'vrts' BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE' ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Mitnvu ^^ Sage 1S91 A,^rSAl .^/j/ .?£ Cornell University Library Z209.N56 H64 Sketches of printers and printing in col olin 3 1924 029 501 016 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924029501 01 6 Three hundred and seventy-five copies of this hook were printed from type, on Holland hand-made paper, at the De Vinne Press, in the month of October, 1895. No, . 36^3 ■^^ JAMES RIVINGTON SKETCHES OP PRINTERS xiND PRINTING COLOmAL KEW yOEK BY CHAELES R. HILDEBURN WITH NTMEEOUS ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YOEK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY 1895 A- %% 3 5-( Copyright, 1895, by DoDD, Mead & Compakt. The DeVinne Press. PREFACE WHEN these sketclies were under- taken a short time ago, I had no idea that they would appear even in book form, much less in the elaborate setting which the pubhshers have given them. I regret that the brief period allowed for their compilation and the -pressure of other business (which prevented more than a couple of hurried visits to New York) should oblige me to let them go forth as im- perfect in many of their details as they must be. If they should arouse some interest in the New York printers who followed Bradford and lead to the col- lection and preservation of their works, I shall at least have aided some one in the future to produce a more exten- sive work. C El. H. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE William Bbadfoed, the Founder of the Press in the Middle Colonies 1 CHAPTER II The Zengers (more especially John Peter Zenger), and the Liberty of the Press . . 19 CHAPTER III The Pakkebs, and their Numerous Estab- lishments 34 CHAPTER IV Henry De Poreest, and the Minor Presses of the Middle of the Century : Samuel Brown, WiUiam Weyman, Samuel Farley, Benjamin Mecom, and Samuel Campbell 55 CHAPTER V PAGE Hugh G-ainb, the Irisli Printer, and Ms Journalistic Straddle 72 CHAPTER VI Whigs and Tories, or tlie Holts and the Robertsons 89 CHAPTER VII James Riwngton, " the only London Book- seller in America" 105 CHAPTER VIII James RiviNGTON,andhis "Lying Gazette" 133 CHAPTER IX A Geoitp of Small Fry prior to the Revolution: Inslee & Car, Hodge & Shober, John Anderson, and Samuel Lou- don 143 CHAPTER X The Loyalist Printebs op the Revolu- tion: Macdonald & Cameron, MiUs & Hicks, WiUiam Lewis, Morton & Horner, and Christopher Sower, 3d 159 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS * Etched Portraits. James Rivington Frontispiece FACING PAGE Hugh Gaine 72 John Anderson 150 Facsimiles of Title-pages, PAGE An Almanack For the Tear of Christian Account 1694. WiUiam Bradford, 1694 . 3 Le Tresor des Consolations Divines et Humaines. "William Bradford, 1696 . . 5 Grondlycke Onderricht van Sekere Voor- name H8ofd-stucken, etc. William Brad- ford, 1708 8 PAGE The Book of Common-Prayer, And Ad- ministxation of the Sacraments. William Bradford, 1710 10 The Charter of the City of New-York. John Peter Zenger, 1735 27 A Brief Vindication of The Pnrchassors Against the Propritors. J. Zenger, Jr., 1745-6 30 An Almanack, For the Year of Christian Account, 1749. Catharine Zenger, [1748] . 32 A Journal of the Proceedings in the Detec- tion of the Conspiracy. James Parker, 1744 39 A Guide to Vestrymen. James Parker, 1747 41 A Pocket Commentary Of the first Settling of New-Jersey, by the Europeans. Samuel Parker, 1759 50 The Claim of the Inhahitants of the Town of Newark. Samuel P. Parker, 1766 . . 52 An Almanack For the Year of our Lord Christ, 1750. Henry De Foreest, [1749] . 56 A Faithful Narrative Of the Remarkable Revival of Religion. Samuel Brown, 1766 59 PAGE Evening Service of Eoshashanah, and Kip- pur. W. Weyman, 1761 62 The Death of Abel, 8. Campbell, 1764 . . 70 Military Collections and Remarks. Pub- lished by Major Donkin. H. Gaine, 1777 . 81 Laws, Statutes, Ordinances, [etc.,] of the City of New -York. John Holt, 1763 . . 91 Laws of the State of New -York. Elizabeth Holt, 1784 97 A Review of the Military Operations in North-America. Alexander and James Robertson, 1770 102 Cow-Chace, in three Cantos. James Riving- ton, 1780 127 Paris Papers. James Rivington, [1782] . . 129 An Enquiry into the Nature, Cause and Cure, of the Angina SufEocativa, ... By Sam- uel Bard, M. D. S. Insiee & A. Car, 1771 142 The Moral and Religious Miscellany; . . . By Hugh Knox. Hodge & Shober, 1775 145 xi FAGE A Voyage to Boston. John Anderson, [1775] 151 The Constitution of the State of New -York. Samuel Loudofi, 1777 156 A List of the General and Staff OfSeers [etc.] serving in North-Ameriea. Macdon- ald & Cameron, 1777 160 MiUs and Hicks's British and American Register. Mills & Hieks, [1780] .... 164 A Reply to Sir Henry Clinton's Narrative. Sower, Morton & Horner, 1783 .... 176 The ornament on the title-page is a facsimile of one used by William Bradford. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINTEES * The dates define the period during which the printer was In business In Mew York. William Bradford 1693-1743 John Peter Zenger 1725-1746 Henry De Foreest 1742-1754 James Parker 1743-1770 Anna Catharine Zenger . . . 1746-1748 John Zenger 1746-1751 William Weyman 1748-1769 Hugh Gaine 1752-1807 Samuel Parker 1759-1760 John Holt 1760-1784 James Rivington 1760-1802 Samuel Farley 1760-1762 Benjamin Mecom 1763 Samuel Campbell 1764 Samuel Brown 1766 xiii AliEXANDEB ROBEETSON .... 1769-1783 James Robertson 1769-1783 Samuel Inslee 1770-1772 Anthony Car 1770-1772 Samuel Franklin Parker . . 