Prices Listed in Advertisement

December 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (December 19, 1774).

“He will undertake to make middle-siz’d men cloaths at the under-mentioned prices.”

William Thorne, a tailor, took to the pages of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to advertise his services in late December 1774.  He began his notice with an announcement that he had recently acquired various textiles, trimmings, and patterns, though he devoted half of the space to a list of prices that he charged for “middle-siz’d men cloaths.” Presumably he adjusted the prices accordingly depending on whether a client was tall or short or stout.  The “middle-siz’d” prices at least gave prospective customers an estimate of what they could expect to pay for an array of garments.

For instance, a ”Full figured Manchester velvet,” the most genteel item on the list, cost fifteen pounds and ten shillings “New-York Currency.”  For some items, the list revealed a progression of prices.  A “plain suit [made of] superfine cloth” cost eight pounds and ten shillings, a “Half trimmed suit” of the same material cost nine pounds, and a “Full drest suit,” also of the same material, cost ten pounds.  Clients interested in just a “Coat and waistcoat of superfine cloth” paid only six pounds and fifteen shillings, with a “Single coat of superfine cloth” costing five pounds.  For those of more modest means, a “Plain suit [made of] second best cloth” cost seven pounds.  The prices for the “Half trimmed” and “Full drest” suits made of superfine cloth suggested the likely increase in price for such items made of “second best cloth.”  Thorne also made other garments.  A “Surtout coat” or overcoat “of best bath beaver” cost two pounds and fifteen shillings and a “Pair of best black velvet breeches” went for two pounds.

Tailors only occasionally listed prices in their advertisements.  The list that Thorne published allowed “his friends, customers, and the publick in general” to do some comparison shopping without needing to visit his shop of contact him directly.  Readers could determine for themselves how Thorne’s prices compared to what they paid their own tailors for similar garments, perhaps prompting them to recognize bargains that made Thorne’s services attractive to them.

January 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (December 30, 1773).

“NEW-YEAR’S PRESENTS.”

Rarely did retailers associate Christmas and consumption in newspaper advertisements they published in the 1760s and 1770s.  They were just as likely to identify the new year as a time to give presents, though relatively few adopted that strategy either.  James Rivington, a bookseller, stationer, and printer of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer, was among those who suggested to consumers that they should purchase presents to commemorate the occasion.  His advertisements filled an entire column in the December 30, 1773, edition of his newspaper.

As the first day of the new year approached, Rivington advised that he stocked “[t]he following which may be thought proper calculated for New-Year’s Presents.”  He listed a variety of items, including “ELEGANT silver and double gilt Pinchbeck buckles for ladies and gentlemen, a fine assortment,” “snuff boxes, vastly handsome,” “ladies dressing boxes for their toilets,” and “pocket-books for ladies and gentlemen.”  Rivington made clear that both women and men could be recipients of these “New-Year’s Presents,” even though editorials and other commentary often depicted women as the perpetrators of conspicuous, frivolous, or unnecessary consumption.

Rivington also presented a catalog of books as “Useful, improving, and entertaining articles, proper for New Year’s Presents,” most of them suitable for recipients of either sex.  He described the books as “very neatly bound, gilt, and lettered, most of them adapted to the Lady’s as well as to the Gentleman’s Library.”  They included “Pope’s Works with cuts” (or illustrations), “Dr. Goldsmith’s History of England,” “Paradise Lost,” “Mrs. Montague’s Essay on the Genius, &c. of Shakespeare,” “The charming Letters of Madame Pompadour,” and “Gray’s Odes, Elegy in a Church-yard.”  Unlike most book catalogs published as newspaper advertisements, this one included the prices for each volume.  Those contemplating giving them as gifts could take into account their budget and their relationship to the recipient when considering their purchases.  Rivington also encouraged readers living beyond New York to give books as gifts for the new year, declaring that “Orders from persons at a distance shall be immediately complied with.”  Those in Philadelphia, he directed, could “immediately” acquire any of the books “by applying to the Penny Post in that city.”

