Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy

January 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (January 23, 1775).

“This Paper, has been printed with ink manufactured by said Geyer, for several Months past.”

When the Continental Association went into effect, colonizers looked to “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies as alternatives to imports.  The eighth article of that nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement even stated that “we will, on our several Stations, encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts and the Manufactures of this Country.”  Henry Christian Geyer did just that in an advertisement that appeared in the January 23, 1775, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy.  He announced that he “manufactured” printing ink “in large or small Quantities, at his Shop near Liberty-Tree South-End of Boston.”  Devoting such “Industry” to the “Manufactures of this Country” testified to Geyer’s support of the American cause; noting the proximity of his shop and such an important symbol underscored his patriotism.

Yet Geyer had more to say about the matter.  He proclaimed to “the Public” that “the Royal American Magazine, was not printed with his Ink.”  His advertisement gave no indication why he singled out the Royal American Magazine and not any of the newspapers published in Boston or any of the city’s printing offices.  After all, if he had captured the entire market (except for the Royal American Magazine) then he had less need to place an advertisement.  He chose to shame Joseph Greenleaf, the publisher of the Royal American Magazine, for not purchasing his product, perhaps intending to bully him into buying Geyer’s printing ink or perhaps settling some score by embarrassing him in a public forum.

Geyer’s advertisement concluded with a nota bene that clarified that “This Paper, has been printed with Ink manufactured by said Geyer, for several Months past.”  Geyer may have written the nota bene himself, presenting a testimonial of the quality of the ink that readers could assess for themselves as they held the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy in their hands.  Alternately, Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, the printers of the newspaper, could have added the nota beneon their own as a means of demonstrating that they supported domestic manufactures even before the Continental Association went into effect.

December 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (December 26, 1774).

“Bride and Christening Cakes.”

Despite the distresses that Boston experienced in the fall and winter of 1774 because of the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, and the Quartering Act, Thomas Selby, a “Pastry and Kitchen Cook, from London,” advertised that he “carries on his Business as usual” and declared to his “Friends and Customers” that he “hopes for the Continuance of their Favours, as he is determined to spare neither Pain nor Expence to merit them.”  Apparently, he did not intend to discriminate when it came to prospective customers since he also confided that the “Gentlemen of the Army and Navy who will be pleased to favour him with their Custom, may depend on having their Orders well executed.”  Selby chose to look beyond politics, figuring that a customer was a customer during hard times.  Notably, he advertised in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, known for its more sympathetic stance toward the government than other newspapers published by Patriot printers.  He also advised “Country Shopkeepers” that he would make a “good Allowance” for those who submitted orders for “Candied Almonds and Sugar-Plumbs of all sorts.”  In other words, he gave discounts for purchasing in volume to retailers outside the city.

Selby filled many kinds of orders at his “Pastry and Jelly Shop.”  He prepared and sold “Pastry and Confectionary, cheaper than can be made in private Families,” making it smart and economical to engage his services.  He offered the eighteenth-century version of take-out food, advertising “Dinners drest” at his shop, and catered functions for his clients, highlighting “Entertainments prepared.”  In addition, he baked and decorated cakes for special events: “Bride and Christening Cakes made, and ornamented in the genteelest Manner.”  Bakers occasionally advertised such items.  In November 1773, for instance, Frederick Kreitner marketed “Wedding-Cakes” among the many “Sorts of Confections” that he made in Charleston.  The term “bride cake” was more widely used in England and America, including in Selby’s advertisement.  Such cakes contained candied fruits, symbolizing fertility and prosperity.  At about the time that Selby advertised his bride cake, icing became an essential element, as Carol Wilson explains in “Wedding Cake: A Slice of History.”  Selby suggested that his “Bride and Christening Cakes” featured elaborate decorations to help commemorate the occasions.  Even as the imperial crisis intensified, some colonizers paused to mark important milestones, including weddings and baptisms, and incorporated special foods into those observances.

October 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (October 3, 1774)

“I beg the Favour of such Tavern Keepers to send their Names immediately to MILLS and HICKS.”

