Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty

September 10

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

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (September 10, 1776).

“The Second Edition of OBSERVATIONS ON THE Nature of CIVIL LIBERTY.”

When John Dunlap published a Philadelphia edition of Richard Price’s Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America, the book did well enough that he printed a second edition.  He gave an advertisement for the second edition a prime spot in the September 10, 1776, edition of his newspaper, Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, making it the first item in the first column of the first page.  Even if readers skipped over the rest of the advertisements on that page, they were more likely to notice that one.

Dunlap reworked an advertisement for the first edition that ran in his newspaper in July.  It appears he never broke down the type, perhaps anticipating that he would advertise the first edition again if it did not sell out.  Instead, he added a line, “The Second Edition of,” above the title of the book and eliminated the lengthy “EXTRACT from the WORK” that offered a preview in the previous advertisement.  A note about the reception that Price and his book received in London remained: “This learned, judicious and liberal author had the thanks of the Common Council, and the Freedom of the City of London presented to him in a gold box, for this much admired most excellent pamphlet on Civil Liberty.”  Dunlap added that Price “also deserves the united thanks of America.”

Dunlap and other printers certainly thought that “this much admired most excellent pamphlet” merited distribution in America.  Thomas Fleet and John Fleet published a Boston edition, Samuel Loudon published a New York edition, and David Bruce published a Charleston edition.  Like Dunlap, the Fleets used the pamphlet’s reception in London in marketing their edition.  In their advertisement, they declared, “This judicious and exceeding well wrote Pamphlet was published in London in March last and has had a very rapid Sale there.”  In turn, they considered it “well worthy the Perusal of every lover of Civil Liberty and good Government in America.”  Such appeals convinced enough consumers that Dunlap printed a second edition.  It even convinced retailers.  Matthew Anderson of Gloucester, Virginia, listed it as one of the few titles available at his store that primarily sold textiles, housewares, and hardware.

September 8

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

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

Virginia Gazette [Dixon and Hunter] (September 7, 1776).

“Thread Laces, Shoe Thread, Observations on Civil Liberty.”

Matthew Anderson operated a store in Gloucester, Virginia, at the time that the Continental Congress declared independence.  He placed an advertisement in the September 7, 1776, edition of John Dixon and William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette, an advertisement that looked much like those that appeared before the imperial crisis and the Revolutionary War.  The lengthy list of goods he stocked testified to participation in the transatlantic consumer revolution.  Anderson sold everything from “Women’s Worsted Hose” and “Velvet Hoods” to “Thread Laces” and “common Sleeve Buttons” to “Desk and Cupboard Locks” and “Awl Blades” to “Punch Ladles” and “Queen’s China Dishes.”  If that was not enough to excite the imaginations of prospective customers, he also had “some other Trifles, too tedious to mention.”

Among the dozens of items that Anderson did mention, he listed some books.  He had a selection of “Psalters” and “Histories” that he did not name as well the popular “Watts’s Hymns and Psalms.”  He also stocked two books that resonated with current events.  Both had been widely advertised in other newspapers.  One was a work of political philosophy, Richard Price’s Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War in America.  Anderson shortened the title to “Observations on Civil Liberty.”  He may have sold an American edition published in Charleston, Philadelphia, New York, or Boston.  He also advertised “British Tyranny, or American Liberty triumphant,” a play that had also been printed and promoted in several cities and towns.  Most shopkeepers did not usually advertise such titles.  They tended to stick with almanacs and psalters, items with broad appeal that they had confidence customers would purchase, or popular devotional literature, like Watts’s hymns and psalms.  That Anderson included two books related to current events among his inventory (instead of relegating them “other Trifles, too tedious to mention”) may have been a way of signaling his political sentiments.  If so, that could have been an attempt to gain the approval of prospective customers who supported the American cause without taking a position that alienated other prospective customers who did not.  Anderson stocked the books, but he did not outright endorse their contents.  That allowed for flexibility in how he related to consumers who held a variety of views.

July 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (July 22, 1776).

“EXTRACT from the WORK.”

