Perfume

November 8

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

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (November 8, 1774).

“He can afford selling them cheaper than any ever imported in this province.”

J. Butler’s advertisement in the November 8, 1774, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal proclaimed that he sold “Jewellery and Perfumery” at a shop he operated at his house on Broad Street in Charleston. Among the perfumery, he provided “VIOLET, rose, pinck, lemon, orange, lavender, and bergamot.” In addition, he listed a variety of personal hygiene products and cosmetics that he stocked, including “tooth powder, … hair combs of all sorts, … gentlemen’s shaving cases and boxes, with improved soap, … cold cream, [and] soft and hard pomatum.”  If that was not enough to attract consumers looking to pamper themselves, Butler also proclaimed that he carried “many other articles too tedious to particularize.”  Readers could cure their curiosity with a visit to Butler’s shop.

As further encouragement, he emphasized that he had “just arrived from London.”  Rather than accept merchandise shipped to him without first examining it himself, Butler had carefully examined and thoughtfully selected the wares he now advertised.  He considered that an “advantage,” especially in combination with “his knowledge of the Jewellery and Perfumery business,” that allowed him to acquire his inventory “on the best terms.”  In turn, he passed along the savings to his customers, asserting that “therefore he can afford selling [the above articles] cheaper than any ever imported in this province.”  According to Butler, he not only offered the best prices at that moment, but the best bargains for “Jewellery and Perfumery” ever seen in South Carolina thanks to savvy negotiations with suppliers when he was in London.

Butler was not alone in suggesting that his personal oversight in obtaining his wares accrued benefits to his customers.  Elsewhere in the same issue, Henry Calwell ran a short advertisement that announced he “just arrived from the Northward” and sold a “Large Quantity of Cheese, Chocolate, Potatoes, Onions,” and other groceries.  He added a note that “the Chocolate he warrants to be good, as he saw it made himself.”  Both Butler and Calwell sought to convince consumers that their personal connections to their merchandise should make those items more appealing.

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.