The first advertisement in the October 3, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, purportedly placed by Isaac Bickerstaff, announced the impending publication of an “ALMANACK for 1775.”  Bickerstaff, however, was a pseudonym.  Benjamin West provided the astronomical calculations, though Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, the printers of both the newspaper and the almanac, likely compiled the rest of the content for Bickerstaff’s Boston Almanack, for the Year of Our Redemption 1775.  That explains the privileged place the advertisement received.

Yet Mills and Hicks did not insert this notice immediately after the news merely in hopes of increasing sales for the almanac once it went to press.  They also deployed it as a means of crowdsourcing some of the contents.  Writing as Bickerstaff, the printers requested, “If any new Houses of Entertainment have been opened, or if any were omitted in my last ALMANACK, I beg the Favour of such Tavern Keepers to send their Names immediately to MILLS and HICKS.”  The printers would then pass along those entries to “Bickerstaff” to incorporate into “his” forthcoming almanac, but any proprietors who wished to have their establishments included needed to act quickly or risk missing out on the opportunity.

This advertisement previewed some of the useful contents of the almanac for prospective buyers, including those who lived outside Boston but might have occasion to visit.  Yet Mills and Hicks did not provide a list of taverns only to direct readers to “Houses of Entertainment” where they could eat, drink, and socialize.  Instead, they put together a guide to places where customers could expect to discuss politics and learn more about current events, realizing that taverns were popular places for stoking political engagement during the imperial crisis.  At the time Mills and Hicks published their advertisement, the harbor was closed due to the Boston Port Act and the other Coercive Acts enraged residents of city.  Mills and Hicks disseminated news and opinion via their weekly newspaper, but they also knew that a lot of information circulated among patrons gathered in taverns.  A list of “Houses of Entertainment” served as a compendium of places for discussing politics and hearing the latest updates before they appeared in print.

June 27

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

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (June 27, 1774).

“Purified Almond Soap, … Violet shaving Powder, … Lip-Salve of Tea Blossoms.”

An advertisement for “CARPENTER’s PERFUME SHOP” in the June 27 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy revealed that the establishment stocked a variety of cosmetics in addition to perfumes.  Carpenter divided the inventory into several categories – “WASH BALLS,” “New invented and improved SOAPS,” “POWDERS,” “PERFUMED WATERS,” “OILS,” and “ESSENCES” – to aid readers in navigating everything available at the shop.  In addition, the proprietor provided short descriptions about the use and purpose of some of the products, hoping to convince consumers to give them a try.  Those included “The True Italian Hair Water, which changes red or grey Hair to a fine black or brown,” “Royal Liquid to prevent the Hair from coming Grey, or falling off,” and “A Composition to take off superfluous Hair from the Forehead, Cheeks and Eye-brows, it takes it away instantly.”  In the most extensive product description, Carpenter marketed “Cream of Roses” for many purposes: “it prevents Tanning, it smooths, whitens and clears the Skin from Heat, Redness or Pimples, and will be of great Use to Children after the Measles or Small-Pox; Gentlemen that are tender or difficult to shave by using it afterwards, will take off the Smarting and prevent Choping for the future.”  In addition to that product, Carpenter stocked other items that catered to male shoppers, such as “Violet shaving Powder, adapted for the Army and Navy,” “Razor Straps of different sorts,” and “Shaving Boxes and Brushes, filled with sweet Soap.”  The “PERFUME SHOP” was not an establishment exclusively for women.