1770-1772 Frederick Shober 1772-1775 Egbert Hodge 1772-1800 John Anderson 1773-1776 Samuel Loudon 1775-1792 Alexander Cameron 1777-1782 Donald Macdonald 1777-1782 Nathaniel Mills 1777-1783 John Hicks 1777-1783 "William Lewis 1777-1783 William Morton 1782-1789 Samuel Horner 1782-1786 Christopher Sower 1782-1783 Elizabeth Holt 1784-1786 SKETCHES OF PEINTEES AND PRINTING' CHAPTER I WILLIAM BRADFORD THE FOUNDER OF THE PRESS IN THE MIDDLE COLONIES WHETHER the mtroduction of printing into New York is more due to the disturbances aroused in Pennsyl- vania by the ambition of George Keith to succeed George Pox as leader of the Quakers, than to the vainglorious de- sire of Governor Fletcher to parade ia print his exploits with the French and Indians, is a point not now to be discussed. The fact remaias that WiUiam Bradford removed from Phila- delphia in March or April, 1693, and es- tablished his press in New York. Born in the parish, of Barwell, Leicester- shire, on May 20, 1663, of humble folk of the EstahHshed Church, he first came into notice as the apprentice of Andrew Sowle, thg principal London Quaker publisher of his day, and a proselyte to his master's religion. At the expiration of his time he married his master's daughter, EHzabeth, and in 1685 emigrated to Philadelphia. Here a series of troubles with ecclesiastical and civil authorities culminated in his imprisonment in 1692, followed by his release by Fletcher in 1692-93, and his migration to New York to become Printer to the Kiag. His first pubhcation was probably a pamphlet entitled "New England's Spirit of Persecution Transmitted To Pennsilvania," issued without a print- er's name or place. The broadside " Proclamation " of June 8, 1693, how- eyer, bears his imprint, and has usually been deemed the first issue of his press, a ^ AN # IalmanackI ^ For the Year of Chrrftian Accouxk ^ M 1604. % And from the Creation of the Workl ^ k But by ir«/>/<« Computation 5 i(J94.. ,' Exact size of original. During the year he printed severaLother broadsides, a " Catalogue of Pees," the first printed protest against "keeping slaves," an exploitation of Fletcher called "A Journal of the Late Actions of the Erench," and Leeds's Almanac for 1694, All these were merely pam- phlets. The first book printed in New York was Keith's "Truth Advanced," issued early in 1694, This was followed during the year by that volume now so precious, "The Laws & Acts of the Greneral Assembly for Their Majesties Province of New -York, As they were Enacted in divers Sessions, the first of which began April, the 9th, Annoq; Domini, 1691, At New -York, Printed and Sold by "Wilham Bradford, Printer to their Majesties, King Wilham & Queen Mary, 1694," In 1695 and 1696 his known pubhcations were mainly of an official character, "Le Tresor des Consolations Divines et Humaines," a httle book in French, printed in fulfil- LE TRESOR D-ES ConColatiottS Divines et Humaincs, Ou Traite dans lequel le Chretien peuc apprendre a vaincre et a furmontcr les Afflictions et les Miferes decette vie. Si quel qu'vn veut venir apres mov qu'il renonce a fov nieme, qii*^l charge fa croix, et qu'il me fuive, Mat»i I I m i n i P H wi iMii M iii „ i m mt ii» ■■■ ■- i.i- ■ |. .. ii ■ — — . Type-page of original title is 4% inches by 6^ inches. volume of 332 pages, the last 79 of wMoli contain Tate and Brady's ver- sion of tlie Psalms. Tlie first issue omitted Psalms XII-XVII. In tlie second issue this was corrected by the insertion of a leaf containing these Psalms and a repetition of verse 8 of Psahn XI. This and a new title-page constitute the only differ- ences from the first issue. But one copy is known to be extant, and its title-page is somewhat defective. The venture seems to have been unsuccess- ful, for, upon complaint to the vestry, Bradford, "in consideration of the great loss he has sustained in printing the Common Prayer," was released from his obligation for the loan made in 1704. The fijst separate American edition of Tate and Brady appeared in New York in 1713. Of this but a single copy is known, and that is imper- fect. During the same year Wise's 11 famous revolt against tlie Mathers, "The Ch-urches Quarrel Espoused," was also issued here. In 1714 Brad- ford printed G-overnor Hunter's drama called " Androboros," and Reach's " War with the Devil," a then popular poem. The latter is a small duodecimo volume whose chief interest now lies ia the doggerel recommendatory verses prefixed to it by the printer and his wife. Of the former, but a single copy can now be located, that in the hbrary of the Duke of Devonshire, once the property of John Philip Kemble ; an- other copy was sold at auction in Edinburgh about 1860, but its where- abouts is now unknown. The principal book issued by Brad- ford in 1715 was the "Ne Orhoengene neoni Yogaraskhagh Yondereanayen- daghkwa," commonly known as the Mohawk Prayer Book, a small quarto volume, interesting from a hnguistic point of view and as one of the earhest 12 efforts of the . English to supply the aborigines of New York with printed rehgious instruction. George Petyt's " Lex Parliamentaria," and " Remarks upon Mr. Gales Reflections," the first publication of the Rev. Jonathan Dick- inson, sometime President of the Col- lege of New Jersey, appeared in 1716. ■Almanacs, public documents of New York and New Jersey, to which prov- ince Bradford had been King's Printer since 1703, and a few rehgious tracts are all that are known to have been printed in New York until 1724, when there appeared Governor Burnet's "Essay on Scripture-Prophecy," Brad- ford's typographical chef (Pceuvre, and Colden's " Papers relating to . . . the Indian Trade," containing the first map engraved in New York, a copy of which sold for $685 at the second Brinley sale. In the following year Bradford seems to have formed a partnership with his former apprentice Zenger ; but 13 the single book issued with their joint imprint, Frilinghnisen's " KLagte Yan Eenige Leeden der Nederdnytse Her- yormde Kerk, "Woonende op Rare- tans," shows it was of short duration. But the event of 1725 was the puhh- cation, on October 16, of the first num- ber of the " New York Gazette," the first newspaper printed in New York. Until 1729 the paper was usually printed on a single leaf, although it occasionally contained four pages. Prom that time it was generally four pages, but some- times two, three, or six. It was at aU times ill printed, contained but scanty news, and of advertisements sometimes none and xarely more than five in an issue. It is to be wondered how it dragged on its wretched existence for nineteen years. No perfect file of it exists; the earhest number I have seen is No. 18, February 28 to March 7, 1725-26, and the latest No. 990, Oc- tober 29, 1744. During its last year it 14 bore tlie joint imprint of William Brad- ford and Henry De Foreest, and was the former's last connection with the press. It expired with No. 993 on No- vember 19, 1744, and was succeeded, not, as has generally been asserted, by Parker's " New York Gazette," but by De Foreest's "New York Evening