Sermon

May 10

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

What was advertised in revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy (May 10, 1776).

“A SERMON, preached [on] the day appointed by civil authority, for a public THANKSGIVING.”

Like many other newspaper printers, Isaiah Thomas used the pages of his own newspaper to promote other items that came off his press.  On May 10, 1776, for instance, he ran two advertisements for sermons preached on November 23, 1775, a day designated as a “Public THANKSGIVING” by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and announced in the November 16 edition of the New-England Chronicle.

The first of those advertisements appeared on the first page of the May 10 edition.  When setting the type, the compositor had enough space for news from Philadelphia and Charleston with just a small amount left at the bottom of the last column.  Several of the advertisements that ran on other pages would have fit there, but Thomas opted to give a privileged place to an advertisement for “A SERMON,” by Henry Cumings, “preached in Billerica on … the day appointed by civil authority, for a public THANKSGIVING throughout the Province of Massachusetts-Bay.”  The notice declared that the sermon was “Just published” and cost “Nine-Pence.”  Eighteenth-century readers knew that “Just published” meant that an item was now available for purchase, but it did not necessarily indicate that the advertiser who sold it had printed it.  In this case, however, Thomas clarified that he “Printed and sold” the sermon in Worcester.

Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy (May 10, 1775).

His advertisement for “A SERMON, preached at Worcester,” by Thaddeus MacCarty followed a similar format.  It opened with a header that declared, “Just published, price Nine-Pence,” and reminded readers that November 23 had been “a Day of public THANSKGIVING, by the appointment of the General Assembly.”  Once again, the printer stated that the pamphlet was “Printed and sold by I. THOMAS” rather than an item that he acquired from another printing office and retailed at his own.  Although this advertisement now appeared on the fourth page among paid notices placed for a variety of purposes, when the two advertisements first ran in the April 26, 1775, edition of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy they appeared together on the third page as the first commercial notices following the news.  The printer sought to increase the chances that prospective customers would take note of advertisements for the sermons he published.

August 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette (August 8, 1775).

“A SERMON, PREACHED … the DAY recommended by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS for A GENERAL FAST.”

On July 20, 1775, the “DAY recommended by the Honorable CONTINENTAL CONGRESS for A GENERAL FAST Throughout the TWELVE UNITED COLONIES of NORTH-AMERICA,” Thomas Coombe delivered a sermon to “the Congregations of CHIRST CHURCH and ST. PETER’s” in Philadelphia.[1]  Less than three weeks later, John Dunlap advertised a local edition of the sermon “PUBLISHED BY REQUEST” and sold in Baltimore in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette.  He also printed a Philadelphia edition of the sermon, which apparently sold well enough to convince him to publish a second edition.  Solomon Southwick, printer of the Newport Mercury, produced yet another edition, as did James Magee in Belfast, Ireland.

According to researchers at the William Reese Company, a prominent antiquarian rare book dealer specializing in American, Coombe “was an Anglican minister and Loyalist in Philadelphia, and formerly the Chaplain for the Marquis of Rockingham.”  Both the advertisement and the title page noted the latter credential.  The sermon “calls for restraint amongst the citizenry of Philadelphia in the wake of the opening battles of the American Revolution.”  After the colonies declared independence, Coombe was imprisoned for his political stance, but “allowed to return to England in 1779.”  Publishing and disseminating this sermon, like various other sermons advertised during the summer of 1775, allowed the public greater access to discussions about how to respond to the imperial crisis after hostilities commenced in Massachusetts.  Colonizers read newspapers that carried reports about current events and editorials, examined pamphlets that outlined perspectives drawn from political philosophy ancient and modern, and participated in town meetings and everyday conversations about the deteriorating relationship between the colonies and Britain.  Sermons that circulated in print gave them even greater access to public discourse.  Just as they read news about events they had not witnessed when they perused newspapers, they became members of a congregation or audience when then read sermons printed and sold by early American printers.

Dunlap did something savvy in marketing the Baltimore edition of Coombe’s sermon.  He devoted the entire first page of the August 8, 1775, edition of Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette to the first portion of the sermon.  It spilled over onto the second page, along with a note: “To be Concluded in our next.)”  The printer gave readers a taste of the sermon.  Those who could not wait a week for the next issue or who wanted a copy in a single pamphlet could purchase the sermon at Dunlap’s printing office.  Those who did wait for the August 15 edition of the newspaper were disappointed.  The first page featured a portion of “The SPEECH of EDMUND BURKE, Esq; on moving his Resolutions for Conciliation with the Colonies, March 22, 1775,” along with a familiar note, “[To be Continued.]”  The remainder of Coombe’s sermon did not appear in that issue, nor in the Postscript, additional pages, that supplemented it.  Dunlap did continue Burke’s speech in the August 22 edition, but he neglected to provide the remainder of Coombe’s sermon.  The advertisement for the sermon, however, did appear on August 15 and August 22, enticing readers who wanted to finish what they had started.