Neither was the shop where Carpenter and Winter “carry on Hair-dressing and Wig-making.”  In a continuation of the advertisement, they promised that “Gentlemen and Ladies will be waited on at the shortest Notice.”  Those availed themselves of Carpenter and Winter’s services could depend on having their hair done “with the greatest Taste and Elegance.”  The partners assured prospective clients that they had “laid in every Implement and Material necessary,” just as the “PERFUME SHOP” was fully stocked with everything from “Purified Almond Soap” and “Lavender Water” to “Lip-Salve of Tea Blossoms” and “Soft Pomatum of all Sorts.”  Carpenter and Winter acquired their supplies “from the best Hands in England.”  They made a point of highlighting “a very valuable Stock of the best Hairs” that one of the partners “culled out of a great Variety.”  The hairdressers aimed to demonstrate an attention to detail that began long before clients entered their shop and continued throughout their visit so they emerged with hair and wigs that testified to their own “Taste and Elegance.”  No doubt they also encouraged clients to purchase some of the items available at the “PERFUME SHOP,” just as modern hairdressers sell a variety of products to clients to maintain their styles and to tend to other aspects of hygiene and beauty.  Many eighteenth-century advertisements for consumer goods and services emphasized fashion, yet an emerging beauty industry was also on the scene to promote related products to both men and women as part of the total package.

June 20

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

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (June 20, 1774).

“The polite and useful ART of FENCING.”

Two fencing masters dueled for pupils in the pages of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy in June 1774. Each of them addressed prospective students with a flourish.  Donald McAlpine called on “all Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE,” while Monsieur Regnier, “MASTER of the polite and useful ART of FENCING,” was even more elaborate in addressing “the Braves and invincible Companions of MARS.”  Those headlines set their advertisements apart from others that read “TO BE SOLD” or “SPRING GOODS” or “THOMAS YOUNG.”

McAlpine specialized in teaching “the Art commonly called the BACKSWORD,” a “Science” that he would impart to the “entire Satisfaction” of “GENTLEMEN who choose to be instructed” by him.  He offered lessons on King Street from the early morning, commencing at sunrise, through the early evening, concluding with sunset, with a few hours set aside for meals and conducting other business.  He also visited gentlemen at their lodgings to give private lessons.  McAlpine indicated that he previously instructed “Gentlemen who have encouraged him” in his endeavor, while suggesting that he might not remain in Boston if other pupils did not engage his services.  He claimed that he “is strongly urged to go to another place” to teach the gentlemen there, yet it “would be most agreeable to him” to remain in Boston.  That would only happen, however, if he “Meets with such further Encouragement and Approbation” to convince him to stay.  If any gentlemen who considered themselves “Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE” had hesitated in seeking out McAlpine’s services, they needed to remedy that soon or risk him moving to another city.

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (June 20, 1774).

That appeal might have been more effective if Regnier had not simultaneously advertised that he taught fencing at “his Academy, in King-street, just opposite the Royal Exchange Tavern.”  He bestowed on his pupils “all the principal Attitudes and Positions peculiar to that Art.”  He made clear that learning to fence was not solely about using a sword but also entailed attaining graceful comportment that distinguished pupils as they pursued their everyday activities beyond his school.  To that end, he also taught French to both ladies and gentlemen, asserting that his pupils learned to read, speak, and write “with Propriety and Elegance.”  Regnier’s students became more genteel thanks to his lessons.  In addition, they could feel more confident in putting these markers of sophistication on display thanks to the careful instruction they received.  Like McAlpine, Regnier extended “his most respectful Compliments of Thanks” to those “who have hitherto made him the Subject of their Favours.”  Such remarks did more than reveal his success in cultivating a clientele in Boston; they also suggested to anyone who had not previously taken lessons or thought that they might benefit from brushing up that they needed to engage Regnier’s services to keep up with friends and acquaintances who already had the good sense to hire him.

As they competed with each other for pupils, McAlpine and Regnier also subtly encouraged the ladies and, especially, gentlemen they addressed to think of themselves in competition with each other.  Those “Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE” and those “invincible Companions of MARS” could enhance their social standing through displays of fencing, but they needed instruction from masters of the art to develop and to refine their skills.  More than mere lessons, McAlpine and Regnier marketed a means for achieving and demonstrating status.

May 9

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (May 9, 1774).

“Cannot fail to give universal Satisfaction to their Customers.”

