter and spring of 1773, subscription proposals for Elie Vallette’s Deputy Commissary’s Guide within the Province of Maryland ran in the Maryland Gazette. When the advertisement first appeared in the February 25 edition, it filled an entire column. An excerpt from the preface accounted for approximately half of the space required to publish the notice. Vallette and the printers, Anne Catharine Green and Son, eventually revised the notice, eliminating the excerpt.
The advertisement retained its most distinctive feature: a “scheme” or depiction of a label to include the name, title, and county of the subscriber. Vallette and the Greens hoped that personalizing the title page would help in selling more books, but warned that only subscribers who placed their orders early would qualify for the labels. Those labels, however, do not seem to have been part of the book when it went to press. Instead, subscribers (and others who eventually purchased copies or received them as gifts) received something that they likely considered even better: an engraved title page that included a blank banner.
Curious to learn more about the proposed label, I examined the four copies of the Deputy Commissary’s Guide in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society. None of them featured the label depicted in the advertisements in the Maryland Gazette, but each of them did include a title page engraved by Thomas Sparrow. Annotations made by catalogers and curators indicated that Sparrow also engraved currency that circulated in Maryland in the early 1770s. In addition, those annotations also stated that the Deputy Commissary’s Guide was the first book with an engraved title page printed in America, certainly a premium for subscribers and other readers who acquired copies.
Title pages engraved by Thomas Sparrow (Elie Vallette, The Deputy Commissary’s Guide, 1774). Courtesy American Antiquarian Society.
The engraved title page certainly enhanced the book. The blank banner allowed colonizers to further enhance their copies in whatever manner they wished to personalize the title page. The banners in two of the copies at the American Antiquarian Society remain empty. One has the words “TO MR. J: MACNABB* *1775*” clumsily stamped within the banner. A handwritten note on another page reads, “The Gift of Elie Vallette to his Friend John McNabb.” The other copy has the name “R. Tilghman” gracefully written inside the banner.
Vallette and the Greens did not supply the personalized labels that they promoted in the subscription proposals for the Deputy Commissary’s Guide. That probably did not matter to most subscribers when they discovered the ornate and expensive engraved title page that they received instead. The author and the printers substituted an even better premium than the one they marketed to prospective subscribers.
A notice in the March 4, 1773, edition of the Maryland Gazette called on “Members of the LUNATICK CLUB” to gather for a meeting “at the Coffee-House” in Annapolis on March 8. The club convened for dinner on the evening of the full moon. That lunar phenomenon gave members an excuse to engage in revelries together.
The organizers apparently did not rely on newspaper notices alone to alert members about the gathering. A nota benedeclared that “Circular Letters are sent to the Members,” but surmised that they may have been overlooked. What were circular letters? In this case, they would have been similar to printed invitations. Rather than write the same message by hand over and over, one of the organizers wrote it once, submitted it to the printing office, and ordered multiple copies. The letter may have included space at the top to write a salutation to the recipient and space at the bottom for the organizer to sign it. If the club used the same circular letter each month, it likely resembled a form with blanks to fill in the date (as well as the time and location if they changed from month to month). After writing anything that needed to be added to the printed letter, the organizer folded it, sealed it with wax, wrote the name and address of the recipient on the exterior, and arranged for delivery via the post or messenger. This certainly saved time compared to writing out the entire invitation each time, especially if the club had many members.
Merchants, shopkeepers, and other entrepreneurs also distributed circular letters when they wished to contact associates or prospective customers. Again, rather than invest the time in writing the same letter multiple times, they instead had copies printed, personalized each copy for the intended recipient, and sent them through the post. When they did so, they relied on an eighteenth-century version of junk mail. Relatively few printed circular letters survive compared to other forms of early American advertising, but notices like the one the Lunatick Club placed in the Maryland Gazette imply that circular letters were more common than the examples in research libraries and historical societies suggest.
“The Publick have been greatly imposed on by many botching Pretenders.”
