Placement on Page

September 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (September 3, 1774).

“An Oration upon the noble and interesting Subject of ENGLISH LIBERTY.”

An advertisement in the September 3, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette advised the “Friends of LIBERTY” of an upcoming “Oration upon the noble and interesting Subject of ENGLISH LIBERTY” to be given by “Doctor BEZELEEL MANN, at LIBERTY SEAT, near his House in Attleborough,” Massachusetts, at the end of the month.  Just days before the delegates to the First Continental Congress commenced their meetings in Philadelphia, the doctor announced his intention to expound on some of the ideas that had inspired representatives from throughout the colonies to gather to discuss how to respond to the Coercive Acts.

John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, did his part to promote the lecture.  He did not merely generate revenue from publishing the notice but instead gave it a privileged placed in his newspaper.  It appeared following local news from the Providence area, including coverage of recent town meetings, and immediately after the shipping news and death notices that regularly marked the end of the news and the beginning of advertising.  Carter could have chosen from among nearly twenty advertisements to place there, but he seems to have privileged one that reiterated the political sentiments and sense of alarm expressed in so much of the news he selected to print or reprint from other newspapers on the first several pages of that edition.  Even if readers did not closely examine all the advertisements, they were more likely to notice the first one that followed the news.  Throughout the colonies, newspaper printers frequently adopted this strategy of treating advertisements like news by placing them immediately after news coverage.

The advertisement for Mann’s lecture also resonated with Carter’s notice that he published an American edition of English Liberties, or the Free-born Subject’s Inheritance.  It made its second appearance on the final page of the September 3 edition of the Providence Gazette, having initially run as the first item on the front page a week earlier.  In both instances, advertisements as well as news and letters expressed an editorial position, both in terms of their content and their position on the page.  In addition, they directed readers to more ways to imbibe the rhetoric of resistance that ultimately became revolution.

August 27

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

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

Providence Gazette (August 27, 1774).

“This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”

It took nearly two years, but John Carter finally published an American edition of English Liberties, or The Free-born Subject’s Inheritance in August 1774.  The printer of the Providence Gazette previously circulated a subscription proposal addressed to “the Friends of Liberty and useful Knowledge.”  Dated November 7, 1772, the proposal appeared in newspapers in several towns in New England.  On occasion, Carter inserted updates on the progress of the project in his own newspaper, often giving them a privileged place.  He did so once again on August 27, 1774, when he announced, “This Day is PUBLISHED … ENGLISH LIBERTIES.”  Harkening back to his original subscription proposal, the printer called on “the FRIENDS of LIBERTY and USEFUL KNOWLEDGE” to purchase the book or, if they had already subscribed, “to call or send for their Books.”

As had been his practice with the various updates, Carter gave this announcement a privileged place as the first item in the first column on the first page the first time it appeared in the Providence Gazette.  It filled nearly the entire column, followed by a short legal notice.  News filled the remainder of the page, with the remainder of the advertisements running at the end of the issue.  Carter deliberately chose where his notice appeared.  Though subscribers had reserved copies in advance, the printer apparently produced surplus copies that he hoped to sell to those who had previously missed the opportunity to acquire the book.

To that end, his extensive advertisement included a lengthy list of the contents and an extract from the “short Preface … annexed to the fifth Edition, printed in the Year 1721.”  Like modern blurbs from trusted authorities, it outlined why readers should purchase the book, invoking the “favourable Reception which all the former Impressions of this Treatise of the Liberties of the Subjects of England have met with from the Public.”  In turn, the preface recommended that “by perusing this Treatise” readers could “deeply imprint in our own Minds the Laws and Rights that from Age to Age have been delivered down to us from our renown’d Forefathers.”  At the time, few colonizers advocated for independence from Britain; instead, they wished for redress of their grievances with Parliament.  That included enjoying the same rights in the colonies as English subjects possessed in England.  Both the book and its advertisement reinforced that rhetoric.

In a nota bene, Carter also informed prospective customers that “A Number of excellent Forms for Justices of the Peace … are inserted in this Edition.”  That provided a very practical reason for some colonizers to obtain copies.  In addition, the printer supplemented what had been included in earlier editions with “some Extracts from several late celebrated Writers on the British Constitution, which serve to illustrate and enforce the very important Doctrines advanced by the ingenious Author.”  Carter hoped that bonus content would help in marketing the book.

