Samuel Loudon

June 19

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

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

New-York Journal (June 9, 1774).

“A PARTICULAR account of Mr. THOMAS SAY … who had fallen into a trance.”

When William Mentz published The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say, of the City of Philadelphia, Which He Saw in a Trance without permission, Say placed an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette to voice his objection.  He described the text as an “incorrect and imperfect” rendition of what he wished to reveal to the public, further asserting that “publishing any Thing in any Man’s Name without his Knowledge or Consent is, in my Opinion, very unjustifiable.”  He concluded with an appeal to “all Printers … not to aid or assist the said Mentz, or anyone else, in such wrong Proceedings.”

Unfortunately for Say, printers and booksellers in New York either did not see that advertisement or, if they did, chose to disregard it in favor of generating revenue by selling the pamphlet.  An advertisement in the June 16, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal described the contents of the work and noted that readers could purchase copies from printers Robert Hodge and Frederick Shober, bookseller Samuel Loudon, and John Holt, printer of the newspaper that carried the advertisement.  Mentz apparently shipped copies of The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say to New York, perhaps exchanging them for titles printed there.  Local agents felt the pamphlet merited a separate advertisement.  Loudon, for instance, simultaneously ran an advertisement for “BOOKS … TO BE SOLD ON THE LOWEST TERMS” that listed dozens of titles but did not mention The Visions of a Certain Thomas Say.  That advertisement also did not promote any books by providing summaries, unlike the advertisement about the pamphlet that Say wished to withdraw from circulation.

In his own advertisement, Say stated that he “never intended what I have wrote … should be published during my Life.”  More than two decades later, Benjamin Say, his son, published A Short Compilation of the Extraordinary Life and Writings of Thomas Say: In Which Is Faithfully Copied, from the Original Manuscript, the Uncommon Vision, Which He Had When a Young Man.  That work, released following Say’s death in 1796, presumably abided by his wishes for disseminating what he recorded of his vision.  During his lifetime, however, a public notice in the Pennsylvania Gazettehad not been enough to prevent the marketing of an unauthorized account.

September 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-London Gazette (September 25, 1772).

“Sold … by Samuel Loudon, in New-York.”

In his efforts to attract customers for the “Ship-Chandlery, Books, and Stationary” he stocked at his shop in New York, Samuel Loudon placed advertisements in the New-London Gazette in the fall of 1772.  For each category of merchandise, he provided a short list, concluding each with one or more “&c.” (the abbreviation for et cetera commonly used in the eighteenth century) to indicate even more choices.  He also stated that he carried “a great Variety of other Books, Divinity[, and] History” beyond the titles in his list.

Although Loudon may have welcomed retail customers for his wares, he most likely intended for his advertisement to capture the attention of masters of vessels who needed to outfit their ships and shopkeepers in New London and other towns in Connecticut interested in augmenting their inventory.  In a note near the end of the advertisement, Loudon stated that “Country Stores are supplied at the lowest Prices with Bibles, Testaments, Common Prayer Books, Spelling-Books, Entick’s Dictionary, Primmers, Bed Cords, Trace Rope, Gunpowder, Brimstone, &c.”  Loudon promised bargains to shopkeepers when they bought popular books and other items usually purchased in quantity.

Loudon could have confined his advertising to any of the three newspapers published in New York at the time.  After all, each of those publications enjoyed circulations far beyond the busy port.  Doing so, however, would have kept him in competition with others who also advertised in those newspapers.  Instead, Loudon sought to expand the market in which he operated by placing advertisements in the nearest newspaper published outside New York.  Although circulation of the New-London Gazette and New York’s newspapers overlapped, this strategy introduced him to new prospective customers.  It also gave his advertisements greater prominence.  All of the newspapers published in New York overflowed with advertising.  The New-London Gazette, a more modest publication, featured significantly less advertising.  It contained much less advertising, giving Loudon’s notice greater visibility.  Even if country shopkeepers in Connecticut perused any of the New York newspapers, they were much more likely to spot Loudon’s advertisement in the New-London Gazette.  Loudon apparently decided that advertising in large newspapers in his own city did not offer the only or even the best route to success.  Advertising in a smaller newspaper in a neighboring colony had its own advantages he considered worth the investment.