Post." In 1726 Bradford issued the last of those bibUographical puzzles which he called " The Lawsof Theii:-,[Her or His] Majesties [sic] Province [or Colony] of New- York," the previous issues of which had been put forth in 1694, 1710, 1713, 1716, and 1719, of which it can be said that no two copies of the same date are ever exactly ahke after page 72. In his last effort to print a collection of the laws he evi- dently modeled his book on the edi- tion printed in London in 1719 by order of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, but even with 15 this handsome book before Mm lie managed to make enough, errors of one kind or another to create two vari- eties of this edition, and his subsequent annual additions and an attempt to continue the collection to 1736 have converted this work into almost as great a muddle as its predecessors. Bradford's press produced in 1727 the first historical work printed in New York, Colden's " History of the Five Indian Nations," a duodecimo volume of less than 150 pages, of which the same copy has sold at the Menzies sale for $210, at the Brinley sale for $320, and at the Ives sale for $425. Of Bradford's pubhcations after 1727 not much need be said. The most im- portant, historically, were those issued on the Grovemment side of the Zenger case, and the public documents issued by him as printer to the Province. The rest were mainly sermons and al- manacs; to the Bnghsh "ephemerides" 16 of Birkett and Leeds, in 1738 or earlier, lie added an almanac in Dutch, which was continued by De Poreest. Bradford maintained throughout his long life a reputation for probity and abihty which brought him both busi- ness and office. Admitted a freeman of New York in 1695, he became a ves- tryman of Trinity Church in 1703, and in 1711 Clerk of the New Jersey As- sembly. He was printer to the Pro- vince of New York from 1693 to 1742, and for those fifty years all the pubUc documents of the province were printed at his press, except during 1737 and 1738, when the Assembly, in a spasm of repubhcanism, gave its work to Zenger. He was also printer to the Province of New Jersey from 1703 to 1733, with a brief interruption by Keimer in 1725, and a junction with his son Andrew, of Philadelphia, in 1733. His first wife died in 1731, and some time afterwards he married a widow, Comeha Smith, 3 17 with, whose relatives he ultimately be- came inyolved in disputes resulting in serious pecuniary losses. At eighty years of age lie retired entirely from business, and spent the declining years of his life with Ms son William, at whose house he died on the 23d of May, 1752, in th.e ninetieth year of his age. 18 CHAPTER II THE ZENGEBS (MORE ESPECIALLY JOHN PETER ZENGER) AND THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS AMONGr the thousands of Germans xi who by the bounty of the last of the Stuart dynasty were enabled to seek in America repose from the turbulence entailed on their native land by the wars of Louis XIY, was a widow and her three children. Of the latter, one was destined to be the only individual among those immigrants whose name is more than a genealogical atom to- day. John Peter Zenger, the hero of the most important trial which took place in colonial America, was born in 19 Grermany in 1697. The removal of the family took place about 1710, and in that year Zenger was bound an ap- prentice to William Bradford. On the expiration of his time Zenger went for a while to Maryland, where, perhaps, he married his first wife. In 1722 he was again a resident of New York, as the record of his second marriage at the " Dutch Church " shows. He no doubt found employ- ment with his former master, whose partner he became for a brief period in 1725. The only known work bear- ing the imprint of this firm has been already mentioned. In 1723 he was admitted a freeman of the city, and in 1726 he established the second printing-office in New York, Of his publications down to 1733, mostly ser- mons in Enghsh or Dutch, little need be said. "A Charge to the Grand Jury," printed by him in 1727, is interesting from Chief Justice Morris's allusion to 20 witchcraft, whicli, he hoped, " we are so far West as to know only in name" ; and the two tracts printed for Alex- ander Camphell, in 1732 and 1733, are of local historical value. In the last-mentioned year Zenger began the publication of the second newspaper issued in New York. It was undertaken at the instance of and supported by a faction opposed to the then Royal Grovernor. Among them were some of the ablest men in New York of their day, and the boldness and bitterness of their attacks on Cosby soon attracted attention all over America and brought down on the printer the vengeance of the Gov- ernor. On November 2, 1734, Cosby issued an order directing certain is- sues of Zenger's paper to be seized and pubhcly " burnt by the hands of the conunon hangman," and on the 17th of the same month Zenger was arrested by order of the Coim.cLl. He was 21 charged ynth. seditious libel, upon an information brought by the attorney- general before the Supreme Court, the grand jury having failed to indict him. The court had been recently changed to agree with Cosby's views by the arbitrary removal of the former chief justice, Lewis Morris, afterwards gov- ernor of New Jersey and father of the signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence of the same name. Zenger's counsel, James Alexander and William Smith, the leading spirits of the oppo- sition to Cosby, applied for a writ of habeas corpus, but the court fixed bail at such an amount as Zenger could not furnish. Alexander and Smith then filed exceptions to the constitution of the court and were hnmediately dis- barred, Chief Justice De Lancey say- ing, "You have brought it to that point that either we must go from the bench or you from the bar." In place of the eminent pleaders who had undertaken 22 his defence Zenger had only to depend on counsel appointed by the court. The series of unprecedented acts be- ginning with the arbitrary removal of Chief Justice Morris, and culminating with the disbarment of two of the most eminent New York lawyers of the time, aroused an intense popular excitement. The services of Andrew Hamilton, for- merly attorney-general of Pennsylva- nia, and then, although age was com- pelling