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[1] Why twelve “UNITED COLONIES” instead of thirteen?  Georgia had not yet sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

July 26

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

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (July 26, 1775).

“A SERMON, on the present Situation of American Affairs … to distribute … among the Military Associators.”

A few days ago, I examined an advertisement for “A sermon on the present Situation of American Affairs” by William Smith that ran in the July 21, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette.  I concluded that Wells likely sold copies of the pamphlet printed by James Humphreys, Jr., in Philadelphia and shipped to his “GREAT STATIONARY & BOOK STORE” in Charleston.  An advertisement in the July 26, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette suggests that was indeed the case.

That notice listed several printers who stocked the sermon.  It gave top billing to James Humphreys, Jr., and noted that “the other Printers in Philadelphia” also sold the sermon.  Radiating outward from the city, the list next named Matthias Slough and Francis Bailey in Lancaster and then Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, in New York.  The list concluded with “Mr. ROBERT WELLS, in Charlestown, South-Carolina.”  Humphreys apparently dispatched copies to associates both in his own city and in other towns and colonies.

Another aspect of that advertisement indicates that Wells most likely sold copies of the sermon printed by Humphreys in Philadelphia.  Wells did not mention the price in his advertisement, but Humphreys gave prices for a single copy and multiple copies: nine pence for one copy, six shillings for a dozen, and six dollars for one hundred copies.  That pricing structure concluded with a note that Humphreys intended the discount for purchasing in volume as a benefit “for such Persons as may desire to distribute them among the Military Associators.”  He encouraged officers and other Patriots to disseminate the sermon widely by making a gift of it to those who volunteered to defend American liberties.  Humphreys was not alone in envisioning that officers would give books and pamphlets about current affairs as gifts.  George Washington had recently ordered eight copies of Thomas Hanson’s Prussian Evolutions in Actual Engagements to distribute among his subordinates.

The details in Humphreys’s advertisement strengthen the case that Wells did not publish his own edition of Smith’s sermon but instead advertised and sold copies that Humphreys printed in Philadelphia and distributed to printers and booksellers in several cities and towns.  Doing so contributed to the creation of what Benedict Anderson terms an “imagined community” grounded in print.  Newspapers played an important role as printers reprinted news and editorials from one to another, yet colonizers also had access to pamphlets, tracts, and sermons that circulated widely.  They did not have to be present when Smith delivered his sermon to engage with the ideas and arguments that the minister offered for consideration.

July 23

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

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

South-Carolina and American General Gazette (July 21, 1775).

“A SERMON on the present Situation of American Affairs.”

Robert Wells, the printer of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette, often inserted advertisements that promoted the merchandise available at his “GREAT STATIONARY & BOOK STORE” in Charleston.  On July 21, 1775, he devoted a notice to “A SERMON on the present Situation of American Affairs.  Preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia, June 23, 1775, at the Request of the Officers of the Third Battalion of the City of Philadelphia and District of Southwark.  By WILLIAM SMITH, D.D. Provost of the College in that City.”  Like many other advertisements for books, the copy replicated the title page.  Wells added the verse from the Book of Joshua that Smith cited as inspiration for the sermon.

The headline for the advertisement declared, “Just published, and to be sold BY ROBERT WELLS.”  Did “Just published” and “to be sold” both describe Wells’s role in disseminating Smith’s sermon?  When printers and booksellers linked those phrases together, they often meant that a work had been “Just published” by someone else and made available “to be sold” by other printers and booksellers.  Wells may have acquired copies of the sermon printed by James Humphreys, Jr., in Philadelphia and retailed them at his own shop.  Another advertisement in the same issue used the headline, “This Day are Published, BY ROBERT WELLS,” to introduce two books, “OBSERVATIONS on the RAISING and TRAINING of RECRUITS. By CAMPBELL DALRYMPLE, Esq; Lieutenant Colonel to the King’s Own Regiment of Dragoons,” and “THE MANUAL EXERCISE, with EXPLANATIONS, as now practised by The CHARLESTOWN ARTILLERY COMPANY.”  In contrast to “This Day are Published,” other items certainly not printed by Wells appeared beneath a header that stated, “At the same STORE may be had.”  On the other hand, Wells could have published a local edition of Smith’s sermon.  James Adams printed and sold a local edition in Wilmington, Delaware.

