Patent Medicines

August 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (August 2, 1774).

“Opportunity to express the grateful Sense he retains, of the Favors of his Customers in Time past.”

In the summer of 1774, Seth Lee of Farmington ran an advertisement for a “neat and general Assortment of Drugs and Medicines” in the Connecticut Courant.  He advised prospective customers that he sold his wares “ON THE MOST REASONABLE TERMS,” hoping that the promise of bargains would entice them to shop at his store.  His merchandise included a variety of patent medicines, each of them so familiar that Lee merely listed a dozen of them without indicating which symptoms they alleviated or maladies they supposedly cured.  He also called attention to alcohol, groceries, paint, and other items that supplemented his inventory.  Lee peddled two popular beverages, coffee and chocolate, but did not mention tea, an increasingly problematic commodity following the Boston Tea Party the previous December and the Coercive Acts passed by Parliament in response.  Elsewhere in the August 2 edition, Amos Wadsworth and Fenn Wadsworth continued hawking “BOHEA TEA, (not infected with a duty),” while Samuel Wescote advertised “good TEA” without further explanation.

Rather than wade into consumer politics, Lee appended a note to his former customers and prospective new customers.  He declared that he wished “to express the grateful Sense he retains, of the Favors of his Customers in Time past.”  In addition to demonstrating his appreciation for their business, such sentiments also testified to his experience providing satisfactory service, an implicit appeal to new customers as Lee attempted to buttress his reputation.  As he continued, Lee included prospective customers in the invitation he extended to readers to shop at his store.  He addressed “all who will be kind enough to afford him their Custom,” pledging that “it shall be his constant Endeavour to supply them … with any of the above Articles, very cheap.”  Furthermore, they would receive exemplary customer service, with “the least Favorgratefully acknowledged.”  Lee highlighted prices at the beginning and end of his advertisement, but he did not make those “REASONABLE TERMS” the focus of his notice.  Instead, he emphasized the relationships he cultivated with customers in the past and would endeavor to continue providing as “their Humble Servant.”  Lee listed goods to attract attention, then sought to hold it by wooing readers with his devotion to customer service.

December 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-London Gazette (December 3, 1773).

“Hill’s Balsam of Honey, Ditto Elixir Bardana.”

Simon Wolcott advertised a “fresh and general Assortment of DRUGS and MEDICINES” in the December 3, 1773, edition of the New-London Gazette.  The merchandise that he “Just IMPORTED from LONDON” and sold “as cheap as in New-York or Boston” included a dozen popular “PATENTED MEDICINES,” such Bateman’s Drops, Godfrey’s Cordial, and Turlington’s Balsam of Life.  The copy of the New-London Gazette digitized for inclusion in America’s Historical Newspapers, the most extensive database of eighteenth-century newspapers, includes manuscript additions.  At some point, someone crossed out four of the patent medicines: Hill’s Balsam of Honey, Hill’s Elixir Bardana, Jesuit’s Drops, and Mountpelier Drops.  Why?

This could have been done in the printing office, especially if Wolcott wished to update his advertisement to exclude those medicines.  However, Wolcott’s notice ran in the next five issues of the New-London Gazette (which became the Connecticut Gazette with the December 17 edition) without any changes before he discontinued it in the middle of January 1774.  Such marks could have also been made in the printing office if Wolcott ordered handbills but for some reason wished to feature only some of the patent medicines.  Any handbills, trade cards, or other advertisements that Wolcott commissioned to supplement his newspaper notices have not survived.

Alternately, a reader may have crossed off those patent medicines for their own purposes.  For instance, an apothecary or shopkeeper looking to restock their own supplies could have crossed out those that they did not wish to acquire before writing a letter and sending an order to Wolcott or taking the newspaper to his shop to guide their purchases.  Similarly, someone managing a household or putting together a box of commonly used medicines for traveling could have made similar notations to indicate which medicines they needed and which they did not.  Someone else may have crossed out those patent medicines for some other reason, perhaps indicating which they had tried and found ineffective.

Whatever the reason for the manuscript additions to Wolcott’s advertisement in this copy of the New-London Gazette, the marks indicate that someone engaged with the newspaper beyond merely perusing its contents.  The notations indicate something of some significance to the person who made them, though their purpose remains a mystery to readers who encounter the newspaper notice centuries later.