him to withdraw from active practice, the most distinguished mem- ber of the Philadelphia bar, and proba- bly the only American lawyer ever ad- mitted a bencher of Grrey's Inn "per favor," were enlisted in Zenger's case, or, as he fairly termed it before the jury, the " cause of American liberty." Admitting the pubhcation, Hamilton boldly pleaded its truth, and in con- tradiction of the legal doctrine of the time, "the greater the truth the greater the hbel," he insisted on the right of 23 ■' tlie jury to determine botli tlie law and facts, and in spite of tlie direction of the court to convict Zenger, the jury brought him in " not guilty," and after an imprisonment of thirty -flye weeks he was free. The verdict was received with a burst of applause by the spectators which astonished the court. The bench threatened to commit some of the leaders of the demonstration for contempt, when a son-in-law of the deposed Chief-Justice Morris boldly answered that " applause was common in Westminster Hall, and was loudest on the acquittal of the seven bishops," a significant allusion which brought further plaudits from the audience and no response from the judges. Hamil- ton was escorted ia triumph by the populace to a public dinner hastily pre- pared in his honor; on his departure next day for Philadelphia he was given a salute with cannon, and was subse- 24 quently presented with the freedom of the city inclosed in a suitably inscribed gold box which is still preserved by his descendants. The outcome of the prosecution of Zenger marks the foot of hTunanity advanced a rung higher on the ladder of universal freedom, to which the whole body has not even yet attained. " A brief narrative of the case and tryal of John Peter Zenger, Printer of the ' New York Weekly Journal,' " printed as a folio pamphlet by Zenger in 1736, became the most famous pub- hcation issued in America before the ' ' Farmer's Letters." Five editions were printed in London, and one in Boston in 1738; numerous others have ap- peared since, and it holds a recognized place in both Enghsh and American State trials. The account of the trial was probably prepared by James Alex- ander, who was also doubtless the author of the series of papers which 4 25 appeared in the "Pennsylvania O-a- zette" in 1737, over tlie signature of X, in reply to Blenman's "Remarks on Zenger's Tryal." Some benefit as well as fame ac- crued to Zenger. In 1737 the New York Assembly made bim its printer, and in tbe following year the legisla- ture of New Jersey did the same. Both offices were soon lost, however, owing to his being an indifEerent printer and very ignorant of the Bnghsh language ; at least, Thomas admits the latter, but says he was " a good workman and a scholar." His publications abundantly prove the incorrectness of the first as- sertion, and of the second I have found no evidence. The handsomest speci- men of Zenger's press which I have seen is the edition (in small f oho) of the Charter of the City of New York printed by him in 1735. A copy of this volume was sold at the second Briuley sale for $140, and resold at the THE Sfiotto: ^ OF T HE CITY OF NEW-YORK; Printed by Order of the Mayor, Recor- der, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City aforefaid. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, The AS of the General A^tnbly Confirming the fame. NEjr-roRK, PciDtcd by Jchn Peter Znjer. 1735, Type-page of original title is 10 inches by 6?g inches. Ives sale for $230. Among the impor- tant publications issued by Zenger about the same time were "A Vindi- cation of James Alexander . . . and of William Smitb," and " The Com- plaint of James Alexander and Wil- liam Smith to tbe . . . General Assem- bly," both foho pamphlets of excessive rarity and great historical importance, but of which, I beheve, no library in New York possesses a copy. Zenger continued Ms newspaper until his death, and after that event it was carried on by his widow and later by his eldest son. His other pub- hcations, so far as I know of them, were mostly of a religious nature, and are now of but httle interest except as specimens of his press. Mr. William Kelby tells me that Zenger *' died in New York City, on the 28th of July, 1746, in the 49th year of his age, leav- ing a widow and six children." 28 JOHN ZENG-EE, John Peter Zen- U ger's only child by Ms first wife, was born about 1719. He learned the " art and mystery of printing" in his father's office. About 1741 he married Anneke Lynssen, and I suppose continued to assist his father. Early in 1746 his name appears as J. Zenger, Jun., on a pamphlet by Grriffith Jenkin, called "A Brief Vindication of the Purchassors Against the Propritors [sic] in A Chris- tian Manner." It is a rare httle tract relating to the title of lands around Newark, a copy of which sold for $205 at the second Brinley sale, and of which I know of but three others. In 1749 he became the pubUsher of " The Weekly New -York Journal" and " Hutehins' Almanac " (then called Nathan's), which had been pubhshed by his stepmother. These he con- tinued tUl his death, which occurred some time before July, 1751, when his press and type were sold by auction. 29 Brief VINDICATION OF THE PurchaffoFS Againftthe PROPRITORS, IK A Chriftian Manner. N E W-r R K. Printed, By J, Zingsr^ jun. 1745-*. Type-page of original title is 5% inches by 2\ inohes. I have met with no other puWications bearing this printer's name. ANNA CATHARINE ZENGERwas xX a native of Germany, and became the second wife of John Peter Zenger at New York, August 24, 1722. Her maiden name was Maul. She bore Zen- ger several children, whose baptisms are recorded, as is her marriage, at the " Dutch Church," in New -York City. On the death of her husband she con- tinued Ms business, carrying on the "New -York Weekly Journal" until December, 1748, when she resigned it as well as the business to her stepson John Zenger. She pubhshed the first issue of "John Nathan Hutchins'," at first called "Nathan's," but after 1751, "Hutchins' New York Almanac," in 1746, and in the following year "An Answer to the Council of Proprietor's two Publications [of East New Jer- 31 A N Almanack, FOR The Year of Chriftian Account, I 7 4 9> Being the firfl after LEAP-YEAR Whiriiti »» ConTaintJ, The Lunations, Eclipfes. and Judgment of the Weathet, Planers Motions, and Mufual Afpeiis and Time of Sun and Maon*s rifing'Jnd fttting. (he rising fouihlngand fettingof (he Seven St»rs. »nd TeVeral oiher remarksble Stars, lenjih of Da.