Christopher Gould includes Smith’s Sermon on the Present Situation of American Affairs (entry 103) in his roster of imprints from Wells’s printing office, along with The Manual Exercise (entry 92) and Observations on the Raising and Training of Recruits (entry 93).  For each of them, he indicates that he did not examine an extant copy but instead drew the information from newspaper advertisements.  Gould explains that “many of the entries for 1774 and 1775 must be regarded as suspect.  Wells advertises them as his publications, but in the absence of extant copies bearing his imprint, the likelihood is strong that they are in fact London editions of popular works bound in Charleston by Wells.”[1]  As I have noted, Wells used a headline to introduce Smith’s Sermon that both contemporary printers and readers understood did not necessarily attribute publication to the advertiser.  Even if he sold copies of the sermon printed elsewhere, they did not come from London.  Smith delivered the sermon on June 23 and Wells advertised it just four weeks later, not nearly enough time for London printers to be involved.  Wells advertised an American edition, even if he did not publish it.

Whatever the case, the sermon supplemented the news.  Readers of the South-Carolina and American General Gazettefollowed all sorts of “AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE” from New England to Georgia, but the pages of any newspaper could present only so much content.  Wells presented readers an opportunity to learn more about the discussions about current events taking place in Philadelphia by experiencing Smith’s sermon themselves.  As consumers, they could become better informed and join with others who heard or read the sermon.

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[1] Chrisopher Gould, “Robert Wells, Colonial Charleston Printer,” South Carolina Historical Magazine 79, no. 1 (January 1978): 42.

July 8

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

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 8, 1775).

“A SELF DEFENSIVE WAR lawful, Proved in a SERMON … before Captain Ross’s company of militia.”

An advertisement in the July 8, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post promoted a forthcoming pamphlet that would certainly be of interest to readers in Philadelphia and beyond.  John Dean, a bookbinder who ran a shop in Laetitia Court, aimed to encourage anticipation for “A SELF DEFENSIVE WAR lawful, Proved in a SERMON … By the Rev. JOHN CARMICHAEL.”  The pamphlet would soon be available for purchase since it was “in the press, and will be published in a few days.”  The advertisement suggested that Dean collaborated with Carmichael on the project.

Dean gave more details about both the origins and the physical attributes of the pamphlet.  Carmichael gave the sermon “at Lancaster, before Captain Ross’s company of militia, in the Presbyterian church on Sabbath morning, June 4th, 1775.”  By then, word of the battles at Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston had reached the town of Lancaster.  One local militia company apparently appreciated the sermon so much that they wanted copies distributed more widely.  Perhaps some thought that they would purchase their own copies to review at their leisure or even consult it as a means of better rehearsing Carmichael’s arguments and evidence when they needed to explain why they believed a “self defensive war” was indeed lawful.  Francis Bailey, a printer in Lancaster, printed Carmichael’s sermon “for Captain Ross’s Company of Militia,” according to the imprint, and “at the request of said Company,” according to the subtitle.  The new edition, printed in Philadelphia, was “published at the request of the Author, and corrected by himself from the copy printed at Lancaster.”  In addition to being a more accurate rendering of the sermon, the Philadelphia edition would be “Printed on a good paper and type, octavo size.”

Dean and Carmichael envisioned a more extensive audience for the sermon than the Lancaster edition reached.  The advertisement stated that it was “Humbly offered to the perusal of the MILITARY ASSOCIATORS of the city, liberties and county of Philadelphia.”  The bookbinder-publisher and the author hoped to leverage patriotism and current events to sell more copies of the sermon, though they likely also wished to contribute to public discourse about whether military action was justified as the imperial crisis escalated and became a war.  Carmichael’s dedication in the Lancaster edition highlighted another purpose: “TO all the brave SONS of LIBERTY in North-America, but in particular, to the Company of MILITIA in the Borough of Lancaster, known by the name of ROSS’S COMPANY.”  The same dedication appeared in the Philadelphia edition, honoring all the “Officer and Soldiers” who defended American liberties throughout the colonies, especially the local men who did so.

January 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Jan 27 - 1:27:1770 Providence Gazette
Providence Gazette (January 27, 1770).

“JUST PUBLISHED … A SERMON … by the Rev. MORGAN EDWARDS.”

John Carter, printer of the Providence Gazette, continued to advertise “WEST’S ALMANACKS, For the present Year” and “his ACCOUNT of the TRANSIT of VENUS” in the January 27, 1770, edition of his newspaper. Both were written by Benjamin West, an astronomer, mathematician, and one of the first professors at Rhode Island College (now Brown University), and printed by Carter. The printer also advertised another book for sale at his printing office at the Sign of Shakespeare’s Head, though he had not published “A SERMON delivered January 1, 1770, by the Rev. MORGAN EDWARDS, A.M. one of the Fellows of Rhode-Island COLLEGE, and Pastor of the Baptist Church in Philadelphia.” The advertisement announced that the sermon was “JUST PUBLISHED at NEWPORT,” though Carter had acquired copies to sell in Providence.