November 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Newport Mercury (November 29, 1773).

“THESE PILLS ARE NOW SOLD BY HUGH GAINE.”

Colonial printers often supplemented the revenues they generated from subscriptions, advertising, and job printing by selling books, stationery, blanks, … and patent medicines.  Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, and James Rivington, the printer of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, competed with each other and with apothecaries to sell “KEYSER’s FAMOUS PILLS,” a cure for syphilis and other maladies, in the fall of 1773.  Rivington also supplied William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, with pills that he imported.  As he perused newspapers printed in Philadelphia, Rivington noticed that Townsend Speakman and Christopher Carter, chemists and druggists in that city, advertised that they sold Keyser’s Pills acquired directly from James Cowper, “Doctor of Physick” and “the only legal proprietor” of that medicine in England.  Rivington sent the Bradfords a letter testifying that he received the pills he forwarded to them directly from the son of the late Keyser, residing in Paris.  The Bradfords promptly published that letter in an advertisement that ran immediately below the one placed by Speakman and Carter.

Rivington was not alone in his efforts to gain as much of the market beyond New York as he could.  Gaine looked to the north, advertising in the Newport Mercury.  His notice appeared at the top of the first column on the first page of the November 29 edition of that newspaper, a place of prominence that likely garnered some attention.  A headline in a larger font than anything else on the page except the title of the newspaper in the masthead also enhanced the visibility of the product that Gaine peddled.  This advertisement replicated the copy of Gaine’s notice in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury a week earlier, though it did not retain the format.  Gaine’s advertisement in the Newport Mercury lacked a decorative border and the multiple manicules that pointed to each letter in “KEYSER,” though it still featured a representation of a “Seal” at the end of the transcription of the certificate of authenticity sent to Gaine by Keyser’s widow.  Gaine did not list Solomon Southwick, the printer of the Newport Mercury, or any other associates in Newport as local agents who sold Keyser’s Pills on his behalf.  He apparently expected that readers would submit orders to him in New York, an eighteenth-century version of mail order medications.

November 22

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

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (November 22, 1773).

“A Certificate from under her own Hand of the Genuineness of the above Pills.”

Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, and James Rivington, the printer of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, competed to sell subscriptions, to sell advertising, to sell books, to sell stationery, to sell printed blanks, to do job printing orders, … and to sell patent medicines.  In particular, they marketed and sold “KEYSER’s FAMOUS PILLS” for “perfectly eradicating every Degree of a certain Disease.”  Eighteenth-century readers understood that those code words referred to syphilis.

In November 1773, Gaine published a new salvo in the ongoing advertising war over Keyser’s Pills.  He expanded on his earlier advertisements, noting that he now “has in his Hands a Letter from the Widow Keyser, and a Certificate under her own Hand of the Genuineness of the above Pills.”  Furthermore, he declared that “any Person may have the Perusal of [those documents] by applying to him at his Book Store and Printing Office.”  That portion of the advertisement appeared within a decorative border.  Gaine also called attention to his notice with six manicules, one pointing to each letter of “KEYSER.”

Yet he still did not consider that sufficient to attract the attention of prospective customers and convince them to purchase the remedy from him rather than from Rivington or other purveyors.  Gaine’s primary competitor had been publishing advertisements that included descriptions of patients successfully treating that “DISEASE, not to be mentioned in a News-Paper” as well as rheumatism, apoplexies, asthma, and a “WHITE SWELLING.”  Rivington has also supplied William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal in Philadelphia, with a letter attesting that he supplied them with Keyser’s Pills imported “immediately from Mr. Keyser himself,” the son of the late doctor, “at Paris.”  That answered claims by Speakman and Carter, “Chemists and Druggists,” that they acquired their supply of Keyser’s Pills from James Cowper, “the only importer in London.”  In his most recent advertisement, Rivington proclaimed that he had “Certificates and Letters of the old Doctor, and Madame W. KEYSER, his Widow, and likewise of their Son, the present Monsieur Keyser, who has many Years prepared all the Pills sold by his Father.”  Like Gaine, Rivington invited the public to examine those documents at his printing office.

