Thomas More’s Almanack

January 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (January 25, 1774).

“Lists of Public Officers; Members of the Commons House of Assembly; Days for holding Courts in South-Carolina and Georgia.”

Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, also published almanacs.  Most newspaper printers did so.  Almanacs, those popular pamphlets, represented an important revenue stream for any printing office, yet publishing them could be a tricky business.  Printers aimed to produce enough copies to meet demand, but not so many that they had a significant number of leftovers that cut into their profits.

As January 1774 neared its end, Crouch seemed to have a surplus of “THOMAS MORE’s ALMANACK, for the Year 1774” that he needed to move out of his printing office on Elliott Street in Charleston.  On January 25, he ran an advertisement that offered the almanacs for sale “Wholesale and Retail, with good Allowance to those who take a Quantity.”  In other words, he offered a discount to shopkeepers, peddlers, and others who bought in volume.  He placed the notice at the top of the center column on the first page, enhancing its visibility in that issue of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal.  The introduction to the advertisement proclaimed, “Just published,” but that probably was not the case.  Crouch previously inserted the same advertisement as the new year approached.  As was common practice, he likely inserted the notice once again, type already set, without making revisions.

With each passing day, some of the contents became obsolete, including “the Sun and Moon’s Rising and Setting,” “Length of Days and Nights,” and “Judgment of the Weather.”  Other items, however, remained relevant.  Crouch relied on these “useful Particulars” in marketing the almanac.  Its pages contained “Lists of Public Officers; Members of the Commons House of Assembly; [and] Days for holding Courts in South-Carolina and Georgia.”  For those who might have occasion to travel to other colonies by land rather than by ship, the almanac included “Descriptions of the Roads throughout the Continent.”  Throughout their advertising campaigns, printers highlighted the various contents of the almanacs they published and sold.  Each year, the “useful Particulars” beyond what many described as the “usual Astronomical Calculations” (though Crouch did not happen to use that phrase) became increasingly important in marketing almanacs in January, February, and March.

September 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Sep 1 - 9:1:1766 New-York Gazette
New-York Gazette (September 1, 1766).

“THOMAS MORE’S ALMANACK, For the Year 1767. Is in the Press at W. Weyman’s.”

When it came to the printers and booksellers in colonial America, almanacs were a staple among the merchandise they produced and sold. These inexpensive pamphlets were in great demand, finding their way into the hands of readers from all kinds of backgrounds, from the elite to the most humble. In the 1960s Milton Drake compiled a bibliography of hundreds of almanacs printed in America in the eighteenth-century. Printers met the high demand for these calendars that doubled as reference periodicals by delivering an extensive supply to colonial customers, competing with each other in the process.

Given the diversity of almanacs available for public consumption, printers (as well as the authors of the almanacs themselves) needed to direct potential customers to the volumes they produced. Among the most common appeals, they promoted the accuracy of their almanacs, sometimes underscoring the education or other qualifications of the author or compiler. Benjamin Franklin’s almanacs, authored under the pseudonym Richard Saunders or Poor Richard, gained popularity for the aphorisms the astute printer inserted. (Arguably, those aphorisms made Franklin’s almanacs the most famous of the eighteenth century. Poor Richard’s almanacs remain well known in popular culture today, not just among scholars of early American print culture, thanks not only to their connection to one of the founders but also because the aphorisms have become nuggets of wisdom passed down from one generation of Americans to the next.) The authors and compilers of almanacs, like “Poor Richard,” became brands in and of themselves, contributing to the popularity of certain almanacs and forging a loyalty that predisposed colonists to continue purchasing familiar publications.

William Weyman devised another strategy for placing his almanacs in the hands of readers. He advertised them early (indeed, very early!), which allowed him to bring his almanacs to the attention of potential customers before they even considered others printed by competitors. “THOMAS MORE’S ALMANACK, For the Year 1767” was not yet ready for sale at the time that Weyman placed today’s advertisement. It was merely “in the Press … and will be published in due Time.” This advertisement appeared on September 1, a full four months ahead of the year covered in the almanac, but Weyman was priming customers to consider his almanac. They might not have needed it yet, but it was a product many of them knew that they would purchase eventually.

Modern retailers engage in similar practices. This year many stores started stocking Halloween items in August. Thanksgiving and Christmas merchandise will be available soon, if it is not on shelves already. Today’s merchants did not invent promoting seasonal goods well before customers needed them. William Weyman and others were already doing that in the eighteenth century.