Watts’s Psalms

January 6

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

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

Norwich Packet (January 6, 1774).

“They now beg the Favour of the different Societies … That they would send the ANTHEMS, usually sung, that they may be inserted.”

Alexander Robertson, James Robertson, and John Trumull, the printers of the Norwich Packet, placed a notice in their own newspaper to announce that “an Elegant Edition of DR. WATTS’s PSALMS, with several Anthems,” was “NOW IN THE PRESS.”  It was not too late for customers to qualify for the bargain price, “no more than one Shilling and eight Pence,” as long as they reserved their copies “before they are published” and offered for sale to the general public.  In addition, “Those who take twelve Copies shall have one gratis.”  Printers sometimes offered such discounts to retailers who purchased in volume to sell again, though in this case the Robertsons and Trumbull likely had congregations in mind as well.

They certainly attempted to enlist the aid of congregations in submitting additional material to enhance the project and make their edition of Isaac Watts’s translation of The Psalms of David more attractive to prospective customers.  The Robertsons and Trumbull “now beg the Favour of the different Societies, whom they may have the Honour to serve, with this small elegant Edition: That they would send the ANTHEMS, usually sung, that they may be inserted.”  Such additions would make the books all the more useful to consumers … and marketable for the printers.  Having taken the project to press, they aimed to maximize the return on their investment by producing other items that could be bound in a single volume.  The book ultimately included eleven anthems, some of them likely contributed by members of the “different Societies” that saw the advertisement in the Norwich Packet.

The Robertsons and Trumbull also envisioned a companion to “Dr. WATTS’s PSALMS.”  They reported that “Sundry Gentlemen … expressed a Desire to have Dr. WATTS’s HYMNS printed in the same Manner as the Psalms, so that they may be bound up together.”  That does not seem to have happened, at least not in the copy of Watts’s Psalms held by the Library of Congress and reproduced in America’s Historical Imprints.  The printers likely did not take that project to press, lacking sufficient demand even though they claimed “Sundry Gentleman” suggested the idea to them.  That may have been a ploy to encourage prospective buyers to reserve copies in advance, but when they did not materialize the Robertsons and Trumbull presumably opted not to pursue publishing the hymns.

May 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

May 13 - 5:10:1770 Boston Chronicle
Boston Chronicle (May 10, 1770).

“WATT’S PSALMS … with a PREFACE of twenty four pages.”

John Mein and John Fleeming, printers of the Boston Chronicle, also printed and sold “WATT’S PSALMS WITH HIS HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS.”  Given the popularity of Isaac Watt’s Psalms, American printers produced several editions in the eighteenth century and booksellers imported others from London.  To incite demand for their edition, Mein and Fleeming sought to distinguish it from others.

They began by supplementing the title of the book with additional notes.  In writing the copy for advertisements for books, printers and booksellers often simply listed the title and extensive subtitle that doubled as a table of contents.  That preview gave prospective customers a glimpse of what they would encounter when they purchased and read books themselves.  In this case, however, Mein and Fleeming further embellished the subtitle of Watt’s Psalms: “IMITATED in the language of the NEW-TESTAMENT, and applied to the Christian state and worship, with a PREFACE of twenty four pages, being a Discourse on the right way of fitting the PSALMS of DAVID for Christian Worship.”  The underlined portion identifies deviations from the title page, which instead reads: “with the preface, or an enquiry in to the right way.”  Mein and Fleeming then described the contents of those twenty-four pages in greater detail before giving the same treatment to the “NOTES at the end of the PSALMS.”

The printers had good reason to be so particular.  They concluded their advertisement by proclaiming, “This is the only Edition of Dr. WATTS’s PSALMS and HYMNS printed in AMERICA, with the large Preface and Notes.”  They sought to underscore the value of their edition compared to others produced by local printers, drawing attention to the twenty-four pages in the preface as well as the notes and “proper directions for SINGING” that followed the hymns.  Although infamous loyalists, they appropriated the “Buy American” strategy deployed by supporters of the patriot cause in service of selling their edition of Watts’s Psalms.