Artisans often highlighted their skill and experience in their advertisements. Their skill and experience, they asserted, meant that prospective customers could depend on them producing items of the best quality. Most artisans who placed newspaper advertisements focused on their own skill and experience, though occasionally some chose to denigrate their competitors. John Simnet, a watchmaker, for instance, engaged in public feuds with his competitors, first in the New-Hampshire Gazette and later in newspapers published in New York. Thomas Pryse, a “Coach-Harness-maker, Saddler, and Upholsterer,” did not make as direct references to his competitors, but he did take an aggressive tone in his advertisement in the November 26, 1772, edition of the Maryland Gazette.
Pryse announced that he “opened a Shop … where he intends carrying on his Trade in all its Branches.” He boasted that he did his work “in a Manner superior to any that ever has attempted it in these Parts,” leaning into his London origins and the training and experience that he gained there before migrating to Annapolis. Such appeals looked a lot like others deployed by artisans, but Pryse then turned up the temperature. In a derisive tone, he declared that “the Publick have been greatly imposed on by many botching Pretenders to that Branch of Business,” prompting him to make assurances that “he is the only one that has been regularly bred” or trained “to Harness-making now in this Province.” That being the case, Pryse was “determined to exert his best Endeavours to give Satisfaction to those that please to favour him with their Custom.” Following his attack on his competitors, he reverted to promises of customer service that mirrored those that appeared in advertisements placed by other artisans. Having made his point that his work was supposedly “superior” to anything made by “botching Pretenders,” he concluded with a list of items he made, sprinkling in phrases like “in the neatest and most approved manner” and “done in the best manner” to underscore his skill and experience.
Even if prospective customers did not care for Pryse’s tone in his advertisement, he challenged them to question the quality of the harnesses, saddles, and upholstery produced by his competitors. In seeding doubts and suggesting that he did better, he may have hoped to convince some consumers to give him a chance even if they had previously been happy with work by other aertisans.
“They are well acquainted with the newest Fashions.”
When they settled in Annapolis, Jane Nelson and Anne Nelson took out an advertisement in the Maryland Gazette to introduce themselves to the community and encourage “Ladies … to favour them with their Commands” or orders for “all Kind of Milliners and Mantua-makers Work.” As newcomers to the colony, they could not rely on their reputations to market their services. Instead, they emphasized their connections to London, the cosmopolitan center of the empire, and their knowledge of current styles there.
In the deadline for their advertisement, the Nelsons proclaimed that they “Just arrived from LONDON.” Artisans, tailors, milliners, and others often trumpeted that they were “from London” in their advertisements, sometimes long after they crossed the Atlantic. The Nelsons made it clear that they only recently made that journey. Accordingly, prospective clients could trust that they were indeed “well acquainted with the newest Fashions” and capable of making hats, cloaks, and other garments “in the most elegant and fashionable manner.” Having recently come from London, the Nelsons could also provide guidance about “Ladies fashionable dress and undress Caps” and other items.
The Nelsons also aimed to convince prospective clients that they offered exemplary customer service. They asserted that “Ladies … may depend on having their Work neatly done, and with the utmost Dispatch.” If given a chance, the Nelsons assured those ladies that “they will not be disappointed in their Endeavours to please, as it shall be their constant Study and greatest Ambition.” In addition to serving clients who visited them in Annapolis, the Nelsons also took “Orders from the Country,” pledging to punctually complete them.
These “Milliners and Mantua-makers” deployed a two-pronged approach to marketing their services upon arriving in Annapolis. They promoted their connections to London, underscoring their familiarity with the latest tastes there, while simultaneously vowing to meet and exceed the expectations of their clients in terms of customer service. The Nelsons hoped that combination of appeals would entice the ladies of Annapolis to engage their services.
“Intend shortly to exhibit Proposals for publishing a NEWS-PAPER.”
Robert Hodge and Frederick Shober took to the pages of the Maryland Gazette, published in Annapolis, in the fall of 1772 to advise prospective customers that they did “PRINTING In all it’s DIFFERENT BRANCHES … with the greatest neatness, accuracy and dispatch” at their “NEW PRINTING-OFFICE” in Baltimore. At the time, the Maryland Gazette was the only newspaper published in the colony, so it served Baltimore as well as Annapolis.