This advertisement referred to A New-Years-Gift: Being a Sermon, Delivered at Philadelphia, on January 1, 1770, and Published for Rectifying Some Wrong Reports, and Preventing Others of the Like Sort, but Chiefly for Giving It Another Chance of Doing Good to Them Who Heard It. Solomon Southwick, printer of the Newport Mercury, reprinted the sermon after Joseph Crukshank first printed an edition in Philadelphia. Southwick presumably believed that the sermon would find a market in Newport because of Edwards’s affiliation with the college and his role as a “prime mover” in its founding. Similarly, Carter likely hoped to capitalize on the college’s imminent move to its permanent home in Providence in 1770 when he advertised the sermon.

Both printers may have also expected a particular passage in the sermon, one not mentioned in its long and ponderous title, would attract the attention of prospective customers. Carter’s advertisement stated that it had been “occasioned by his having been strongly impressed for a Number of Years past, that he should die on the 9th Day of March next.” According to Martha Mitchell in the Encyclopedia Brunonia, Edwards’s wife, who died in 1769, “had somehow foreseen the time of her death. Edwards now recalled a dream he had fifteen years earlier and became convinced he would die the next year.” Edwards survived the year, but his credibility did not. Another minister suggested “that the year was not to be that of Edwards’s death but of the death of his ministry,” which turned out to be the case. He resigned as pastor and did not preach again. Preaching the sermon damaged his reputation; that it circulated in print in several colonies compounded the problem, even as it provided an opportunity for printers and booksellers to augment their revenues.

September 24

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

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

sep-24-9241766-georgia-gazette
Georgia Gazette (September 24, 1766).

“May be had at the Printing-Office … A SERMON.”

James Johnston, the printer of the Georgia Gazette, advertised the second edition of “A SERMON Preached in the Meeting at Savannah in Georgia, June 25th, 1766.” Although he did not specify the topic of this sermon, the four lines from Galatians that concluded the advertisement suggested that it addressed the uneasy relationship between the colonies and Great Britain that had been occasioned by Parliament’s attempts to regulate commerce within the empire, especially within its North American colonies. “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty,” the biblical verses began, but concluded with a warning to “take heed that ye not be consumed one of another.” Johnston apparently presumed that potential customers/readers were so familiar recent political events, in general, and this sermon, in particular, that he did not need to state explicitly that it addressed the Stamp Act.

Johnston was certainly advertising John Joachim Zubly’s “The Stamp Act Repealed: A Sermon.” The title page of the second edition of that thirty-page duodecimo pamphlet included the same verses and other information that also appeared in the advertisement, including the assertion that it had been “First published at the Request and Expence of the Hearers.” The second edition was simultaneously published in Charleston by Peter Timothy and in Philadelphia by Heinrich Miller.

sep-24-pamphlet-cover
John Joachim Zubly, The Stamp-Act Repealed:  A Sermon (Savannah, GA:  James Johnston, 1766).  American Antiquarian Society.

In an introduction to the “Sermon,” Randall M. Miller notes that Zubly “captured the feelings of other prominent Georgians in 1766 who had recoiled from the strong words and threats of the Stamp Act crisis but also who had resented Parliament’s encroachment on American rights.” The sermon “stressed obedience to law and the reciprocal obligations of both Christian rulers and subjects to honor law and order.”[1]

By the time the second edition was published, colonists had known for several months that the Stamp Act had been repealed (which had led to Zubly preaching this sermon for a day of thanksgiving). One crisis had been averted, but colonists continued to grapple with their relationship to Britain, especially in the wake of the Declaratory Act. Still, few colonists were prepared at that time to sever ties with Britain. Johnston marketed a sermon that might assist readers in maintaining their identity as Britons while acknowledging that they had been slighted by Parliament. “We seemed like people that had been apprehensive of being shipwrecked and happily made a harbour,” Zubly proclaimed.[2] In publishing, marketing, and selling a second edition of the sermon, Johnston and his counterparts in Charleston and Philadelphia amplified that message to greater numbers of colonists.

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[1] Randall M. Miller, “A Warm & Zealous Spirit”: John J. Zubly and the American Revolution, A Selection of His Writings (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1982), 31.

[2] John Joachim Zubly, The Stamp-Act Repealed: A Sermon (Savannah, GA: James Jonhnson, 1766), 28.