^s,a Ti3eTab.l* Fairs, Co urts, Obfervable Days. &c. Fitted to the Vertex of the Cily of PertI/ ^mboy in New yerfcy, but may without Tenlible Error fetve Cerve the adjacent Provinces from Nemu found land to Smttll Carolina. By JOHN NATHAN, Philomath N E Vr YORK Prtrjted and Sold by the Widow Catharine Zen^tr, at the Printing Offlge, in Stane Sfeet. Exact size of original. sey]," a folio pamphlet of great rarity. Thomas says, about 1750 she lived at "G-olden HUl, near Hermanns Rut- gers, where she sold pamphlets, etc." 33 CHAPTER III THE PAEKEES AND THEIE NUMEE0U8 ESTABLISHMENTS TAMES PARKER wasbom at Wood- bridge, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, in 1714. His father, Sanmel Parker, was a son of Elisba Parker, wbo removed to Woodbridge from Staten Island as early as 1675, and was a man of some means and local prominence in Ms day. In 1725 James Parker was apprenticed to William Bradford in New York. Of his apprenticeship I only know that he showed his dissatis- faction by running away from his mas- ter, who advertised in the " New York Gazette" a small reward for his cap- 34 ture. How Parker found his way back is not known, but he certainly served out his time, and in 1742 started business for himself, having secured the position of Printer to the Province of New York in succession to Brad- ford. This office he retained until 1761. His first production was the votes of the Assembly for the latter part of 1742. His next pubhcation, so far as it is known, was the third newspaper published in New York, which was at first called "The New -York Weekly Post-Boy." Number 5, the first I have seen, is dated February 1, 1742-43, from which I infer that the paper was begun on the January 4th preceding. It was a small quarto at first, a larger one in 1744 ; in 1753 it appeared as a small folio, and in 1756 it attained the usual size of the newspaper of the day. Well printed and edited, it soon became a popular and successful newspaper. In 1745, on the death of Bradford's 35 " New York G-azette," Parker changed the name of his paper to " The New York Grazette revived in the Weekly Post-Boy." In 1753 this title was slightly modified, and from that date Tontil 1759 bore the imprint of Par- ker & Weyman. From 1757 to 1760 every paper bore an impression in red, the stamp prescribed under the pro- vincial act of 1756 — the first Ameri- can stamp act, comphed with with- out demur and forgotten in conse- quence. The number for February 5, 1759, bears the imprint of James Par- ker; while that of February 12 has the name of his nephew Samuel Par- ker as pubhsher, to whom the elder Parker had turned over his business in New York. Samuel Parker contin- ued to publish the paper, frequently without his name, tiU August 31, 1760, when it appeared continuously until May 6, 1762, with the name of James Parker & Co., John Holt being 36 the unmentioned partner of the firm. From the last-mentioned date until Oc- tober 9, 1766, Holt appears to have had the entire management of " The Gazette." On October 23, 1766, Parker resumed control and carried on the paper until July 2, 1770. Then for a month the paper appeared without a publisher's name, but from August 17, 1770, to February 1, 1773, or later, the names of Samuel Inslee and Anthony Car appeared as printers. The paper seems to have been suspended before June 27, 1773, when Samuel F. Parker and John Anderson announced their intention of publishing it in August next. Thomas says they did so for a brief period, but I have not been able to substantiate this statement. Parker's first work was "Bnchiri- dium Polychrestum," privately printed for the author, who, according to his book-plate, was " Robert EUiston Gent ComptroP of his Majesties [sic] Cus- 37 toms of New York in America." The title-page is dated 1740, the dedication Vigil. Omn. Sanct. [November 1] 1741, but the typography is neither Brad- ford's nor Zenger's, and is Parker's; besides which the printer's "flowers " used throughout it all appear in works from no other American printing-office than the latter's. The work is highly mystical, and the author probably in- sisted on preserving in print the dates he had affixed to his manuscript, though the book was not printed until 1742, In 1743 Parker pubhshed, besides almanacs, pubhc docilments, and his newspapers, only a couple of sermons and an edition of Shepherd's "Sincere Convert"; but in the following year he printed an account of a memorable and bloody event in New York history in a handsome quarto volume, clumsily en- titled "A Journal of the Proceedings in The Detection of the Conspiracy," — and so on for nearly a solid page, — 38 JOURNAL O F T H B PROCEEDINGS I N The Dere(5>ion of the Confpiracy FORMED BY Some H^hite People, m ConjunSk>vereign, iLord iCing GfMX^ *h* Second. Whertm f s cbnwme^ the LunatiohSt EoUpfcs, Suns Riringtnd5ert)ng,tiietnuroat Arpf>£ts of ihe Planets, and tbcir Places in the Eclip< ijck, JtiCiog and Setting of the Seven Stars, Time of High- Water* Moons Age, CoUrt/, Fairy, dcneral. Meetit»s, obTdrvcaWe^Days. Judgemcwtof ifhe Wcaibcr, and a C>crcriptiw> of the "Roads, &c. Fitted for theLJaotode of 41 Degrees^ yfdrth^ and fortke Meridian of the City Q/fi/feia- ttcrk bor may without fenGbte Emqf»Tciv for alLthe Neighbouring Governments., By Ritgef, Shermath N £ W !