Visual Image

November 21

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (November 21, 1774)

“A General and compleat assortment of muffs and tippets in the newest taste.”

As winter approached in 1774, Lyon Jonas, a “FURRIER, from LONDON,” took to the pages of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to advertise the “General and compleat assortment of muffs and tippets in the newest taste” available at his shop on Little Dock Street.  He also “manufactures and sells gentlemens caps and gloves lined with furr, very useful for travelling,” “trims ladies robes and riding dresses,” and “faces and lappels gentlemens coats and vests.”  In addition to those services, Jonas “buys and sells all sorts of furrs, wholesale and retail.”

To attract attention to his advertisement, the furrier adorned it with a woodcut that depicted a muff and a tippet (or scarf) above it with both enclosed within a decorative border.  It resembled, but did not replicate, the woodcut that John Siemon included in his advertisements in the New-York Journal, the Pennsylvania Chronicle, and the Pennsylvania Journal three years earlier.  That image did not include a border, but perhaps whoever carved Jonas’s woodcut recollected it when the furrier commissioned an image to accompany his notice.

Whatever the inspiration may have been, Jonas’s woodcut represented an additional investment in his marketing efforts.  First, he paid for the creation of the image.  Then, he paid for the space it occupied each time it appeared in the newspaper.  Advertisers paid by the amount of space rather than the number of words.  The woodcut doubled the amount of space that Jonas required in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, incurring additional expense.  Jonas presumably considered it worth the cost since the woodcut distinguished his notice from others.  In the November 21 edition and its supplement, five other advertisements featured stock images of ships and Hugh Gaine, the printer, once again ran an advertisement for Keyser’s “Famous Pills” with a border composed of ornamental type.  Beyond that Jonas’s notice was the only one with an image as well as the only one with an image depicting an aspect of his business and intended for his exclusive use.  Readers could hardly have missed it when they perused the pages of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.

September 1

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

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (September 1, 1774).

“Cabinet and Chair-Maker, At the Sign of the Chair.”

A week ago, the Adverts 250 Project examined advertisements placed by Adam Galer, “WINDSOR CHAIR-MAKER,” and Thomas Burling, “Cabinet and Chair-Maker,” that happened to appear one after the other in the August 25, 1774, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Galer adorned his advertisement with an image of a Windsor chair within a decorative border, the focal point of his notice, while Burling relied exclusively on copy in making his pitch to prospective customers.

Burling apparently did not like being outdone by Galer.  In the next issue of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer his advertisement also featured a woodcut of a chair within a border.  Though the image was not as large as Galer’s image, the chair depicted in it was much more elaborate.  That represented the sorts of furniture, the “different articles in his branch,” that Burling produced in his shop, compared to Galer specializing in Windsor chairs.  The woodcut may have also replicated the “Sign of the Chair” that marked Burling’s location “in Beekman-Street, commonly called Chapel-Street.”  Once again, the two advertisements appeared in proximity to each other, though this time Burling’s came first and a short advertisement for chartering the schooner Henrietta separated them since colonial printers did not classify or organize advertisements by purpose or genre.

That Burling first published his advertisement without an image and then so quickly added one suggests that he consulted the newspaper to see his advertisement in print, perhaps to confirm its conclusion or perhaps out of pride to see his name and a description of his “neatness and dispatch” and “good work” in print.  He might have been quite surprised to discover that Galer upstaged him with an image and, adding to his frustration, that the two advertisements appeared together.  While the image drew attention to that portion of the page, increasing the chances that readers noticed Burling’s advertisement immediately below Galer’s, Burling might have felt that it reflected poorly on him that a chairmaker who made only Windsor chairs circulated the more striking notice.  To make his advertisement just as memorable, he added an image of a much more ornate chair at the first opportunity.

August 25

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

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

Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (August 25, 1774).

“Sundry pieces of furniture, of the best mahogany.”

Both Adam Galer and Thomas Burling made and sold furniture in New York in the mid 1770s, yet they took different approaches when they advertised in Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Their advertisements appeared one after the other in the August 25, 1774, edition, not by design but rather by coincidence since printers and compositors did not classify or organize paid notices by genre or purpose.  The proximity of the advertisements made the differences in their marketing efforts even more stark.

For his part, Galer, a “WINDSOR CHAIR-MAKER,” made an image of a Windsor chair within a decorative border the focal point of his advertisement.  That device filled about two-thirds of the space, immediately drawing attention.  Having recently arrived in New York from Philadelphia, Galer may have considered it worth the extra expense of commissioning the woodcut to enhance his visibility in the public prints.  In the copy, he gave his location and advised “gentlemen” and “masters of vessels” that they could acquire Windsor chairs “upon reasonable terms.”