Hodge and Shober, however, had plans for establishing their own newspaper in Baltimore. They declared that they “intend shortly to exhibit Proposals for publishing a NEWS-PAPER, which shall be justly entitled to the Attention and Encouragement of this FLOURISHING TOWN and PROVINCE, both for ENTERTAINMENT and ELEGANCE.” They were not the only entrepreneurs to decide that Baltimore seemed ready for its first newspaper. A week earlier, the Maryland Gazette carried an extensive subscription proposal in which William Goddard announced his plans to publish “THE MARYLAND JOURNAL, AND BALTIMORE ADVERTISER … as soon therefore as I shall obtain a sufficient Number of Subscribers barely to defray the Expence of the Work.” In a market that did not yet have one newspaper, Hodge and Shober competed with Goddard in their efforts to launch two newspapers simultaneously.
Neither met with immediate success. Goddard, who was already printing the Pennsylvania Chronicle at the time he published his subscription proposal, did not manage to take the Maryland Journal to press until August 20, 1773, ten months after he announced his plans for the newspaper. Hodge and Shober never published a newspaper. In his monumental History of Printing in America (1810), Isaiah Thomas notes that the partners purchased “printing materials” in 1772 and “began business in Baltimore, where they intended to have published a newspaper; but, not meeting with the encouragement they expected, before the end of the year they left Baltimore, and settled in New York.”[1] A variety of factors likely contributed to their decision to relocate. Competing with Goddard for subscribers to Baltimore’s first newspaper probably did not help their prospects in the city.
After Goddard commenced publication of the Maryland Journal, Baltimore did gain a second newspaper less than two years later. John Dunlap, printer of the Pennsylvania Packet, established Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette; or the Baltimore General Advertiser on May 2, 1775. James Hayes, Jr., seems to have operated the publication on Dunlap’s behalf for three years before acquiring it for himself and changing the name to the Maryland Gazette, and Baltimore General Advertiser on September 15, 1778. Hodge and Shober were just a few years too early in their efforts, though the war almost certainly played a role in inciting interest to establish more than one newspaper in Baltimore. Under those difficult circumstances, however, Hayes removed to Annapolis just four months later. Baltimore did not have a second newspaper of any longevity until after the war.[2]
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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers & an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 480.
[2] See entries in Clarence Brigham S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society, 1947) and Edward Connery Lathem, Chronological Tables of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Barre, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers, 1972).
“I now propose to publish, by Subscription, … a Weekly News-Paper.”
Maryland had only one newspaper in 1772. William Goddard aimed to change that. To aid his efforts, he inserted a proposal in the October 29 edition of the Maryland Gazette, the publication that would be his competitor if he managed to launch “THE MARYLAND JOURNAL, AND BALTIMORE ADVERTISER.” Printed in Annapolis, the Maryland Gazette served the entire colony, but Goddard believed that a market existed, or would exist after some savvy advertising, to support two newspapers in the colony. In addition, he underscored the political utility of newspapers to prospective subscribers. “IT is the Sentiment of the wisest and best Men that adorn our Age and Nation,” Goddard declared in the first sentence of his proposal, “that the Liberty of the Press is so essential to the Support of that Constitution under which we have hitherto derived the Blessings of Freedom, that it becomes every one to consider, in the most reverential Light, this Palladium of our Rights.” The printer further explained that “well conducted News-Papers … dispel Ignorance, the Parent of Slavery, give a Taste for Reading, and cause useful Knowledge to be cultivated and encouraged.” Accordingly, he called on “every Friend to Liberty and his Country” to support his proposed project.
Goddard’s proposal filled nearly an entire column in the Maryland Gazette. In addition to expounding on the philosophy that prompted him to consider publishing a newspaper in Baltimore, he advised potential subscribers that he was indeed prepared to launch the venture “as soon … as I shall obtain a sufficient Number of Subscribers barely to defray the Expence of the Work.” Already in correspondence with “many Gentlemen of the most respectable Characters” in Baltimore, Goddard had “engaged a suitable Printing-Apparatus, which will be speedily here.” In addition, as printer of the Pennsylvania Chronicle he had already “established an extensive Correspondence, and shall not only receive all the different Weekly American Papers, but also the best News-Papers, political Pamphlets, Registers, Magazines, and other periodical Publications of Great-Britain and Ireland.” In addition to printer and publisher, Goddard assumed the responsibilities of editor, drawing the news from the letters, newspapers, and periodicals sent to him. Every American newspaper printer-editor reprinted extensively from other publications. Goddard even acquired “the most valuable Papers of German Advices” in order to provide news of interest to the growing German population in the backcountry.