^ O R K rioit>daii4 SoW by Hewiisf Be Fomjpt, Mvln? av If^cH- ilVUli '^t.the! SicW OF THE *RIMTIflC P«E3f» >,,■, fan. ^ ^ ^ - ^^, ^ Size of original. November 12, 1734. On the 24tli of the following month he married Su- sannah, daughter of Benjamin Bill and widow of WiUiam folding. He remained with Bradford for some years after the expiration of his time, and about 1742 became a partner in the "New York Grazette." Towards the end of 1744 he acquired Bradford's interest in this paper, and on October 26 of that year changed its name and time of issue to the " New York Even- ing Post," the first afternoon paper published in America. The paper was unusually well printed and fairly edited, but was not a success. It was, how- ever, continued to 1752 or later, the last number I have met with being March 30, 1752. The earliest pamphlet I have seen printed by De Poreest is a bitter attack upon the Moravians by G-erar- dus Duyckinck, issued in 1743. Be- sides his newspaper, the almanacs cus- tomarily published by every printer of 8 57 the time, and a mimber of pamphlets, I know of notMng of much conse- quence printed by De Foreest until 1749, when he issued Sherman's " Al- manack for the Year of our Lord Christ, 1750," the first publication of that cobbler statesman of Connecticut whose fate it was to be the only man who signed all four of the great docu- ments on which our goyemment is based. How long De Foreest con- tinued to print I do not know; he pubhshed a sermon in Dutch in July, 1754, and was dead before August, 1766, when his widow sold some of his real estate. One of his daughters married Samuel Brown, whom I shall next mention. SAMUEL BROWN was a bookseller in New York about 1755. He had perhaps succeeded to the business of Henry De Foreest, whose daughter he 58 A Faithfol NAR R ATIVE Or THE Remarkable Revival of Rdigion, JM THE Congregation of EoJi'SamptWt on Long-JJland, In the Year of our Lord 1764. WITH Some Refle(Etions. By SAMUEL BUELL, A M. Minifter of the Gofpel there. Pfal. xxvi. 7. That I may publilh with the Voice of Thankfgtving. and tel) of all thy wondrous Works. Pfal. clxv. 4. One GeneraiioD fliall praife th/ Worksite another, and (hall declare thy mighty A^s. P/al. w. 1 8. This Aiall be written for the Generation 10 come. 1 Tbtjf. i. 7, S For from you founded out the Word of the Lord. . N E ^-T O R K- Printed by Samuel Brown, at the Foot of Pot-Baker's Hill, between the H^w Dtffcb' Church and Fly-Market, 1766, Exact size of origmal. had married. In 1761 lie formed a partnership with James Rivington as Rivington & Brown, the former man- aging the bookseUiiig business in Phil- adelphia. A branch house was estab- lished la Boston in 1762, but the firm was dissolved in 1765, and Brown opened a printing-of6.ee of his own. I have seen only two small volumes bearing his imprint, both of which ap- peared in 1766. In February, 1769, the widow De Foreest advertised the sale of the " Printing Press, Types and other Material formerly belonging to Henry De Foreest, deceased, and lately occupied by Samuel Brown," WILLIAM WEYMAN was a son of the Rev. Robert Weyman, who about 1720 was sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to take charge of "episcopal" churches at Ox- ford and Radnor in Pennsylvania, 60 whence lie removed in 1731 to the care of St. Mary's church, Bnrhngton, New- Jersey, where he died in 1737, leaving a wife and six children "in low cir- cumstances." WilHam Weyman, says Thomas, was born in Philadelphia, and served his apprenticeship there under WiUiam Bradford, the grandson of New York's first printer. In 1748 he is said to have printed the second edition of Theodorus Frihnghuysen's " Jeugd-oeffening of Verhandehng van de Grodlyke waarheden, der Christelyk rehgie, hy wyze van vragen en ant- woorden, tot onderwijs der ionkeyd." In 1753 he became a partner of James Parker, whose New York office and newspaper he managed until the dis- solution of the firm in 1759. In 1756 both partners were arrested for an article published in their paper which gave offence to the Assembly; both were finally discharged upon apologiz- ing and giving up the author's name. 61 Evening Service O F ROSHASHANAH, AND K I P P U R. R The Beginning of the Year, AND ' The Day of Atonement. ^MMMWPMMVM NEft^-rORK; printed by ff. fFeyman, in Brtad-Slrttt, MDCCtxi, Type-page of original title is 6?g inches by 3?^ inches. After separating from Parker, Weyman opened a printing-office of Ms own; in February, 1759, lie began a new "New York Crazette," and later in the year supplanted Parker as printer to tbe Province. In the latter capacity be printed the second volume of Living- ston and Smith's revision of the pro- vincial laws, the acts and votes of the Assembly until 1767, and in 1765 " The Charter of the city of New York." Besides these public docu- ments and his newspaper Weyman issued few important pubhcations — " The Bill of Complaint in the Chan- cery of New Jersey, brought by Thomas Clarke and others against the Proprie- tors of East-New-Jersey," printed in 1760, and the "Evening Service of Kroshashanah, and Kippur," the first volumes of Jewish prayers printed in America, and perhaps the first printed in the English language, issued in 1761, being the only important exceptions. 63 In 1764 lie undertook the printing of a new edition of the " Mohawk Prayer Book," but left it unfinished at his death. His newspaper was never very successful, and was finally suspended in December, 1767 — not, however, be- fore the careless printing of the As- sembly's address to the Governor had occasioned his appearance at the bar of the House to beg pardon of its of- fended maj esty. He died in New York City, after a hngering illness, on July 27, 1768. SAMUEL FAULEY was the son of Felix Farley, a Quaker printer of Bristol, England. He settled in New York in 1760, and in the following year began the pubUcation of a weekly newspaper called "The American Chronicle." In 1762 his printing- office was destroyed by fire, and he re- turned to Bristol, and there pubhshed 64 some tracts by Samuel Fothergill. He afterward emigrated to Greorgia, where lie practised law at Savannah. In 1774 he was chosen one of the com- mittee to receive subscriptions for the poor inhabitants of Boston, and in May, 1780, was elected a member of the Georgia Assembly from Savannah. As Thomas says, " When he died I can- not say." I have found no trace of him as a New York printer outside of Thomas's " History of Printing." BENJAMIN MECOM was born in Boston about 1728. He was the son of Edward Mecom by his mar- riage with Jane, youngest sister of Benjamin Frankhn. He learned his trade in Philadelphia, at the office of his celebrated uncle, and about 1750 estabhshed himself in business at St. John in the island of Antigua. Soon after his arrival there he began "The Antigua Grazette," wMcli he conducted for several years. In 1756 lie returned to Boston and opened a printing-office there, printing as his first work in his new location an edition of thirty thou- sand copies of "The Psalter" for the booksellers, at a rate which yielded him less than a journeyman's wages. In 1758 he began "The