I originally selected this advertisement to further demonstrate that even though advertisers usually wrote the copy but left the format and other aspects of graphic design to compositors who worked in printing offices they sometimes gave instructions about how they wanted specific elements of how their notices to appear.  In this instance, John Barrett and Sons ran a lengthy advertisement enclosed within a border of decorative type in three newspapers simultaneously.  Their notice appeared in the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on May 9, 1774.  On closer examination, however, I discovered that this advertisement presents further evidence that printing offices in Boston sometimes shared type already set for advertisements.  A week ago, I documented this with Joseph Peirce’s advertisement.

As was the case with that notice, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy operated independently.  Among other newspapers, Barrett and Sons’ advertisement apparently originated in the Boston-Gazette before being reprinted in the Boston Evening-Post.  Notably, it ran next to Peirce’s advertisement in the May 9 edition, that type having made its way back to the printing office for the Boston-Gazette.  The visual evidence makes it difficult to dispute that some printers transferred type from one newspaper to another.  The printing ornaments that formed the border around the advertisement make that clear.  Even if the compositor for the Boston Evening-Post happened to copy the font, capitalization, italics, size, centering, left justification, right justification, and other format exactly from the Boston-Gazette, itself a highly unlikely scenario, matching the decorative type would have been practically impossible.  Note that the compositor chose one type of ornament for the upper and lower borders and a different ornament for the left and right borders, except for the last ornament before the right corner in the lower border.  In that position appears the same ornament from the left and right borders in the advertisements in both newspapers.  Furthermore, the compositor introduced one more variation midway down the left and right borders, marking where the side-by-side columns listing goods begin.  To the left of “Chints, Calicoes” and to the right of “An Assortment,” a different ornament appears, once again in both the Boston-Gazette and the Boston Evening-Post.

Barrett and Sons’ advertisement did not make it into the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter, in any form, unlike the type for Peirce’s advertisement that seems to have been transferred from the Boston-Gazette and the Boston Evening-Post to that newspaper.  That might have been due to Richard Draper’s poor health and seeking a partner to assist him in running his printing office making such coordination too difficult at that moment.  Yet the type for Peirce’s advertisement made its way into that newspaper once again on May 12 after running in the Boston-Gazetteon May 9 (but not in the Boston Evening-Post for a second time on that day).  This suggests instead that Barrett and Sons, the advertisers, made decisions about which publications would carry their advertisement, likely based on their own marketing budget and sense of which newspapers had the best circulation.  This instance raises further questions about the coordination among printing offices, especially the logistics, the bookkeeping, and the fees.  These advertisements demonstrate that printers in Boston who usually competed with each other for both subscribers and advertisers cooperated on occasion when it came to inserting advertisements in their newspapers.

Left to right: Boston-Gazette (May 9, 1774); Boston Evening-Post (May 9, 1774).

May 2

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

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

Boston-Gazette (May 2, 1774).

{ Blue }
Rich { Black and } Sattins
{ White }

Joseph Peirce’s advertisement on the front page of the May 2, 1774, edition of the Boston-Gazette stood out thanks to its unique graphic design.  The shopkeeper provided a list of merchandise that he recently imported from London, but rather than arrange it in a dense paragraph, as in most advertisements, or create columns with one item per line, as in some advertisements, this one featured one item per line with each line centered.  As a result, the text created an irregular shape with a lot of white space on either side.  That certainly distinguished the advertisement from the news in the column to the right, justified on both sides.

Advertisers usually generated copy, while compositors made most decisions about format.  When merchants and shopkeepers ran advertisements with identical copy in multiple newspapers, variations in fonts, capitalization, italics, font size, and other design elements testified to the creative work done by the compositors in each printing office.  Advertisers likely submitted general instructions with the copy for advertisements that arranged goods in columns, but that may not have always been the case.  M.B. Goldthwait’s advertisement for “DRUGS and MEDICINES” in the April 28, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Spy, for instance, listed a variety of patent medicines in a paragraph, while his advertisement in the May 2 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy separated them into side-by-side columns.