In addition to gifts for adults, Rivington also marketed “NEW-YEAR’S PRESENTS For the JUNIOR GENTRY.”  He sold books for children, “Liliputian volumes,” as well as “Play-Things.”  The toys included “CUPS and balls,” “Ivory alphabets, A, B, C,” “Bones rattles and knockers,” “Humming tops,” and “Toy pails.”  Once again, he listed prices so prospective customers could assess how much they wished to spend on gifts.

Rivington concluded that advertisement with a list of “MISCELLEANOUS MATTERS” that he apparently did not consider as appropriate for giving as presents.  In a final advertisement in that column, he promoted a “new and corrected edition” of “Rivington’s Gentleman and Ladys Pocket Almanack.”  Although he did not suggest giving the almanac as a gift, the printer considered it “Necessary to every one, in and out of Business, and useful in every Colony upon the Continent.”  A couple of days before the new year was the perfect time to purchase an almanac and, according to Rivington, items that customers might not otherwise have purchased but would give as gifts.

September 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-Hampshire Gazette (September 17, 1773).

“It is hoped will induce all Book-buyers to look at those cheap Editions, before they lay out their Money elsewhere.”

Colonial newspapers circulated throughout entire regions rather than just the towns where they were published and nearby villages.  In the 1770s, many bore the names of a colony, such as the New-York Journal or the Pennsylvania Packet, as a testament to their dissemination far beyond the busy urban ports of New York and Philadelphia.  More elaborate titles, such as the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal and Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer; or the Connecticut, New-Jersey, Hudson’s-River, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser, also suggested the reach of those newspapers.  Accordingly, advertising in colonial newspapers was not exclusively local to the town of publication.  Instead, newspapers ran advertisements from purveyors of goods and services throughout the regions they served, though the vast majority did originate in the place of publication.  Readers would not have been surprised, for instance, to see an advertisement from Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Wilmington, Delaware; or Trenton, New Jersey, in any of the several newspapers published in Philadelphia.

Advertisements that originated on the other side of the Atlantic, however, rarely appeared in colonial newspapers.  Merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans certainly hawked imported goods in the public prints, but they assumed responsibility for their own marketing.  The producers of those goods usually did not participate in advertising to American consumers.  That made J. Donaldson’s advertisement in the New-Hampshire Gazette and other newspapers published in New England all the more noteworthy.  Donaldson promoted “NEW BOOKS” that he sold at “the only Shop for cheap Books” in London.  To demonstrate the bargains, he devised columns for “Donaldson’s Prices,” the titles of books he sold, and “London Prices.”  An edition of “Mr. Pope’s Works, with all his Notes” in six volumes typically sold for eighteen shillings, but Donaldson charged only fourteen shillings.  Similarly, Milton’s Paradise Lostsold for three shillings and six pence, but Donaldson’s customers saved a shilling.  He charged only two shillings and six pence for the same book.

In total, the bookseller listed twenty-six titles that amounted to more than £27 if purchased at “London Prices” but just over £14 at “Donaldson’s Prices,” approximately half the price.  Donaldson prefaced his list with an explanation that “many People are not acquainted with the Prices Books are commonly sold for” so “by reading what follows, they will see it their Interest to buy at his Shop.”  Below the list, he further elaborated that “By the above Comparison of Prices, it is evidence that you can buy of J DONALDSON for Fourteen Pounds and Six Pence, the same Articles which the London Booksellers charge at Twenty-seven Pounds two Shillings and six Pence.”  Donaldson calculated the savings: “in this small Parcel, Thirteen Pounds and two shillings are saved.”  He considered that argument enough to “induce all Book-buyers to look at those cheap Editions, before they lay out their Money elsewhere.”  Although Donaldson may have welcomed orders from individual consumers in the colonies, he more likely hoped to attract the attention of printers and booksellers looking to import quantities of books.  American printers produced a limited number of titles; printers, booksellers, and others who stocked books in their shops imported the vast majority of books.  Donaldson offered them a means of acquiring their inventory at lower prices and increasing sales by passing along the savings to their own customers.