That apparently prompted Gaine to expand his advertisement once again.  Instead of merely presenting the option of seeing the letter and certificate he received from Keyser’s widow at his shop, he published transcriptions of both documents in his newspaper notice.  In the letter, Madame Keyser acknowledged her correspondence with Gaine and explained that the certificate “proves that the Polls I now send are of my Composition.”  The certificate was “Sealed with the Seal of my Arms, at Paris.”  Gaine included a representation of the seal to underscore the authenticity of the medicines he peddled.

When it came to advertising the goods and services available at their printing offices, Gaine and Rivington invested a significant amount of time and energy in promoting a particular patent medicine.  Their efforts suggest that Keyser’s Pills accounted for an important revenue stream to supplement their earnings from selling newspapers, advertising, books, stationery, blanks, and job printing.  They also seemed to follow and respond to advertisements placed by each other as well as others who sold the famous patent medicine.

October 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazette (October 21, 1773).

“In a short time JAMES RIVINGTON will publish some other particulars of the efficacy of Dr. KEYSER’s PILLS.”

Like many other colonial printers, James Rivington supplemented revenues from the usual operations of his printing office by peddling patent medicines.  In particular, Rivington hawked Dr. Keyser’s Pills, one of the most popular treatments for venereal disease in eighteenth-century America.  This remedy was so popular that often name recognition alone marketed the pills to prospective customers.  For many weeks in the fall of 1773, Rivington ran a short advertisement that proclaimed, “EVERY ONE THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN, BY THE USE OF Dr, KEYSER’s PILLS.”  A border comprised of decorative type enclosed the bold headline and a promise that the medicine would “infallibly cure a DISEASE, not to be mentioned in a News-Paper, without the Knowledge of the most intimate Friends.”  For those still too embarrassed to purchase the pills, Rivington noted that they “are also wonderfully efficacious in curing the RHEUMATISM,” providing a cover story for prospective customers who wished to make use of it.

On occasion, Rivington enhanced that candid advertisement with descriptions of “CURES Performed by KEYSER’s PILLS,” giving examples to readers who still needed more convincing about whether they should invest in the medicine.  In the October 24 edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, for instance, the printer included three stories of patients who had been cured of “a fashionable disease.”  The most remarkable concerned a pregnant woman whose child “was born with the distemper.”  When the mother’s symptoms “grew very alarming,” she took the pills and recovered.  The infant’s wet nurse also took the pills and “the child, from the effect of the pills taken by the nurse, was perfectly restored to health.”  According to this story, Dr. Keyser’s Pills were so effective that they even cured a baby breastfeeding from a woman directed to take them!  The other two stories told of patients who had long suffered “with the same disease” and the “severest courses prescribed” by physicians, yet “restored” or “relieved” when they resorted to Dr. Keyser’s Pills.  Once again, Rivington avoided associating the pills exclusively with venereal disease.  To that end, he inserted other examples: “In the RHEUMATISM,” “In APOPLEXIES,” “In the ASTHMA,” and “A WHITE SWELLING.”  That swelling almost resulted in “the amputation of an arm,” but the patient experienced “a radical cure” upon taking Dr. Keyser’s Pills.”

That did not exhaust the stories of successful treatments, just the amount of space that Rivington devoted to advertising the pills in that issue of his newspaper.  He concluded his advertisement with a note that “In a short time [he] will publish some other particulars of the efficacy of Dr. KEYSER’s PILLS,” though he did not indicate if he intended to do so with newspaper advertisements, handbills, broadsides, or pamphlets.  The media mattered less than alerting prospective customers that the printer had access to similar stories.  They could wait to examine those or consider that sufficient enough justification to acquire the pills to start down their own road to recovery.

September 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (September 16, 1773).

“EVERY ONE THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN, BY THE USE OF Dr. KEYSER’s PILLS.”

Dr. Keyser’s Pills may have been the most widely advertised patent medicine in colonial American newspapers.  Apothecaries included the remedy among the lists of patent medicines that they stocked, as did merchants and shopkeepers who did not specialize in drugs and medicines.  Printers also frequently advertised a variety of patent medicines, especially Dr. Keyser’s Pills, in their efforts to supplement revenues earned from job printing, newspaper subscriptions, advertising fees, and selling books and stationery.  In the summer of 1772, printers in Charleston, South Carolina, even engaged in a feud over which of them sold genuine Dr. Keyser’s Pills and accusing the other of peddling counterfeit medicines.