Thomas Burling, on the other hand, relied exclusively on advertising copy without any images.  In that regard, his notice resembled the vast majority of newspapers advertisements.  He informed readers that they could find him “At the Sign of the Chair, in Beekman-Street, commonly called Chapel-Street,” indicating that he deployed visual images in other formats to promote his nosiness.  Burling, a “Cabinet and Chair-Maker,” produced a wider array of furniture than Galer, declaring that he “EXECUTES with neatness and dispatch the different articles in his branch.”  He reinforced his appeal to quality when he described the material, “the best mahogany,” and his own skill as an artisan.  He linked the latter to the price: “he proposes to sell at the lowest rate good work sells at.”

Burling may have benefited from the proximity of the two advertisements if readers took note of the image in Galer’s notice and then happened to continue reading the notice that followed.  Still, both artisans likely felt that they were in a better position than if they had not advertised at all.  Their direct competition in the public prints gave them an advantage over other competitors who did not advertise at all.

July 27

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

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

Pennsylvania Journal (July 27, 1774).

“Many other articles, which will be sold low for cash, or a short credit.”

Levi Hollingsworth’s advertisement for a variety of goods available “at his Store, on Stamper’s wharf,” in Philadelphia in the July 27, 1774, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal appeared immediately below a masthead that featured a new image.  Previously, the device had four components.  In the center, a newspaper bearing the title “JOURNAL” sat on a pedestal above a cartouche that showed a ship at sea, those items testifying to information that the newspaper disseminated and the commerce that it facilitated.  An indigenous American on the left and an angel representing Fame on the right flanked the newspaper and ship.  The new device depicted a divided snake, each segment assigned to a colony, with the motto, “UNITE OR DIE.”

In recent weeks, at least two other American newspapers incorporated similar images into their mastheads.  The New-York Journal, printed by John Holt, had done so on June 23.  The images were so similar that William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, likely copied directly from Holt’s newspaper after they received it via exchange networks that linked printers throughout the colonies.  On July 7, Isaiah Thomas adopted an even more elaborate image in the masthead of the Massachusetts Spy, one that showed a divided snake with a pointed tongue and a pointed tail facing off against a dragon that represented Great Britain.  Its admonition demanded that readers “JOIN OR DIE.”  Once the Bradfords updated their masthead, a newspaper published in three of the four largest American port cities circulated the divided snake political cartoon to subscribers and other readers every week.  The Pennsylvania Journalcontinued doing so for fifteen months, returning to its previous device at the end of October 1775.  By that time, the Revolutionary War had started.

In his History of Printing in America (1810), Isaiah Thomas stated that the Pennsylvania Journal “was devoted to the cause of the country.”[1]  Each time that Hollingsworth or other advertisers placed notices in that newspaper they aided in underwriting a partisan press that advocated for the rights of colonizers as British subjects and, eventually, independence from Great Britain.  Each time a reader perused those advertisements, they likely saw the political cartoon in the masthead, forced to engage with its message even if they did not read the news and editorials closely.

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 437.

July 21

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

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

Supplement to Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (July 21, 1774).

“He proposes to continue his business of pickling oysters and lobsters.”

James Rivington had sufficient content to include in the July 21, 1774, edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer that he distributed a two-page supplement with the standard four-page issue.  The items in that supplement consisted entirely of paid notices, dozens of them.  In addition, advertising accounted for several columns alongside the news in the standard issue.  Only a few of those advertisements, however, featured visual images to aid in drawing the attention of readers.  Three had stock images of ships at sea, one for a sloop for sale, one seeking passengers and freight for a voyage to South Carolina, and one that “WANTS A FREIGHT, To any part of EUROPE.”  The printer supplied stock images for those notices.

Three other advertisements sported woodcuts commissioned by the advertisers for their exclusive use, each of them providing a visual representation of some aspect of their business.  Thomas Ash, “WINDSOR CHAIR-MAKER,” once again incorporated the image of a chair that had accompanied his advertisements for several months.  Abraham Delanoy and James Webb also deployed images that had become familiar sights to readers over several weeks.  Delanoy advised readers that he moved to a new location where he “continue[d] his business of pickling oysters and lobsters” and “puts up fried oysters so as to keep a considerable time even in a hot climate.”  A woodcut depicting a lobster trap and an oyster cage appeared above his message to consumers.  Like Ash, Delanoy devoted as much space to his image as his copy, apparently believing that a picture was indeed worth a thousand words.  He trusted that the woodcut would as effectively market his wares as anything he might write.  He may have also figured that he had already established his reputation in the local marketplace so his primary purpose for the image could have been increasing the likelihood that customers saw his announcement that he had moved “from Ferry-Street to a house in Horse and Cart-Street.”