January 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (January 8, 1771).

“He will sell for the following Prices.”

K. Sexton sold books at a shop “Near the Great Bridge in Hartford” in the early 1770s. Like many other early American booksellers, he placed newspaper advertisements that listed various titles available at his shop. In his advertisement in the January 8, 1771, edition of the Connecticut Courant, however, he included an enhancement not part of most newspaper advertisements or book catalogs published during the period.  He gave the prices of his merchandise.

In orderly columns that ran down the right side of his notice, Sexton listed prices in pounds, shillings, and pence, allowing prospective customers to anticipate what they would spend on his books as well as identify bargains.  He charged, for instance, fourteen shillings for a two-volume set of “SMALL Morrocco Bibles, bound in the neatest Manner,” five shillings and four pence for a “large” edition of a popular novel, The Vicar of Wakefield, and four shillings and eight pence for a “small” edition, and ten pence for “Cato’s Tragedy.”

For some items, Sexton sought buyers among both consumers and retailers.  He sold “Sinners in the Hands of an angry God, a Sermon preach’d by the Rev’d Jon. Edwards at Enfield, at a Time of great awakenings” for six pence for a single copy or four shillings for a dozen.  Retailers and others who bought in volume enjoyed a significant discount when they paid four shillings or forty-eight pence for twelve copies; Sexton reduced the retail price by one third.  He offered similar savings for purchasing at least a dozen copies of six other titles, including “Mr. Moodys Sermon to Children” and “Watts’s Catechism.”  For each of those, he charged either four pence each or three shillings (or thirty-six pence) for a dozen.  Those who bought a dozen save one quarter of the retail price.

Most booksellers did not specify prices for their merchandise in newspapers advertisements that listed multiple titles, though they were more likely to mention prices in advertisements for single titles and almost always did so in subscription notices for proposed books, magazines, and pamphlets.  In general, most purveyors of goods and services in eighteenth-century America did not indicate prices in their advertisements, except to offer assurances that they were low or reasonable.  Setting prices and promoting them to prospective customers eventually became a standard marketing strategy, but it was not common in eighteenth-century advertisements.  In the early 1770s, Sexton’s use of prices in his newspaper notices amounted to an experiment and innovation in marketing.

July 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Jul 13 - 7:13:1770 New-Hampshire Gazette
New-Hampshire Gazette (July 13, 1770).

“WATCHES KEPT in REPAIR for Two Shillings and six pence Sterling per YEAR.”

John Simnet’s advertisement in the July 13, 1770, edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette was uncharacteristically muted compared to others he had recently published.  The brief notice looked much like any other that an eighteenth-century watchmaker would insert in the local newspaper:  “WATCHES KEPT in REPAIR for Two Shillings and six pence Sterling per YEAR; Clean’d for those who desire them done cheap, for a Pistereen, and Repairs in Proportion.  By J. SIMNET:  Parade.”  Yet it differed in tone significantly from most of Simnet’s advertisements.  He arrived in the Portsmouth area in late 1768 or early 1769.  Over the past year and a half he engaged in a very public feud with Nathaniel Sheaff Griffith.  The rival watchmakers both advertised in the New-Hampshire Gazette, sometimes making only oblique references to each other but on other occasions leveling accusations of fraud, incompetence, and lack of character.  Most recently, Simnet ran advertisements that compared Griffith to a rat or denigrated his character and skills in verse.  Even after several weeks passed, Griffith did not respond to those attacks, at least not in the New-Hampshire Gazette.