New England Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure," but issued only three or four numbers. One of its departments he called " Queer Notions," which, owing to his own eccentricities, became a nickname of the printer. In 1760 he published a separate edition of the "Wisdom of Poor Richard" as collected by Frank- hn in the almanac for 1758, under the title of " Father Abraham's Speech," the first of some four hundred similar pubhcations which, as " The Way to Wealth," " La Science de Bonhomme Richard," etc., have been issued down to the present time. In- 1763 he moved 66 to New York and began the publica- tion of " The New -York Pacquet" in July of that year, at " The Modern Printing Office, in Rotten-Row " ; but, having been appointed postmaster of New Haven in 1764, he bought out Parker & Go's estabhshment there, and removed to that place. He revived their " Connecticut Gazette," and con- tinued it until 1767, when he sold out to Samuel Green and went to Phila- delphia, where, in January, 1769, he started a very small and short-hved weekly newspaper called " The Penny Post." This proved a failure, and in September, 1770, he issued a printed letter to the "Mayor, Recorder and Aldermen of Philadelphia," from which the following is an extract : Sir, Be pleased to permit me to inform you, that I have been in this City a few months more than two Years, during which time I have en- deavored to get constant employment at my own business, but being disappointed, My Wife (the 67 Bearer hereof) has been frequently advised to apply to your Worships for a recommendation to his Honour the Governor, to grant us a Li- cense to sell spiritous Liquors by small Measure, at a House where we have now lived almost a Quarter, where such Sale has been continued. We are not fond of the Prospect it affords far- ther than as it may contribute to support a num- ber of young growing Children whose Welfare we would earnestly and honestly endeavor to secure. At all the places where he had a printing-office he pubhshed a few pamphlets, none of which are of par- ticular importance. Mecom finally found a place with Wilham Groddard, the publisher of " The Pennsylvania Chronicle," and after that paper ceased to exist in 1774, was employed by Isaac Colhns at Burlington. Thomas says " he hved for some time in Salem county; and finished his earthly pil- grimage soon after the beginning of the revolutionary war," The same writer relates from personal observa- tion some of Mecom's eccentricities. The latter came frequently to the office where Thomas was serving his appren- ticeship, handsomely dressed, and wearing a " powdered hob wig, ruffles and gloves, gentlemanlike appendages which printers of that day did not as- sume, and thus apparelled would often assist for an hour. " He would ' ' indeed put on an apron to save his clothes from blacking, and guarded his ruffles, but he wore his coat, his wig, his hat, and his gloves, whilst working at the press, and at case laid aside his apron." Mecom was well educated, of good ad- dress, and an ingenious as well as a good workman, but was more incHned to experiment than to give strict at- tention to his business. "He was," says Thomas, " the first person, so far as I know, who attempted stereotype printing. He actually cast plates for several pages of the New Testament, andmadeconsiderable progress towards 69 T H £ DEATH o r ABEL. 1 N FIVE BOOKS. ATTEMPTED FROM THE GERMAN of Mr. GESSNER. BV MARV COLLYER. — NEW-TORK : PRINTED AND SOLD BY S. CAMPBELL, NO. 37, llANOVES-SqUASE. 1764. Exact size of original. the completion of them, but lie never effected it." SAMUEL CAMPBELL was the name of the printer of a translation of Gressner's " Death of Abel," which ap- peared in New York in 1764. I have been unable to ascertain anything con- cerning him, or that he printed any- thing else. 71 CHAPTER V HUGH GAINE, THE IRISH PRINTER AND HIS JOURNALISTIC STRADDLE HUeH GAINE was bom in Belfast, Ireland, in 1726, and learned his trade there in the office of James Macgee. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he emigrated to New York, where he found employment with James Parker, In 1752 Gaine opened a printing-house of his own, and on August 3 of that year began the publication of " The New -York Weekly Merciu-y," and con- tinued the paper under that title until 1770, when he changed it to " The New- York Gazette and theWeekly Mercury. " 72 HUGH GAIKE Under the latter title it oontinued to appear until November 10, 1783, when he ceased its publication. In 1753 he incurred the displeasure of the Assem- bly on accoimt of publishing an inac- curate report of their proceedings, and was summoned to the bar of the House, where, upon his apologizing, he was reprimanded by the Speaker and re- leased. When the Stamp Act came in force in November, 1765, Gaine, like many other American pubhshers, suspended the regular issue of his paper. In place of it he put forth a sheet sometimes headed "A Patriotic Adver- tisement," and at others "No Stamped Paper to be had." One other inci- dent in Gaine's career in connection with his newspaper must be men- tioned. It is, I believe, without a parallel in the annals of joumahsm. At the outbreak of the Revolution Gaine, after a shght leaning toward 10 73 the American cause, assumed and maintained a strict neutrality; but wlien it became likely that the British would occupy New York in September, 1776, he sent one of his presses to Newark, and on the 28th of that month began to issue there a quarto newspaper bearing the name and im- print of " The New -York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury, Printed by Hugh Gaine, at Newark, in East-New-Jer- sey," devoted to the Whig cause, at the same time continuing to issue his neu- tral paper of the same name, from his sign of "the Bible and Crown," in Hanover Square, The Newark edi- tion was issued two days earlier than the New York one, but, besides bear- ing the same name, was numbered in sequence with the earliest issued. This was continued until November 2, mak- ing duplicate numbers and two papers of different politics from No. 1301 to 1307. After the battle of Long Island 74 G-aine concluded the American to be the losing side, withdrew from New- ark, and gave his paper a British tone, which it preserved until its