According to the subscription proposal, Carter originally sought five hundred subscribers.  In one update, he asserted that “Very few will be printed that are not subscribed for,” yet he produced enough additional copies to merit an elaborate advertisement that deployed multiple marketing strategies rather than publishing a brief notice that called on subscribers to collect their books.  He may have intended all along to print more than just a few copies “not subscribed for,” but wanted to create a sense of scarcity to encourage prospective subscribers to commit to the project.  He then reinvigorated his marketing campaign following publication of the book.

May 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (May 21, 1774).

“ENGLISH LIBERTIES, Or, The free-born Subject’s Inheritance.”

Like the issue of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy published the previous day, the May 21, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette devoted much less space to advertising than in most issues.  News items, especially those concerning the Boston Port Act, accounted for almost all the content, leaving room for six brief advertisements in the final column on the third page and two in the bottom right corner on the last page.  The “Substance of the DEBATES on the BOSTON PORT-BILL” filled the entire front page and spilled over onto the next.  Other news from London, followed by updates from Philadelphia and Boston followed.  Updates from Boston continued on the third page, eventually giving way to coverage of a “Town-Meeting held a Providence, on the 17th Day of May.”  A speech delivered in Parliament in opposition to the Boston Port Act and calling for the “immediate REPEAL OF THE TEA DUTY” comprised most of the final page.  John Carter, the printer, included a brief note about the paucity of advertising in that issue: “To make Room for the interesting Advices in this Day’s Gazette, we are obliged to omit several Advertisements.”

Carter did not choose to omit his own advertisement about publishing “ENGLISH LIBERTIES, Or, The free-born Subject’s Inheritance” by subscription.  For a year and a half, the printer had circulated subscription papers, advertised in the Providence Gazette and other newspapers published in New England, and encouraged colonizers to reserve copies of a book that became even more timely as the imperial crisis intensified.  The Boston Port Act served as an advertisement for the volume, as did the speech warning against its passage and other news that Carter included in the May 21 edition of the Providence Gazette.  Coverage of the recent town meeting in Providence included resolutions that the residents “will heartily join with the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and the other Colonies, in such Measures as shall be generally agreed on by the Colonies, for the protecting and securing their invaluable Natural Rights and Privileges.”  Furthermore, the resolutions called on the “Committee of Correspondence of this Town … to assure the Town of Boston, that we consider ourselves greatly interested in the present alarming Conduct of the British Parliament towards them.”  They went on to recommend a “Stoppage of all Trade” until the repeal of the Boston Port Act, using commerce as political leverage.

Carter’s advertisement for English Liberties did not merely appear in proximity to all this news.  He very intentionally gave it a privileged position.  It appeared on the final page, immediately after the speech against the Boston Port Act, the news item seamlessly leading into the advertisement for a book that provided justification for colonizers demanding their rights.  Yet its placement on the page had even more significance considering the methods for producing eighteenth-century newspapers.  Like other newspapers, the Providence Gazette consisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and folding it in half.  That meant that printers typically set the type and printed the first and last pages before the second and third pages.  That Carter’s advertisement for English Liberties ran in the bottom right corner of the fourth page indicates that he gave it priority over all other advertisements.  Considering the other news flowing into his printing office, he did not know how much space he might have for advertisements on the second and third pages, so he made sure that his advertisement appeared on the first side of the broadsheet that went to press.  It turned out that he had room for half a column of advertising on the third page, but Carter did not wait to find out whether that would be the case.  Like many other printers, he simultaneously used current events to sell books and pamphlets about political philosophy and he published those items to influence current events.

January 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (January 3, 1774).

“A large Assortment of Hard-Ware GOODS, Cutlery, Jewellery, Goldsmith’s, Clock and Watch Articles.”

Readers almost certainly noticed John Welsh’s advertisement in the January 3, 1774, edition of the Boston-Gazette.  The shopkeeper announced that he imported and sold “A general Assortment of English GOODS, suitable for all Seasons” and “A large Assortment of Hard-Ware GOODS, Cutlery, Jewellery, Goldsmith’s, Clock and Watch Articles.”  To demonstrate the selection he offered to consumers, Welsh published an extensive list of his inventory.

The length of that list alone distinguished Welsh’s advertisement from others that ran in that issue of the newspaper.  More significantly, the format and placement made his notice notable.  Rather than extending in one column and continuing in the next, the advertisement spanned two of the regular columns, an unusual format in the Boston-Gazette or any other colonial newspaper.  Within the space occupied by the advertisement, the list of goods was divided into three columns with lines, but no space, separating them.  While that made the dense text more difficult to navigate, Welsh did provide some guidance with a series of headers.  The “English GOODS,” mostly textiles and accessories, that appeared first did not have a header, but “Hard-Ware,” “Goldsmith’s & Jewellery,” and “Clock & Watch Articles” each had headers that directed readers to items of interest.