Had it not been for this rivalry, I likely would not have selected Simnet’s advertisement to feature on the Adverts 250 Project today.  Uriah Hide of Lyme, Connecticut, placed a notice for “Clothiers Shears” made in the colonies in the New-London Gazette.  In that advertisement, he developed an argument in favor of giving preference to “the Manufactures of the Colony” over imported “European Manufactures.”  I often select advertisements that demonstrate the convergence of politics and consumer culture in the era of the American Revolution, but after spending eighteenth months following the feud between Griffith and Simnet I decided to include the next installment in their story in order to document each volley regardless of whether it was as explosive as the last.  It is also worth noting that Simnet’s advertisement appears deceptively simple, especially when compared to his other notices in the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Although brief, his advertisement included an appeal to price and even listed how much he charged for routine maintenance for a year.  Relatively few eighteenth-century advertisers included specific prices in their notices, making Simnet’s attempt to entice customers with a guaranteed price notable.  Not as lively as most of his advertisements, this one engaged with prospective customers in different ways.

March 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Mar 6 - 3:6:1770 South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal
South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (March 6, 1770)

“The best French gloves and mits, free from spots, at 12s6. per pair.”

Like many other shopkeepers in Charleston and throughout the colonies, William Stukes stocked “a neat assortment of millenary GOODS, with many other articles.”  To demonstrate the point, he cataloged much of his inventory in a newspaper advertisement.  He carried “PLAIN and flowered sattins,” “stript thread gauze,” “scented and plain hair powder,” and “different coloured silk gloves and mitts,” along with an array of other items.  In addition, he advised prospective customers of “All sorts of millinary ware made in the newest fashion by Mrs. Stukes.”  His partner received second billing even though she provided an important service that undoubtedly supported his enterprise and supplemented the household income.

Stukes sought to incite demand for his wares by emphasizing both consumer choice and fashion.  In addition, he made appeals to price, proclaiming that he would sell these goods “extraordinary cheap.”  When eighteenth-century advertisers made such claims, they usually did not elaborate.  Stukes, however, listed his prices for several items:

  • “black sattin hats at 30s.”
  • “the newest fashion broad ribbons at 5s. per yard”
  • “the best French gloves and mits, free from spots, at 12s6. per pair”
  • “Hose’s callimanco shoes at 31s. per pair”
  • “fine bohea tea at 20s. per pound”
  • “black pepper at 15s. per pound”
  • “table knives and forks at 20s. per set”
  • “best Oronoko tobacco at 12s6 per pound”

Prospective customers did not have to take Stukes at his word that he offered low prices, only to be disappointed when they visited his shop.  Unlike most other advertisers, he published prices for several items.  That allowed consumers to assess for themselves whether Stukes actually offered bargains.  It also facilitated comparison shopping.  Prospective customers might examine the merchandise in other shops, Stukes may have reasoned, and then decide to give their business to him upon learning that his competitors did not match his prices.

Today, consumers are accustomed to prices being advertised with products.  Indeed, naming a price is a common marketing strategy, an effort to entice customers with bargains.  Most eighteenth-century advertisers did not deploy that method for attracting customers, though a few, like Stukes, did experiment with attaching prices to some of their goods when they promoted their businesses in the public prints.

December 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Dec 17 - 12:14:1769 Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly Mercury (December 14, 1769).

“The lowest Price of Lemmons.”

 

John Crosby’s advertisements were a familiar sight for readers of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter in 1769. Every week he advised prospective customers that he sold “Fresh Lemmons” and other citrus fruit “at the Sign of the Basket of Lemmons.” Yet he did more than merely invite residents of Boston to purchase his wares. His marketing efforts included listing his prices. While other purveyors of consumer goods and services frequently made appeals to low prices, most rarely advertised specific prices for their wares. Crosby made a point of promising low prices and demonstrating to prospective customers that he did indeed offer bargains. For instance, on December 14, 1769, he advertised lemons for “Two Pistareens per dozen,” stating that was “the lowest I can get them to yet.” In addition, he sold “very fine LIMES at Six Shillings per dozen.”