Supplement to Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer (July 21, 1774).

James Webb, on the other hand, used his woodcut of a millstone to advance a new endeavor unfamiliar to readers of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Accordingly, he devised significantly more copy to sell the “FRENCH BURR MILL-STONES” that he made from “the best stones that could be picked in France for that purpose.”  Webb claimed that he was “the first in promoting [or undertaking] so useful a manufactory in this province,” making it even more necessary that he provide an overview of his enterprise.  He asserted that he made millstones “in a masterly manner of any size, on reasonable terms, at the shortest notice,” succinctly incorporating appeals to quality, price, and convenience.  He suggested that millers, merchants, and others were already familiar with such millstones and knew that “from repeated trials [they] have been found to exceed all other stones ever yet found out.”  His millstones had the added advantage of being made in the colonies at a time that colonizers discussed the prospects of boycotting goods imported from Britain in response to the Coercive Acts passed by Parliament following the destruction of tea now known as the Boston Tea Party.  Webb pledged that “no pains or expence shall be spared to render [his millstones] far superior to those imported into America ready made,” while simultaneously reminding readers that they had a duty to support domestic manufactures.  To that end, his millstones “are of the greatest utility to the colonies in general.”  Just in case all of that did not convince prospective customers, Webb added a nota bene advising that “Any gentleman may choose out stones before made, to his own liking, if he pleases.”  In the end, that would yield even greater satisfaction with the finished product.

In each instance, the woodcuts that Ash, Delanoy, and Webb included in their advertisements happened to be the only visual images that appeared on that page of the July 21 edition of Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer.  Most likely that was by coincidence rather than design, yet it still helped in distinguishing their notices from others.  (The three images of ships appeared in a cluster, one after the other, on another page.)  Ash, Delanoy, and Webb had to pay additional fees to commission their woodcuts, but they very well may have determined that doing so was worth the investment.

July 11

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

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

Boston Evening-Post (July 11, 1774).

“The Sign of the LEOPARD.”

When Daniel Scott advertised his “Medicine Store [at] the Sign of the LEOPARD, South End” in the July 11, 1774, edition of the Boston Evening-Post, he adorned his notice with a woodcut depicting that exotic animal.  The device that he chose to represent his store gave colonizers greater access to faraway places that were part of global networks of trade and (often involuntary) migration.  Residents of the busy port spotted the leopard when they passed by Scott’s store.  His advertisement disseminated an image of an animal native to Africa and Asia even more widely, reaching readers who encountered such creatures mainly through descriptions rather than images.  Something similar occurred with the “Sign of the ELEPHANT” that marked the location of “HILL’s ready Money Variety Store” in Providence and the woodcut of an elephant in Hill’s advertisements in the Providence Gazette in the spring and summer of 1774.  That these entrepreneurs used these animals as their emblems suggests that colonizers were familiar enough with their descriptions to recognize them when they saw them, yet the signs and woodcuts helped clarify their visualizations.

Colonizers did have some opportunities to view exotic animals transported to British North America.  In August 1768, for instance, Abraham Van Dyck advertised that he had on display “one of the most beautiful Animals, call’d, The LEOPARD” that had “JUST ARRIVED” in New York.  Assuming readers had limited familiarity with this large cat, Van Dyck provided a description: “adorned all over with very neat and different spots, black and white [and] much in Shape, Nature, and Colour, like unto a Panther.”  To further entice prospective audiences, he included a woodcut depicting the creature.  He also stated that he had “several other Animals” on display “in the Broad-Way,” but did not indicate which species.  Although colonizers in New York could pay one shilling for a “full View of the Leopard,” most did not have chances to observe this animal very often.  Their most regular access to visual images of leopards, elephants, and other exotic animals would have been shop signs and, occasionally, advertising media, such as trade cards and newspaper notices, that incorporated woodcuts.  Scott offered lengthy descriptions of some of the medicines he sold, but many readers may have considered the image of the leopard the most engaging part of his advertisement.