James Rivington, printer of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, managed to avoid such controversy in the fall of 1773, though he competed with Hugh Gaine, printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, in selling Dr. Keyser’s Pills.  Neither of them placed the kind of extensive notice, complete with descriptions of the symptoms that the medicine alleviated and testimonials to the effectiveness of the pills, that sometimes appeared in colonial newspapers.  Gaine did briefly note that he “has now by him many Proofs of their Utility in curing Inflamations, Rheumatism, [and] White Swellings,” an invitation to readers to examine testimonials on hand in his printing office.  For his part, Rivington deployed a headline that proclaimed “EVERY ONE THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN” when they used Dr. Keyser’s Pills to treat a “DISEASE, not to be mentioned in a News-Paper.”  Consumers knew that patients afflicted with venereal disease commonly turned to Dr. Keyser’s Pills, not just those who suffered from rheumatism (though Rivington did join Gaine in stating the pills “are also wonderfully efficacious” in alleviating those symptoms).  For prospective customers seeking to protect their privacy and avoid embarrassment by acting as “THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN,” Rivington asserted that Dr. Keyser’s Pills “infallibly cure” the unnamed disease “without the Knowledge of the most intimate Friend” (or perhaps even spouses or other partners).  Like other purveyors, Rivington sold the pills in boxes of different quantities so customers could select how many pills they thought they needed to treat themselves.

In the eighteenth century, Dr. Keyser’s Pills were as widely known to consumers as many over-the-counter brands are to customers today.  Accordingly, advertisers did not always need to publish lengthy advertisements to market the pills.  Instead, Rivington and others believed that short notices with bold proclamations, like “EVERY ONE THEIR OWN PHYSICIAN” effectively marketed the popular patent medicine.

June 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (June 25, 1773).

“All the PATENT MEDICINES.”

In the summer of 1773, Joseph Tilton took to the pages of the New-Hampshire Gazette to advertise a “large and fresh Assortment of Druggs, Medicines, and Groceries” that he recently imported and stocked at his shop in Exeter.  He offered abrief overview of some of those groceries, such as “fresh Raisins, Turkey Figgs, Currants, [and] Olive Oil.”  Tilton also listed a variety of medical equipment, including “SURGEON’s pocket Instruments, best London Lancetts, … ivory Syringes, … [and] Apothecaries Scales and Weights.”  This gave prospective customers some sense of his merchandise, even if Tilton did not supply an exhaustive catalog.

When it came to that “Assortment of Druggs, [and] Medicines,” however, Tilton succinctly stated that he stocked “all the PATENT MEDICINES commonly Advertised” and did not go into further detail.  He expected that prospective customers were already familiar with the many different kinds of patent medicines frequently imported from England and the uses for each, making it unnecessary to name Keyser’s Pills, Daffy’s Elixir, James’s Fever Powder, Godfrey’s Cordial, Stoughton’s Bitters, Turlington’s Balsam, or any of the other patent medicines frequently listed in advertisements placed by apothecaries and shopkeepers.

The partnership of Munson and Mather adopted the same approach in their advertisement that appeared in the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy on June 25, the same day that Tilton’s notice ran in the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Munson and Mather declared that they carried a “fresh and universal Assortment of Drugs and Medicines” that included “Most of the Patent Medicines” familiar to consumers throughout the colonies.  Those patent medicines were so well known by their brands and their distribution in major ports and smaller towns so ubiquitous in eighteenth-century America neither Tilton nor Munson and Mather considered it necessary to exert much effort in marketing them beyond informing “Customers in Town and Country” where they could purchase “all the PATENT MEDICINES.”

May 18

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

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

Essex Gazette (May 18, 1773).

“DR. Baker’s Seaman’s Balsam … proves a most powerful Restorative.”