When it came to his lemons, Crosby set the same price regardless of how many customers purchased, from “large and small Quantities down to the single Dozen.” Some eighteenth-century merchandisers allowed for discounts for buying in volume, but Crosby took the opposite approach. He advised prospective customers that they did not need to buy in bulk to get a good deal. He made his best prices available to all customers, provided that they bought at least a dozen. He reiterated that point in order to underscore it: “any one that buys to the Amount of one Dozen, shall have them as cheap in proportion as tho’ they bought a Box.”

Crosby also provided regular reports on the price of lemons at his shop, his own abbreviated price current restricted to a single commodity. He emphasized that service in his advertisements, noting that there “will be a Weekly Account as usual in this Day’s Paper, of the lowest Price of Lemmons.” In so doing, he made his advertisements a regular feature in the newspaper, a feature that consumers could depend on finding as they perused each new edition. In an era when many advertisers inserted the same notice for three or four weeks and then allowed it to expire without publishing a new advertisement, Crosby constructed an ongoing advertising campaign that required constant maintenance. His advertisements were more than an invitation or appeal to prospective customers; in updating the prices of lemons and other citrus fruit each week, Crosby’s advertisements provided a service to consumers in Boston.

June 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Jun 15 - 6:15:1769 Boston Weekly News-Letter
Boston Weekly News-Letter (June 15, 1769).

“Half a Dollar per Dozen, it being the lowest that I can get them to yet.”

Two advertisers offered lemons for sale in the June 15, 1769, edition of the Boston Weekly News-Letter. One advertisement simply stated: “JUST IMPORTED, and to be Sold by Jonathan Snelling, At his Store on Treat’s Wharf, A few Boxes of choice Lisbon Lemons.” The other advertisement was more elaborate. Opening with a headline that proclaimed “Fresh Lisbon LEMMONS,” John Crosby then went into detail about the low prices that he managed to finagle for his customers in Boston and its environs.

Even before publishing this advertisement, Crosby was familiar in the local marketplace. He advertised frequently, not only in the Boston Weekly News-Letter (co-published with Draper’s Massachusetts Gazette) but also in the Boston Chronicle, the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Boston Post-Boy (co-published with Green and Russell’s Massachusetts Gazette). Usually short, his advertisements always advised potential customers to seek him out “At the Basket of Lemmons” (his preferred spelling) in the South End. Between his easily recognizable shop sign and regularly placing advertisements in multiple newspapers, Crosby made sure that residents of the busy port were aware of his citrus venture.

Yet he further enhanced the visibility of his business by emphasizing the prices of his fruit. Shopkeepers and other purveyors of goods infrequently listed prices in their advertisements in the 1760s, making it all the more notable that Crosby set the price for lemons at “Half a Dollar per Dozen.” Underscoring that this was a particular bargain, he informed readers that was “the lowest I can get them to yet.” He also had “Very good China Oranges at 24 Shillings per Dozen.” This was not the extent of his attention to prices. He also pledged to continue inserting “a Weekly Account in this Paper as usual, of the lowest Price I can Sell [lemons] for.” His marketing strategy depended not only on constantly presenting his name and the “Basket of Lemmons” to potential customers but also providing regular updates about prices so consumers could assess deals and bargains for themselves.

Comparing the advertisements for lemons placed by Snelling and Crosby demonstrates that not all eighteenth-century newspaper advertisements for consumer goods were alike. While it might be tempting to dismiss them as mere announcements, their variations testify to the efforts advertisers made to incite demand and the innovations they adopted to distinguish their businesses from their competitors. Although brief, Snelling’s advertisement did make appeals to freshness and quality, noting that his “choice” lemons had been “JUST IMPORTED.” Crosby much more elaborately leveraged price as he endeavored to sell his lemons. He achieved impressive visibility for his business with his weekly account of prices in his advertisements.

October 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Oct 14 - 10:14:1768 New-Hampshire Gazette
New-Hampshire Gazette (October 14, 1768).

“A suit of Broad Cloth, full trim’d.”