July 7

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

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

Massachusetts Spy (July 7, 1774).

“AMERICAN INK-POWDER.”

In an advertisement in the July 7, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette, Ann Norton of Boston and Samuel Norton of Hingham heralded “AMERICAN INK-POWDER” made by Samuel.  They encouraged “Gentlemen, Merchants, Attornies and others that travel” to purchase this product “found to be equal, if not superior to any imported.”  Most of the advertisement described the various qualities of the ink powder that made it better than imported alternatives.  As colonizers in Boston and other towns considered enacting nonimportation agreements to protest the Boston Port Act, entrepreneurs like the Nortons seized the opportunity to present “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies as patriotic choices for consumers.  On the same page as the Nortons’ advertisement for “AMERICAN INK-POWDER,” Philip Freeman once again ran his notice asserting that “we can manufacture enough [gloves] here, to supply the whole Continent” and recommending that “the importation of this article at least will be totally stopped” during such “threatning” times.

Both advertisements ran in a newspaper that featured a new addition to its masthead: a snake in several segments facing a dragon.  The words “JOIN OR DIE” appeared above the snake and abbreviations for New England and other colonies accompanied each segment.  Readers understood that the snake represented the colonies and the dragon represented Great Britain.  As Isiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy, explained in his History of Printing in America(1810), “The head and tail of the snake were supplied with stings, for defence against the dragon, which appeared furious, and as bent on attacking the snake.”[1]  It was a more elaborate version of the “JOIN, OR DIE” emblem that ran in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette twenty years earlier and the “UNITE OR DIE” emblem added to the masthead of the New-York Journal just two weeks earlier.  With this image, Thomas made the threat to American liberty explicit with the addition of the dragon.  That “political device,” as Thomas called it, joined a quotation from Joseph Addison’s Cato that had been part of the masthead for many months: “DO THOU Great LIBERTY inspire our Souls – And make our Lives in THY Possession happy – Or, our Deaths glorious in THY just Defence.”  An assertion that the Massachusetts Spy was “Open to ALL Parties, but Influenced by None” disappeared from the masthead.  The combination of the quotation from Cato and the “political device” made the editorial perspective of the newspaper clear.  Thomas ceased publishing the Massachusetts Spy in Boston and left the city in April 1775 and soon after established the Massachusetts Spy; or, American Oracle of Liberty in Worcester.  Throughout the remainder of the newspaper’s publication in Boston, the snake defending itself against the dragon was part of the masthead, setting the tone for all the news, editorials, and advertisements that appeared below.

Massachusetts Spy (July 7, 1774).

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 273.

June 23

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

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

New-York Journal (June 23, 1774).

“AS USUAL, A GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS.”

As readers perused the June 23, 1774, edition of the New-York Journal, they once again encountered Samuel Hake’s advertisements for a “GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS, to be sold reasonably, for cash or credit.”  It was the fourth consecutive week that it appeared in that newspaper, having originated in the June 2 edition.  It was the first time, however, that the advertisement ran under a new image in the masthead.  The New-York Journal previously included the coat of arms of the United Kingdom, a lion and a unicorn flanking a shield with the words “DIEU ET MON DROIT” (“God and My Right”) on a banner beneath it.  After receiving word of the Boston Port Act that closed and blockaded the harbor until residents of that city paid for the tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party, John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, selected a new image for the masthead, a snake severed into pieces with the words “UNITE OR DIE” beneath it.  Short abbreviations indicated each part of the snake represented New England or one of the other colonies.

Pennsylvania Gazette (May 9, 1754). Courtesy Library of Congress.

Holt drew inspiration from the “JOIN, or DIE” woodcut that appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette twenty years earlier on May 9, 1754.  At that time, the American colonies faced a threat from the French and their Indigenous allies on the eve of the Seven Years War.  In an editorial, Franklin encouraged colonizers to support the Albany Plan of Union and recognize their shared identity as Americans.  The “JOIN, or DIE” political cartoon that accompanied that call to a common cause is the earliest known visual representation of such unity, a symbol repurposed during the imperial crisis.  According to public historians at the National Constitution Center, the “emblem appeared in colonial newspapers during the Stamp Act crisis” and again “during the American Revolutionary War, sometimes as part of a masthead.”  Holt was the first printer to deploy it in 1774, though in the coming months variations appeared in the mastheads of other newspapers.  Those newspapers carried editorials and coverage of the Boston Port Act and the rest of the Coercive Acts and the colonial response, including proposals to cease trade with Britain and stop purchasing imported goods.  Over the next several months, the “GENERAL assortment of EUROPEAN and EAST INDIA GOODS” advertised by Hake would take on new political meanings for colonial consumers.

