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