The proposal also outlined the particulars of the publication and how to subscribe. The newspaper would be “printed in four large Folio Pages, equal in Size to any of the Pennsylvania Papers” that, along with the Maryland Gazette, operated as local newspapers for Baltimore and the region. Goddard intended to print and distribute the newspaper “regularly every Saturday Morning, unless another Day should appear more agreeable to the Subscribers.” Subscriptions cost ten shillings per year, with half to be paid immediately and the other half at the end of the year. Goddard briefly mentioned advertisements, noting they would be “accurately published, in a conspicuous Manner, with great Punctuality, at the customary Prices.” He did not list those prices. Colonizers interested in subscribing could leave their names “at the Coffee-Houses in Baltimore-Town and Annapolis” or with “several Persons with whom Subscription Papers are left.” Like other printers attempting to launch new projects, Goddard relied on a network of local agents who assisted in recruiting subscribers.
Beyond the particulars, Goddard emphasized that he pursued a higher purpose than merely generating revenues or turning a profit on the publication. He promised to publish news about every “remarkable Occurence, extraordinary Phenomemon, curious Invention, or New Discovery in Nature or Science” as well as “judicious original Essays … on political and other Subjects.” In selecting material to include in the Maryland Journal, Goddard pledged that “the Freedom of the Press shall be maintained, the utmost Impartiality observed, and every well written Piece admitted, without Scruple, that does not tend to destroy or impair our excellent Constitution, injure the Cause of Liberty, disturb the Repose of Society, give Offence to Modesty, or, in any Shape, reflect Scandal on a News-Paper.” In an era of upheaval as Parliament turned unwanted attention to the colonies, Goddard framed publishing a newspaper as a civic duty that served the commercial and political interests of the community.
Did the subscription proposal help Goddard to obtain that “sufficient Number of Subscribers barely to defray the Expence” and commence publication? Perhaps, but it took some time. The first issue appeared on August 20, 1773, ten months after Goddard initially proposed publishing the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser. The newspaper continued publication, under the guidance of various printers and proprietors, throughout the American Revolution and into the 1790s, transitioning from weekly to semi-weekly to tri-weekly to daily as newspaper publishing expanded throughout the new nation.
“Black Velvet Collars, which are now worn instead of Necklaces, with Danglers.”
In the summer of 1772, M. Evans ran advertisements in the Maryland Gazette to announce to “the Ladies in Annapolis, and the Publick in general” that she stocked a variety of millinery and other items at her shop in Baltimore. Her merchandise “Lately arrived from London.” That being the case, she made clear to prospective customers that she carried current styles from the cosmopolitan center of the empire. Her inventory included “the fashionable Net and Gauze Bonnets” and “fashionable Stomachers and Sleeve-knots with Italian Flowers.” In addition, Evans listed many other items, including “Hats and long Cloaks in the French gray Queen’s Silk,” “Bonnets and Tippets” for young ladies, and a variety of combs, pins, earrings, and “Danglers.” She concluded with “&c. &c. &c.” to indicate that she stocked much more than would fit in a newspaper advertisement.
In marketing her wares, Evans presented herself as a guide for prospective customers, not merely a shopkeeper. She was in a position to offer advice and suggestions as well as keep her clients apprised of the latest fashions. For instance, she included “black Velvet Collars … with Danglers” among her catalog of merchandise, explaining that they “are now worn instead of Necklaces.” Some of the “Ladies in Annapolis” may have already been aware of this trend, but Evans apparently believed that many were not yet familiar with it. Acting as a guide helped incite demand, tantalizing prospective customers with news of the latest styles while simultaneously encouraging them to acquire those styles for themselves. Shopkeepers, milliners, and others who sold clothing and accessories were in a position to exert considerable influence over the customers they served, provided that those customers considered them well-informed and trustworthy. Evans aimed to cultivate such relationships, marketing her knowledge of current fashions in her efforts to sell goods imported from London. Her familiarity with new styles and ability to provide guidance to her customers made her more than a mere purveyor of goods.