Nathaniel Dabney and Philip Godfrid Kast had a new competitor in the pages of the Essex Gazette.  Both apothecaries regularly ran advertisements in Salem’s only newspaper, Dabney for his shop “at the Head of Hippocrates” and Kast for his shop “at the Sign of the LION and MORTAR.”  On May 18, 1773, Josiah Lord commenced advertising a “general Assortment of DRUG, MEDICINES & GROCERIES” available at his “APOTHECARY-SHOP … Near the Sign of Grapes” in Ipswich.  He advised that “Those who will send their Orders shall be as well used as if present themselves.”  Lord likely hoped that prospective customers who previously did business with Dabney and Kast would instead visit his shop or take advantage of the convenience of sending orders through the post.  He operated the eighteenth-century equivalent of a mail order pharmacy.

The apothecary devoted most of his advertisement to describing several of the patent medicines among his inventory.  A few of them would have been widely familiar among colonizers, including “Dr. Anderson’s true Scots Pills … for Diseases of the Stomach, Head, Belly and for Worms,” “Dr. James’s Powder for Fevers,” and “Dr. Stoughton’s great Cordial Elixir for the Stomach.”  These medicines were so popular that apothecaries, shopkeepers, and even printers stocked them and promoted them in their newspaper notices, usually referring to them only as Anderson’s Pills, James’s Powder, and Stoughton’s Elixir.  Still, Lord gave more details in hopes of wooing customers.  For instance, he explained that a “few Doses of [James’s] Powder will remove any continual acute Fever in a few Hours, though attended with Convulsions, Light-Headedness, and the worst of Symptoms.”

Lord gave even more attention to lesser-known patent medicines, marketing them as alternatives to familiar nostrums.  “DR. Baker’s Seaman’s Balsam” did not appear in advertisements for drugs and medicines nearly as often as certain other patent medicines, so Lord educated prospective customers about its uses.  He declared that this balsam “assuredly cures and prevents Putrefaction in the Gums, Kidneys, Liver and Lungs, and other noble Parts of the Body” and it “proves a most powerful Restorative in weak and lax Habits of Body, helping enfeebled Nature.”  Similarly, he dedicated a paragraph to directions for using the “celebrated Volatile Essence” to relieve a variety of symptoms.  “By only being smelt,” Lord declared, “it revives the Spirits to a Miracle, and recovers immediately from either Fainting or Hysterick Fits.  It is likewise a most admirable Medicine in the Head-Ach, Lowness of Spirits, and Nervous Disorders; in all which Cases being taken in the Quantity of a few Drops only, it gives immediate and surprising Relief.”  As an added bonus, “In the Heart-burn, a few Drops instantly removes it.”

Such descriptions of each medicine were extensive compared to the lists that appeared in many advertisements placed by apothecaries and others who sold patent medicines.  Given that Lord “Just OPENED” his “APOTHECARY-SHOP” in Ipswich, he may have wished to demonstrate his knowledge of a variety of medicines, both familiar and obscure, to prospective customers.  Doing so may have reassured them that Lord’s expertise rivaled that of Dabney, Kast, and other competitors in the area.

May 5

Carl Robert Keyes Bonus Advertisements , , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 5, 1773).

“Chymist and Druggist … at the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head.”

Isaac Bartram, “Chymist and Druggist,” offered a variety of goods and services at his “new Medicine Store” in Philadelphia in the spring of 1773.  According to his advertisement in the May 5 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, he sold a “great variety of fresh Drugs and Patent Medicines, imported from the best houses in London.”  Prospective customers would have been familiar with the patent medicines that Bartram listed in his notice, just as modern consumers recognize various brands of over-the-counter medications.  Among other nostrums, the apothecary carried “Godfrey’s cordial, Bateman’s drops, … Walker’s Jesuits drops, Daffey’s elixir, [and] Anderson’s Lockyer’s and Hooper’s female pills.”  For those willing to try equivalent products, like modern consumers who purchase generics, Bartram marketed “Wine bitters, of a superior quality to what is commonly sold under the title of Stoughton’s elixir.”  He also stocked medical equipment, including syringes, vials, and surgical instruments, and prepared prescriptions “for physicians, or for family use.”