Peirce seems to have submitted specific instructions with the copy for his advertisement.  It had the same format in the May 2 editions of the Boston Evening-Post and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy and the May 5 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter.  They even gave the same treatment to three lines for:

{ Blue }
Rich { Black and } Sattins
{ White }

That indicates that the compositors incorporated the format that Peirce sketched when he composed the copy.  Curiously, the advertisements in the Boston-Gazette, the Boston Evening-Post and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter appear identical, as though the printing offices shared type set in one and transferred to the others.  If that was indeed the case, it raises questions about day-to-day operating practices and collaboration among printers in Boston. Even if some printing office shared type, Pierce’s advertisements in the Boston-Gazette and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy had minor variations while retaining the same format.  That suggests that Peirce provided his vision for his advertisement to at least two printing offices, taking an active role in designing as well as writing his notice.

Left to right: Boston-Gazette (May 2, 1774); Boston Evening-Post (May 2, 1774); Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (May 5, 1774).

April 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (April 18, 1774).

“He will carry Papers and deliver them to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage him.”

When Moses Cleveland set about establishing “a Post to ride weekly between Norwich and Boston” in 1774, he initially advertised in the Norwich Packet.  He pledged that he “will carry this Paper, and deliver it to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage it, with the utmost Regularity.”  Soon after, he ran a nearly identical advertisement in the Massachusetts Spy, the newspaper that Isaiah Thomas printed in Boston.  Cleveland realized that the success of the venture depended on attracting as many customers as possible at both ends of his route and places on the way.

His notice in the Massachusetts Spy featured a small, but important, variation.  It stated that he “will carry this and other papers,” acknowledging that five newspapers were published in Boston at the time, “and the Royal American MAGAZINE.”  When I first examined that advertisement, I conjectured that Cleveland had not written that last bit of copy but instead Thomas seized an opportunity to market the new magazine he launched a couple of months earlier.  Cleveland’s advertisement gave the magazine more visibility, while the post rider’s service made the magazine accessible to prospective subscribers in Norwich, “WINDHAM, POMFRET, MENDON,” and other towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Cleveland did not advertise in all the Boston newspapers.  Perhaps that would have been prohibitively expensive as he sought to raise funds for his venture.  Yet he did not confine his advertising to the Massachusetts Spy.  Instead, he placed a notice in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, again nearly identical.  In that one, he declared that he “will carry Papers and deliver them to such Gentlemen as are pleased to encourage him,” making no mention of the Royal American Magazine.  This strongly suggests that Thomas did indeed make an editorial intervention in Cleveland’s advertisement, grafting his own marketing efforts onto the newspaper notice purchased by the post rider.

March 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (March 7, 1774).

“THE first number of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE is come to hand.”

It took time to distribute copies of Isaiah Thomas’s new Royal American Magazine to subscribers beyond Boston.  For months, the industrious printer advertised the project in newspapers from New Hampshire to Maryland, calling on prospective subscribers to add their names to the roster and prospective contributors to forward their “LUCUBRATIONS” to include among its contents.  Misfortune delayed publication of the first issue.  Thomas finally announced that the January 1774 issue was available on February 7.  It was not the inaugural issue alone that fell behind schedule.  A month later, Thomas informed subscribers that “NUMBER II. Of THE ROYAL American Magazine” was “THIS DAY PUBLISHED” and sold at his printing office and “by the Printers and Booksellers in America.”

Newport Mercury (March 7, 1774).

The same day that notice ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy, the Newport Mercury carried a short advertisement about the previous issue: “THE first number of the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE is come to hand; all those persons who subscribed with the printer hereof for it, and have not had theirs, are desired to send for the same.”  It was the first time that an advertisement for the magazine appeared in a newspaper outside of Massachusetts since Thomas took the Royal American Magazine to press.  He advertised widely in Boston’s newspapers and the Essex Journal, a newspaper he operated in partnership with Henry-Walter Tinges in Newburyport, but not elsewhere.  Solomon Southwick, the printer of the Newport Mercury, became the first of Thomas’s associates to mention the magazine in the public prints after publication commenced.