“He intends for Annapolis … with a neat Assortment of Fire Dogs.”
In the summer of 1772, Daniel King, a brass founder, attempted to incite anticipation for his wares among consumers in Annapolis. He had a workshop “At the Sign of the Bell and Brand, in … Philadelphia,” but did not run his operation solely from that location. Instead, he announced his intention to visit Annapolis in late July or early August. In an advertisement in the July 23 edition of the Maryland Gazette, he informed prospective customers that they could find him “at Mr. John Warren’s Tavern in Annapolis, where Orders will be received and punctually complied with.”
King hoped to encounter customers eagerly awaiting his arrival in Annapolis. To increase the chances of that happening, he described his “neat Assortment of Brass Fire Dogs and Fenders, Fire Shovels and Tongs, and Chimney Backs.” He confidently asserted that the items produced in his workshop “are neater and more to Order than any yet made on the Continent,” including those made by any competitors in Annapolis. In addition, he considered his brass andirons “equal in Strength to any Iron Fire Dogs, and much easier kept clean.”
Like many artisans who advertised in colonial newspapers, King emphasized his training and experience in England prior to migrating across the Atlantic. He declared that he “served his Apprenticeship in London, and worked in some of the best Shops in England.” As a result, he produced andirons, shovels, tongs, and other items of the same quality and low prices as imported alternatives. The brass founder stated that his consumers would derive “as much Satisfaction” from items form his workshop as any imported from England.
King and his andirons were likely both unfamiliar to “the Ladies and Gentlemen of Maryland” that he wished to attract as customers during an upcoming trip from his workshop in Philadelphia. He sought to stoke anticipation for his arrival by convincing prospective customers that his wares were superior to any others, whether imported or made in the colonies. He hoped that readers of the Maryland Gazette would at least visit Warren’s Tavern to examine his wares and compare them to others that merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans made available in Annapolis, giving him an opportunity to engage prospective customers in conversation and make his appeals in greater detail.
“ADVERTISEMENTS, of moderate Length, are inserted the First Time, for 5s.”
Many colonial printers did not regularly publish how much they charged for newspaper subscriptions or advertising, while some included that information in the colophon at the bottom of the final page of each issue. A few transformed their colophons into extensive advertisements for all sorts of goods and services available at their printing offices.
Such was the case for Anne Catherine Green and Son, printers of the Maryland Gazette. They did not merely state that they printed their newspaper in Annapolis. Instead, they declared that “all Persons may be supplied with this GAZETTE, at 12s. 6d. a Year” or twelve shilling and six pence annually. Green and Son published advertisements “of a moderate Length” for five shillings “the First Time” and an additional shilling “for each Week’s Continuance.” Like many other printers, they charged more for “Long Ones in Proportion to their Number of Lines.” Some printers gave prices for only subscriptions or for only advertisements. The more complete accounting from Green and Son demonstrates that a single advertisement that ran for a month generated almost as much revenue as a subscription for an entire year.
In addition to printing the Maryland Gazette, Green and Son also sold “most kinds of BLANKS” or printed forms for legal and financial transactions. Throughout the colonies, printers hawked blanks. Green and Son listed “COMMON and BAIL BONDS; TESTAMENTARY LETTERS of several Sorts, with their proper BONDS annexed; BILLS of EXCHANGE; [and] SHIPPING-BILLS.” They appended “&c.” (an eighteenth-century abbreviation for et cetera) to indicate that they had on hand, “ready Printed,” an even greater variety of blanks to meet the needs of their customers. In addition, they did “All Manner of PRINTING-WORK … in the neatest and most expeditious Manner.” That included broadsides for posting around town, handbills for distributing on the streets, catalogs for auctions, and other advertising materials.
Each issue of the Maryland Gazette concluded with an extensive advertisement for goods and services available at the printing office. Green and Son significantly expanded the colophon beyond giving the name of the printer and the place of publication, reminding readers that the printing office offered far more than just copies of the newspaper.