In addition to the copy, Bartram deployed an image to draw more attention to his advertisement.  He indicated that he kept shop “at the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head.”  Appropriately, a woodcut depicting a unicorn’s head enclosed within a border adorned the upper left corner of his notice, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the space occupied by his advertisement.  This certainly increased Bartram’s advertising costs since he had to commission the unique image associated with his business and then pay for the additional space.  Most advertisers did not invest in images for their notices, though a growing number adopted the practice in the early 1770s.  Elsewhere in the same issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Stephen Paschall and son Stephen Paschall, as they styled themselves, included an image of a scythe, a sickle, and other sort of iron work available at their workshop “at the Sign of the Scythe and Sickle.”  The initials “SP” marked one of the items.  The Paschalls first published the image a year earlier.  These images may have replicated the signs displayed by Bartram and the Paschalls, the only surviving visual representations of signs that colonizers glimpsed as they traversed the streets of Philadelphia.

Most advertisers relied solely on the text of their notices to encourage readers to visit their shops.  Such was the case for Robert Bass, an apothecary whose advertisement for a “new and fresh Assortment of DRUGS and PATENT MEDICINES” appeared on the same page as Bartram’s advertisement.  The woodcut depicting the Sign of the Unicorn’s Head certainly made Bartram’s notice much more visible to readers, prompting them to read about his wares and, in the process, quite possibly justifying the investment.

October 26

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

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

Supplement to the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (October 26, 1772).

“JAMES RIVINGTON Takes Leave to exhibit a second Advertisement of Articles just imported in the Rose.”

Bookseller and shopkeeper James Rivington placed two advertisements in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercuryafter receiving new inventory via the Rose in the fall of 1772.  In the first, he listed dozens of titles, including “Grotius on War and Peace,” “a new Edition of Salmon’s Geographical Grammar,” and “the whole Works of the inimitable Painter Hogarth, in one Volume, with all the Plates he published.”  In addition, he stocked “a fine Assortment of venerable Law Books,” “a fine Assortment of Classicks,” and magazines published in London.  Like so many other newspaper notices placed by booksellers, Rivington’s advertisement served as a book catalog adapted to a different format.

Rivington devoted his second advertisement to other merchandise, stating that he “Takes Leave to exhibit” an additional entry in the public prints to advise prospective customers about “Articles just imported in the Rose, Capt. Miller, different from his literary Exhibition of this Day.”  That advertisement featured a variety of items and marketing strategies.  In a single paragraph, it had sections for musical instruments, patent medicines, clothing, and swords for “Those Gentlemen who propose to take the Field.”

Rather than merely list the patent medicines, Rivington inserted testimonials to assure consumers they were authentic: “Turlington’s Balsam: We certify that the Balsam advertised and sold by Mr. James Rivington, is the genuine sort purchased from us, made from the Receipt left by Mr. Turlington, to us, MARY WRAY, MARY TAPP.”  Similarly, prospective customers interested in “Anderson’s Scots Pills” did not need to worry about counterfeits.  Another testimonial stated, “I do certify that the Scot’s Pills sold by Mr. Rivington of New-York, are genuine, INGLIS.”  The layout of the advertisement did not call particular attention to these testimonials, but readers expecting a list of merchandise likely noted that Rivington departed from the usual format.

Rivington also devised a section about “elegant small Swords of all kinds.”  He listed several varieties, including “Cutteaus De Chase, Seymaters, Light Infantry, Cut and Thrust, &c.”  He concluded with the common abbreviation for et cetera to suggest that he carried even more swords.  To entice customers to examine the swords, he proclaimed that they were “the most beautiful … that ever were offered to Sale in this City.”  Rivington anticipated that customers interested in “superfine ribb’d Worsted Stockings for the wear of Gentlemen, of the best and newest Fashions” in another section of the advertisement would desire attractive swords that enhanced their attire.

A newspaper advertisement did not provide sufficient space for Rivington to tout all of his wares.  He concluded with a note that he “has many more Articles, of which a Catalogue is printing.”  Did that catalog provide commentary about any of those goods, whether blurbs about the clothing, swords, and musical instruments or additional testimonials about the patent medicines?  In a third advertisement in the supplement that accompanied the October 26, 1772, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, Rivington included a testimonial about the “PATENT SHOT” he sold.  With more space available in a catalog, he may have elaborated on some of his merchandise in greater detail.