The advertisement’s position on the page also enhanced its visibility.  It ran in the upper left corner on the first page, right below the masthead, making it the first item that readers saw when they perused the first issue of the Boston-Gazettepublished in 1774.  Even if readers who knew that the latest news often appeared on the second and third pages rather than the front page immediately flipped past the first page, they likely noticed Welsh’s advertisement as they skimmed to make sure they did not miss any news that might have appeared on the front page.  After all, the organization did vary from week to week depending on the amount of “intelligence” and advertisements submitted to the printing office.  Welsh’s advertisement dominated the first page, as it would have done on any page.  The unusual format underscored the wide selection of merchandise that he made available to customers.

Boston-Gazette (January 3, 1774).

December 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (December 17, 1773).

“WANTED, A HUSBAND.”

Was it an advertisement or an editorial?  The December 17, 1773, edition of the Connecticut Gazette included an item that purported to be a “WANTED” advertisement.  The anonymous woman who placed it sought a husband who “can be warranted to possess the following agreeable Qualifications” and listed a “good Education,” “good Morals,” a mind “richly furnish’d with all useful Knowledge,” and “genteel, easy, and graceful” behavior.  That husband should be “free from Pride and Arrogance.”  Overall, he needed to demonstrate “the most distinguish’d Character.”  A nota bene indicated the circumstances that likely prompted this particular “Advertisement.”  The anonymous advertiser insisted that her prospective husband “should treat the Ladies with the Respect that their Merits require, considering that their Sex alone intitles them to his Esteem.”  To behave otherwise would not be “consistent with the Character of a Gentleman.”  Patriarchal structures defined and confined women’s status in colonial America, but the system was also supposed to bestow certain privileges and protections upon them, especially middling and elite white women.

This item included a salutation, unlike most paid notices that appeared in the Connecticut Gazette and other colonial newspapers.  “Mr. GREEN,” it addressed the printer, “Please to give the following Advertisement a Place in your Paper, and oblige one of your constant Readers.”  The anonymous advertiser likely did not intend to pay for this “Advertisement,” but rather used the word according to another common meaning in both England and America in the eighteenth century.  The Oxford English Dictionary provides this “now chiefly historical” definition: “a (written) statement calling attention to anything; a notification; esp. a notice to readers in a book (typically, a preface).”  Printers and authors also used “advertisement” in that manner in newspapers.  In this instance, the “Advertisement” appeared in a curious place in the Connecticut Gazette, on the final page immediately below the “POET’S CORNER,” a weekly feature, and above advertisements that were indeed paid notices.  The printer chose to place the “Advertisement” with paid notices rather than among the news and editorials on other pages, perhaps suggesting that even though he did not collect payment he still considered the piece artful, like that week’s poem, rather than a serious editorial.  The anonymous advertiser could demand “the Respect that [Ladies’] Merits require,” but that did not mean that the printer was obliged to respond in that manner.  Just as John Adams would mock Abigail’s admonitions to “Remember the Ladies” in their correspondence in the spring of 1776, the printer of the Connecticut Gazette gave this “Advertisement” a place in his newspaper that suggested he did not take it as seriously as the anonymous advertiser intended.

December 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

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

“The Sons of Liberty, are requested to meet at the City-Hall.”

James Rivington, bookseller and printer of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, is most often remembered as a Loyalist.  He began publishing his newspaper in April 1773.  According to Isaiah Thomas, a staunch Patriot printer and author of The History of Printing in America (1810), Rivington’s newspaper “was soon devoted to the royal cause,” yet he does not elaborate on what constituted “soon.”[1]  Rivington became so vociferous in expressing Tory sentiments in his newspaper that on November 27, 1775, the Sons of Liberty attacked his printing office and destroyed his press and type.  Rivington departed for England, but later returned to New York during the British occupation during the Revolutionary War.  He brought a new press and type with him, started publishing his newspaper again, and quickly changed the name to Rivington’s New York Loyal Gazette and then the Royal Gazette.  That newspaper continued publication under that title until the end of the war in 1783, then became Rivington’s New-York Gazette.  It ceased publication on the final day of that year.