By the time he “opened a Taylors Shop” in Portsmouth late in the summer of 1768, Richard Lowden was already familiar to many colonists in New Hampshire. More than a year earlier he had advertised that “the Co-Partnership between him and Robert Patterson … was Dissolved,” but Lowden “still continues to carry on the Taylors Business.” At the time, he had his own shop “near the Town-School in Queen-street.” He apparently changed locations in 1768, through he remained on Queen Street, his shop “almost adjoining to that of Messi’rs Williams and Stanwood, Barbers.” Although in a news shop, he continued to pledge that his clients “may depend on being faithfully and punctually served.”

The format of Lowden’s advertisement made it stand out from others published in the same issue of the New-Hampshire Gazette, particularly a table that listed the prices for several of the garments he made. Prospective customers could expect to pay one pound for “A suit of Broad Cloth, full trim’d,” but only eighteen shillings for “A plain suit of Cloaths” and nine shillings for “A Coat only.” These prices set the baseline for children’s apparel. Lowden charged “in the same proportion” for those items.

Relatively few advertisers who offered consumer goods and services published prices in the 1760s, though general appeals to low prices were among he most common marketing strategies throughout the eighteenth century. Sometimes merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans highlighted special prices for particular items, but rarely did they specify how much they charged for everything listed in their advertisements. Taking this approach may have given Lowden an advantage over other tailors in Portsmouth. Publishing his prices served as a guarantee of sorts, a maximum price that prospective clients could expect to pay. This also presented opportunities for Lowden to bestow bargains on some customers, both those who loyally visited his shop and others who negotiated for better deals. Lowden could underscore to both constituencies that they received a deal, though he could also hold the line with the latter by stating that the published price were the final prices.

Advertisers throughout the colonies realized that making appeals to price made their goods and services more attractive to consumers. Lowden further experimented with that concept, inserting the prices for his garments in order to engage potential clients. He transformed vague assertions about price into specific amounts that he charged for the garments made in his shop.

September 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Sep 28 - 9:28:1768 Georgia Gazette
Georgia Gazette (September 28, 1768).

“BOOKS to be sold at the Printing-Office.”

Like other printers throughout colonial America, James Johnston, the printer of the Georgia Gazette, often used his own publication to promote books, pamphlets, and other printed materials that he sold. Although printers sought to generate additional revenues as a result of running their own advertisements in their newspapers, Johnston frequently had an additional motive. Short advertisements for books or advertisements also served as filler to complete an otherwise short column in the Georgia Gazette. Such was the case for a two-line advertisement at the bottom of the first column on the third page of the September 28, 1768, edition of that newspaper. The notice, which Johnston inserted frequently, read in its entirety: “A FEW COPIES of the ACTS of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY passed last session to be sold by the printer of this paper.” Johnston had another slightly longer advertisement, that one for printed blanks (or forms), which he also inserted regularly. It appears that the type for both remained set so the compositor could simply insert them as necessary when an issue ran short of other content.

Given those circumstances, a lengthier advertisement for “BOOKS to be sold at the Printing-Office” that filled half a column (or one-quarter of a page) departed from the usual format for advertisements placed by the printer of the Georgia Gazette. The advertisement divided the column, creating two narrower columns that listed dozens of books by title. A price, neatly justified to the right, accompanied each title. For instance, “Revolutions in Portugal” sold for three shillings and six pence. “Gullivers travels, 2 vols.” sold for eight shillings. In that regard Johnston’s advertisement differed from those placed by other printers and booksellers. Most merely listed titles; very few informed prospective customers in advance what they could expect to pay. Although Johnston rarely published such an extensive catalog of books he sold, when he chose to do so he made a significant innovation to the standard method deployed by printers and booksellers who advertised in other newspapers published in other colonies. If he had sought only to fill remaining space in an issue that lacked sufficient content, a list of “BOOKS to be sold” would have served the purpose. Including the prices, as well as the format for doing so, required additional time, effort, and creative energy in writing the copy and setting the type.