John Dunlap devoted nearly half the space on the first page of the July 22, 1776, edition of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet to an advertisement for his Philadelphia edition of Richard Price’s Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.  A month earlier, Thomas Fleet and John Fleet ran an advertisement for their Boston edition of the popular pamphlet.  Rather than merely use the table of contents as the copy for their advertisement (as printers and booksellers often did), they added their own note that this “judicious and exceeding well wrote Pamphlet was published in London in March last and had had a very rapid Sale there.”  Friends of the American cause “thought [the pamphlet] would tend much to open the Eyes of the Nation.”  Accordingly, the Fleets considered the pamphlet “well worthy the Perusal of every lover of Civil Liberty and good Government in America; for which Reason the Printers propose to sell them at the moderate price of one shilling and six Pence each” compared to two shillings charged in London.

Dunlap inserted different commentary to demonstrate the reception and influence the pamphlet received and, in turn, attempt to incite demand among readers.  “This learned, judicious and liberal author,” the advertisement declared, “had the thanks of the Common Council, and the Freedom of the City of London presented to him in a gold box, for this his much admired most excellent pamphlet on Civil Liberty.”  In addition to that honor, “he also deserves the united thanks of America.”  Yet Dunlap did even more to promote his Philadelphia edition of the pamphlet.  He inserted an “EXTRACT from the WORK” that extended more than a column, giving readers a preview and enticing them to read more.  In so doing, Dunlap reduced the amount of space for news items and paid notices in that issue of the newspaper, apparently considering the length of the advertisement, especially the “EXTRACT,” worth the investment.  He may have also intended that the “EXTRACT” double as a letter to the editor in making the case in support of the American cause.

Dunlap and the Fleets were not alone in publishing local editions of Price’s pamphlet in America.  David Bruce published the pamphlet in Charleston and Samuel Loudon published it in New York.  Printers in the four largest urban ports made local editions of the pamphlet available to readers in their cities.

June 17

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

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

Boston-Gazette (June 17, 1776).

“It is also well worthy the Perusal of every lover of Civil Liberty and good Government in America.”

In June 1776, Thomas Fleet and John Fleet announced that they published a Boston edition of Richard Price’s Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principle of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.  Like many other advertisements for books and pamphlets, their notice included an overview of the contents to entice prospective customers with a preview of what they would encounter when they purchased and read the work.  Section headings included “Of the Nature of Liberty in general,” “Whether the War with America is justified by the Principles of the Constitution,” and “Of the Honor of the Nation as affected by the War with America.”

Yet the Fleets did not leave it at that.  They also composed their own address to the public, drawing attention to it with a manicule.  “This judicious and exceeding well wrote Pamphlet,” they reported, “was Published in London in March last and has had a very rapid Sale there.”  The arguments presented combined with the popularity of the pamphlet, the Fleets explained, “was thought would tend much to open the Eyes of the Nation.”  The pamphlet demonstrated that the American cause had supporters on the other side of the Atlantic, though its publication did not have as much impact on policy as the Fleets suggested that it deserved.  Despite that disappointment, the Fleets considered the pamphlet “well worthy the Perusal of every lover of Civil Liberty and good Government in America.”  That being the case, the Fleets sold copies of their Boston edition “at the moderate Price of one Shilling and six Pence each” instead of the “two Shillings Sterling” that printers in London charged for copied printed there.

During the years that they published the Boston Evening-Post before the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Fleets did not gain the same reputation for advocating for the American cause as Benjamin Edes and John Gill, the printers of the Boston-Gazette, and Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy.  The outbreak of the war may have caused them to stake a stronger position, though they may have also aimed to generate revenue in a city that the British had occupied for nearly a year and departed only a few months earlier.  They followed their promotion of Price’s pamphlet with a reminder that they stocked “A few of that celebrated Pamphlet called COMMON SENSE,” another work embraced by the Patriots who remained in Boston after British forces and their Loyalist supporters evacuated from the city.  The Fleets collaborated with the Edes and Gill in publishing and selling Thomas Paine’s influential political pamphlet.  Even though their advertisement did not necessarily reveal their political principles, the Fleets sought to activate the political principles of their prospective customers to sell their Boston edition of Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principle of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America.