Despite the positions that Rivington ultimately advocated in his newspapers, Thomas acknowledged in his biographical sketch of the printer that “[i]t is but justice to add, that Rivington, for some time, conducted his Gazette with such moderation and impartiality as did him honor.”[2]  Thomas reiterated that assessment in his overview of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, stating that “for some time Rivington conducted his paper with as much impartiality as most of the editors of that period.”[3]  That helps to explain the privileged place that an advertisement placed by the Sons of Liberty occupied in the December 16, 1773, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  That notice called on the “Members of the Association of the Sons of Liberty … to meet at the City-Hall” on the following day to discuss “Business of the utmost Importance.”  The “COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIATION” that placed the advertisement invited “every other Friend to the Liberties and Trade of America” to attend the meeting.  Rivington not only published the advertisement, he placed it immediately below the shipping news from the customs house.  Like many other colonial newspapers, Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer followed a particular format that placed news items and editorials first, then the shipping news, and finally advertisements.  The shipping news, a weekly feature, marked the end of news coverage and the beginning of advertisements.  Readers who were not especially interested in perusing the advertisements, many of which repeated from week to week, may have been more likely to take note of the first advertisement that followed the shipping news as they recognized the transition from one type of content to another. That gave the notice from the Sons of Liberty greater visibility than had it appeared embedded among the dozens of advertisements on the next two pages of the newspaper.  The savvy Rivington inserted a two-line notice about a pocket almanac he just published, not even separating it from the shipping news, before the announcement by the Sons of Liberty.  He certainly tended to his own interests, but he also provided impartial space in the public prints for a while after he commenced publishing Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 479.

[2] Thomas, History of Printing in America, 480.

[3] Thomas, History of Printing in America, 511.

March 22

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

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

Boston-Gazette (March 22, 1773).

“An ORATION … to COMMEMORATE the BLOODY TRAGEDY of the FIFTH of MARCH 1770.”

Within a week of Benjamin Edes and John Gill announcing that “Dr. CHURCH’S ORATION will be Published by the Printers hereof as soon as possible,” advertisements for that pamphlet appeared in three of Boston’s newspapers.  Edes and Gill referred to the address that Dr. Benjamin Church delivered “At the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of BOSTON” on the third anniversary of the Boston Massacre “to COMMEMORATE the BLOODY TRAGEDY.”  Edes and Gill reported on the commemorations in their newspaper, the Boston-Gazette, on March 8, 1773, reporting that Church spoke about “the dangerous Tendency of Standing Armies” to the “universal Applause of his Audience.”  Furthermore, “his Fellow Citizens voted him their Thanks, and unanimously requested a Copy of his Oration for the Press.”  In the next weekly issue of the Boston-Gazette, Edes and Gill advised the public that they would soon publish Church’s Oration.

Boston Evening-Post (March 22, 1773).

Three days later, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter carried a notice that the “THIRD EDITION, corrected by the AUTHOR” was “Just Publish’d” and sold by Edes and Gill as well as Thomas Fleet and John Fleet, the printers of the Boston Evening-Post.  Apparently, Joseph Greenleaf was the first printer to take Church’s Oration to press, but Edes and Gill produced a superior edition.  In promoting the third edition, the printers gave their advertisement a privileged place in the Boston-Gazette.  It appeared as the first item in the first column on the first page of the March 22 issue, making it difficult for readers to overlook.  The same day, the Fleets ran the same notice in the Boston Evening-Post.  Although not as prominently displayed as in the Boston-Gazette, the placement likely received special attention.  Rather than nestled among the dozens of advertisements on the third and fourth pages, it ran as the sole advertisement on the second page.  As readers moved from “Proceedings of the Town of Westminster” to news from London that arrived in the colonies via New York, they encountered the advertisement for Church’s Oration.  In its own way, that notice served as news, continuing the coverage of current events and shaping how colonizers viewed their place within the empire.

January 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (January 30, 1773).

“The NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, Or Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our Lord 1773.”

By the end of January 1773, it was a familiar advertisement to readers who regularly perused the Providence Gazette.  John Carter once again promoted the “NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, Or Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our Lord 1773,” though it was not “Just PUBLISHED” as the advertisement purported.  Instead, Carter, the printer of both the newspaper and the almanac, sought to sell surplus copies and achieve a better return on his investment.  With each passing day, portions of the almanac, especially the “astronomical Calculations,” became obsolete.

Carter announced the imminent publication of the almanac in the October 24, 1772, edition of the Providence Gazette, treating it as a news item, following immediately after an update about the Gaspee incident, rather than an advertisement.  A week later, the advertisement that ran in late January appeared for the first time (with a brief note about the price staying the same as the previous year despite “valuable Improvements” that made the almanac “a Quarter Part larger than usual”).  Carter gave it a privileged place, first among the advertisements.  A week later, he gave it even more prominence, the first item in the first column on the first page of the November 7 edition.  That made it difficult for readers to miss it.