New-York Journal (June 23, 1774).

June 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 6, 1774).

“Stove Grate Warehouse, in Beaver-street, (late Parker’s printing-office).”

William Bayley hawked a variety of merchandise to decorate a home according to the latest styles at his “Stove Grate Warehouse” in New York, far more than the name of his shop suggested.  In an advertisement in the June 6, 1774, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, he listed an array of items recently imported from London, including a “New and general assortment of hard-ware, toys and trinkets; plated, japan’d and brown tea urns and coffee pots of the newest fashions; [and] a large assortment of paper hangings [or wallpaper] of the newest patterns.”  Bayley also stocked a “small assortment of china” and “a number of other articles too tedious to mention.”  He catered to taste while giving consumers choices for outfitting their homes for their own comfort and to impress visitors.

To give prospective customers a glimpse of what they might encounter at his “Warehouse” of decorative arts, Bayley adorned his advertisement with a woodcut depicting an ornate mantel with a stove grate.  Perhaps a similar image appeared on a sign that marked the location of his shop.  The border that enclosed it suggested that might have been the case. Incorporating such an image into his advertisement represented a significant investment for Bayley.  He had to commission the woodcut plus pay for twice as much space in the newspaper, yet he must have considered it worth the expense to increase the chances that customers would come to his new store in the space previously occupied by Samuel F. Parker’s printing office.  Given that the “Stove Grate Warehouse” was a new endeavor, Bayley may have considered even more necessary to make an impression in the public prints, strategically choosing a visual image over the lengthy lists of their inventories that other entrepreneurs, including James Morton and Richard Sause, published in the June 6 edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  In the early twentieth century advertising executives coined the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but Bayley and other advertisers already deployed that concept during the era of the American Revolution.

May 1

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

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

Massachusetts Spy (May 28, 1774).

“Medicine Boxes … are put up in the neatest Manner.”

The woodcut that adorned John Joy’s advertisement in the April 28, 1774, edition of the Massachusetts Spy alerted readers to the type of merchandise that the apothecary sold before they even read the copy.  It depicted a lion wearing a crown and working a mortar and pestle atop a column.  The woodcut ran the entire length of the advertisement, as if Joy or the compositor or perhaps the two working together intentionally designed the image and copy to fit together that way.  A sign with a similar image may or may not have marked Joy’s location at “the North-Corner of William’s Court, BOSTON,” but he did not make specific mention of a sign.  Other advertisers who commissioned woodcuts for their newspaper notices often did so when the image matched the device customers saw at their shop.  Whatever the case, the image made Joy’s advertisement much more visible to prospective customers than M.B. Goldthwait’s notice about a “fresh supply of DRUGS and MEDICINES” and “SURGEONS INSTRUMENTS, Of all Kinds.”

Massachusetts Spy (April 28, 1774).

The copy declared that Joy “Has just received from LONDON, A large and compleat Assortment of Drugs and Medicines, Of the best Quality.”  The lion with the crown asserted both those imperial connections and the quality of the remedies that Joy sold.  In addition, he stocked “Surgeons Instruments, of every Kind, finished in the neatest Manner” as well as “a full Assortment of Groceries and Dye Stuffs.”  Not unlike modern retail pharmacies, Joy diversified his enterprise to cultivate multiple revenue streams, including medicines, medical equipment, home health care supplies, and groceries.  To that end, he also prepared “Medicine Boxes of various Prices, for Ships or private Families,” pledging that they “are put up in the neatest Manner.”  Goldthwait also prepared “Doctor’s Boxes … for Masters of Vessels and private Families” and included “every necessary direction” for using the contents.  These first aid kits included both medicine and supplies.  Selling them allowed apothecaries to enhance their revenues since buyers acquired a variety of items that they did not yet need and might never use but purchased against the chance of injury or illness.  After all, it was better to have them on hand than not at all.  Joy also operated a precursor to the mail order pharmacy, alerting “Prac[ti]tioners and others” that they may be supplied with large or small Quantities, by Letter or otherwise [such as sending a servant enslaved messenger], as well as though they were present.”  Joy and other apothecaries frequently promoted such convenience as part of their marketing efforts.  Like the image of the crowned lion working a mortar and pestle, that appeal distinguished Joy’s advertisement from the notice placed by his competitor.