Subscribers in Boston may have expected to receive the January issue sometime in January and the February issue sometime in February, but subscribers who lived at any distance had no such expectation.  Southwick’s notice suggests that some subscribers likely received the January issue sometime in February, but others did not get their hands on it until March.  Given the logistics of shipping books, pamphlets, newspapers, and magazines to other cities and towns, subscribers in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other colonies understood they would experience some delay in receiving their copies of the Royal American Magazine.  Subscribers in many places eventually had access to the same content as their counterparts in Boston, but that imagined community of readers consumed the essays and poetry in the new magazine on a staggered schedule.

February 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, Guest Contribution , , , , , , ,

GUEST CURATOR:  Kolbe Bell

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (February 7, 1774).

“Embellished with a (Quarto) View of the Town of Boston … neatly engraved on Copper.”

The Royal American Magazine was a popular magazine during a run cut short due to the fighting of the American Revolution.  It was first published in 1774 by Isaiah Thomas, a renowned printer who ran the Massachusetts Spy, a newspaper, since 1770.  The Royal American Magazine lasted from January 1774 to early spring of 1775.  Not many successful magazines were started in America before the American Revolution.  Frank Luther Mott states that there were only fifteen magazines published in America before the Royal American started, most of them lasting a year or less.[1]  Isaiah Thomas’s advertisement campaign for the Royal American, however, helped to make it one of the most successful American magazines prior to independence.

The Royal American Magazine was known for having many more engravings than other American magazines at the time; engravings are visual images inserted into a written work, and were made by carefully carving a reverse image onto a copper plate, coating it with ink, and then transferring the image to paper in a printing press.  The engravings representing a “View of the Town of Boston, and a Representation of a Thunder Storm,” as mentioned in this advertisement, enticed more people to subscribe to the magazine.  According to Mott, “its distinctive feature was a little series of engravings by Paul Revere.”[2]  The fact that the advertisement does not include the name of Paul Revere as the engraver for the magazine shows that Paul Revere’s fame increased after the American Revolution.  Despite the Royal American Magazine containing so many engravings and other content, it did not last much longer than a year.  Nevertheless, it was one of the most popular magazines printed in America before the American Revolution.

Visit the “Royal American Magazine Plates,” part of the “Illustrated Inventory of Paul Revere’s Works at the American Antiquarian Society,” to view the engravings and learn more about them.

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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:  Carl Robert Keyes

Later than he intended (and later than he had advertised), Isaiah Thomas published the first issue of the Royal American Magazine in early February 1774.  The Adverts 250 Project has tracked Thomas’s extensive advertising campaign over many months in 1773 and 1774, including his announcements that he would publish the first issue in January 1774 and an explanation that a ship running aground delayed delivery of the types for the magazine to Boston.  On Thursday, February 3, he inserted a brief notice in his own newspaper, the Massachusetts Spy, pledging that “MONDAY next will be published … NUMBER I. of The Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE.”  Just as he would do four days later in the advertisement Kolbe examines today, he promoted copperplate engravings of a “View of the Town of Boston, and a Representation of a Thunder Storm.”  Subscribers could leave the engravings intact or, as many likely did, remove them to display in their homes, shops, or offices.

Boston-Gazette (February 7, 1774).

Thomas had aggressively advertised in other newspapers, including several published in Boston.  He once again did so when he finally took the magazine to press.  In addition to the version that ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on February 7, featured above, he placed a shorter notice in the Boston-Gazette on the same day.  Extending only three lines, it declared, “THIS DAY PUBLISHED, (by I. THOMAS,) Number I. of The Royal American MAGAZINE.”  Perhaps he submitted copy that included the blurb about the copperplate engravings to the printing office only to have the compositors edit it for length to fit on the page with the rest of the news and advertising in that issue.  Whatever the case, Thomas fulfilled the promise he made in the Massachusetts Spy on February 3.  He did indeed publish the Royal American Magazine on the following Monday.  He followed up with much more extensive advertisements in the Massachusetts Spy and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on February 10, announcing his success and encouraging more readers to subscribe.

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[1] Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines, 1741-1850 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939), 787-788.

[2] Mott, History of American Magazines, 26.