In subsequent weeks, the advertisement moved around among the paid notices that ran in the Providence Gazette.  When it appeared in the January 30, 1773, edition, Carter once again attempted to direct attention to it via its placement in the first column on the first page.  Only one item appeared before it, a public service announcement about an upcoming meeting “to consider of some Method for erecting and building a Bridge from the Town of Providence (across the Lower Ferry) to the Town of Rehoboth.”  In this instance, Carter did not place his own interest in selling the remaining copies of the almanac ahead of all other items in his newspaper, but he did give it priority by having the announcement about an important public works project flow into his advertisement for the New-England Almanack.

January 6

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

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Journal (January 6, 1773).

“RUN AWAY … an Irish servant man, named Michael Nugent.”

James Riddle’s advertisements concerning an indentured servant who had “RUN AWAY” shortly before the new year received a privileged place in January 6, 1773, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal.  It was the only advertisement on the first page of the newspaper.  As readers perused an “Extract of a letter from a Gentleman in London,” “Extracts from the Minutes of the House of Burgesses in Virginia,” and news from Warsaw, they encountered a notice that described Michael Nugent, “an Irish servant man, … by trade a taylor,” and offered a reward for capturing and imprisoning him or delivering him to Riddle on Shippen Street in Philadelphia.  The advertisement appeared at the bottom of the middle column of the first page.

That an advertisement appeared on the front page of a colonial newspaper was not uncommon.  Printers frequently ran paid notices on the first page, often as a practical matter.  Newspapers consisted of four pages created by printing two pages on each side of a broadsheet and then folding it in half.  Some printers placed advertisement, which ran for multiple weeks, on the first and last pages, printed those first, and reserved the second and third pages for the most recent news that arrived in the printing office.  Even when they did not devote the entire first page to advertising, printers tended to cluster notices together in complete columns.  The front page of a newspaper, for instance, could feature two columns of news and one column of advertising or one column of news and two columns of advertising.

A single advertisement, especially one that did not promote some aspect of the printer’s own business, was unusual.  In this instance, the printers placed all other advertisements in the final column of the third page and filled the final page with notices, segregating news from advertising except for the lone notice about a runaway indentured servant on the front page.  Its placement may have also been a practical matter since it was just the right length to complete the column that included news from Virginia before starting a new column of news from Warsaw.  Riddle’s advertisement generated revenue for the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, but it served another purpose as well.  It functioned as filler when laying out the first page of the newspaper.

December 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (December 28, 1772).

“The only true and correct ALMANACKS from my Copy, are those printed by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. & [J.] Fleet.”

As 1772 came to an end and the new year approached, Richard Draper, Benjamin Edes and John Gill, and Thomas Fleet and John Fleet continued their efforts to direct prospective customers to the edition of Nathaniel Ames’s almanac for 1773 that they collaboratively printed and sold.  The final issues of the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy for 1772 once again carried advertisements with a note from the almanac’s author that warned against counterfeit editions and proclaimed that the “only true and correct ALMANACKS from my Copy, are those printed by R. Draper, Edes & Gill, and T. & [J.] Fleet.”

None of those newspapers featured the extended version that ran in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter on December 24.  The Fleets even ran a streamlined version in the Boston Evening-Post, eliminated the introductory lines that declared “THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED, And TO BE SOLD by R. DRAPER, T. & J. FLEET, and EDES & GILL” as well as the final lines that advised “Purchasers, especially by the Quantity, are requested to be particular in enquiring whether they are printed by the above Printers, of whom ALMANACKS may be had at the cheapest Rate.”

The version of the advertisement in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy remained unchanged, as did the version in the Boston-Gazette.  Edes and Gill did not include any fanfare about “JUST PUBLISHED” the first time they inserted the note from Ames in the Boston-Gazette.  They positioned that note just below local news, implying that it was just as much a piece of newsworthy information as an advertisement for an item they sold.  Those printers pursued a similar strategy the next time they ran the notice.  This time it did not serve as a transition from news to advertising.  Instead, it was the only advertisement that appeared on second page of the December 28 edition of the Boston-Gazette, running immediately below news from Warsaw.  That made it even more likely that anyone carefully perusing the news would encounter the notice from the printers.  Taking advantage of their access to the press to shape how information was disseminated to reader-consumers, Edes and Gill continued their practice of treating counterfeit almanacs that competed with their “true and correct” almanacs as news the community needed to know.  As part of their marketing efforts, they used the placement of the notice on the page to enhance their insinuation that consumers had a duty to choose the “true and correct” copies over any counterfeits.