termina- tion. The Lenox Library possesses the only known file of this curious ex- ample of the same newspaper pub- hshed simultaneously on two sides of a question then at the arbitration of the sword. In the early part of his career Glaine was concerned in two other periodi- cals. In August, 1754, he began the publication of a short-hved weekly, called "The Plebeian," of which I have not seen a copy ; and later in the same year he was prevailed upon by WiUiam Livingston and Rev, Aaron Burr to revive their suppressed " In- dependent Reflector" under the title of " The Watch Tower." The latter was not only issued separately, but was pubhshed weekly in the "Mercury," and was continued for about a year. 75 Gaine's press was the most prolific of its time in New York. Among tlie more important and interesting of his publications are : Addison's " Cato," 1753 ; Blair's " The Grave," 1753 ; "A Brief Vindication of the Proceedings of the Trustees Relating to The College [of New York]," 1754; "Psahnodia Germanica, or the German Psalmody translated from the High Dutch," 1754, an octavo of about 260 pages ; a re- print of Makemie's "Narrative," 1755 ; Thomson's "Discourse on Inocula- tion " (first printed in Philadelphia, 1750), 1756; "A Memorial containing A Summary View of Facts" (of which Parker & Weyman also published an edition, as already noted), 1757 ; " The Trial of Admiral Byng," 1757; the first "Catalogue of the Books belonging to the New York Society's Library," 1758, which he again printed in 1773 ; a trans- lation of Frederick the Great's poem on War, 1758 ; what would now be a 76 higlily interesting and curious volume, " The New American Mock Bird," a collection of the best songs on differ- ent subjects, 1761. In 1762 he re- printed Hopkinson's poem on Science without the author's consent, and pub- lished a quaintly worded card of ex- cuse, alleging that he had done so, not from " any lucrative view, but only to promote the circulation of so excellent a piece." In 1765 he issued (as did nearly every printer then in America) an edition of "An Act for granting cer- tain stamp duties in the British Colo- nies in America," the odious " Stamp Act," and in 1766 he completed his magnum opus, " Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Greneral As- sembly Of the Colony of New- York, 1691-1765," in two foho vol- umes of nearly nine hundred pages each, the first of which was issued in 1764. In 1768 he became printer to 77 the Grovernment, and from that year until the Revolution printed the votes and acts of Assembly, and the other pubhc documents of the colony. In 1769 he printed, "A Treatise on Courts Martial," the first work of its kind in English for Stephen Payne Adye, a lieutenant of the Royal Artillery; "Middleton's Discourse on the open- ing of the [first] Medical School in the City of New York" ; and completed the edition of the "Mohawk Prayer Book," begun by Weyman in 1764. In 1770 he printed the " Rules for the St. An- drew's Society," and in the following year the " Charter for estabhshing an Hospital in the city of New York," and the third issue of " The Charter of the City of Albany." Among his pubhcations in 1773 were Porteus's " Lif e of Archbishop Seeker," with an appendix by the Rev. T. B. Chandler, which contains much valua- ble matter relating to the Episcopal 78 Churcli ia America, and "A State of the Right of the Colony of New- York, with respect To it's Eastern Boundary on Connecticut River, So far as concerns the late Encroachments under The Government of New-Hampshire," a copy of which sold for $190 at the second Brinley sale. In 1774 he issued Van Sohaack's edition of the Laws of the Province, a f oho volume of nearly 850 pages; "The Charter" and "Laws, Statutes, Ordinances and Constitu- tions " of the City of New York ; the first catalogue of the alumni of the College of New Jersey (now Prince- ton) ; "A Collection of Statutes " relat- ing to the Post Office ; and an edition of the " Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress, Held at Philadelphia," first printed in Philadelphia. In 1775 and 1776 Grauie's puhhcations were ephemeral pamphlets, of which only the "Rules and Articles for the bet- ter Government of the Troops of the 79 Twelve United Colonies" need be mentioned. Of, Graine's publications in 1777 two are worth noticing bere ; the first American edition of "Robinson Cru- soe " is one wbicb requires no note to emphasize its importance. The other was a volume curious in itself, inter- esting from the portrait of Lord Percy, engraved in New York, which was pre- fixed as a frontispiece, and the long Ust of the officers of the British forces in America who subscribed for it, but infamous for the note on page 190 which is scissored out of all but one known copy, and is here for the first time reprinted. The title of the book, which was pubhshed by subscription, was " Military Collections and Re- marks." The author, according to the^ prospectus, was "a late Greneral Of- ficer of distinguished abihties," and the editor was Robert Donkin, then a major in the British army, sometime 80 MILITARY COLLECTIONS AND REMARKS. La /oriune difpoft 4tt •vtOattn \ mail un jugtmtnt mur, uut prudtntt fagtt tt C ixpirttttti, /avent /tutt apprtndre C u/a^t qu' d fattl in fuiri. TORTENSOW. PUBLISHED By Major D O N K I N. N E W - y O R K: PriDled by H. G « i n E, at the Bible and Crown, in JHabover-Sq^are, m,dcc,1.icx,yii, Type-page of original title is ^% inclies ty 3 inches, 11 commandant of the Grarrison Battalion in New York City, and finally full gen- eral in His Britannic Majesty's ser- vice. The note, which Donkin ap- pended to a chapter on bows and arrows, reads thus : " Dip arrows in matter of small pox, and twang them at the American rebels, in order to inoculate them ; This would sooner disband these stub- born, ignorant, enthusiastic savages, than any other compulsive measures. Such is their dread and fear of that disorder ! " In 1778 he printed in the " Grazette," and as a pamphlet, a "Narrative or Journal of Capt. John Ferdinand Dal- ziel Smith, of the Queen's Rangers, taken Prisoner by the Rebels in 1775." This was one of the two or three contemporaneously pubUshed accounts of the treatment of loyalist prisoners by the Continental authorities, which, with the letters of Colonel, afterward 82 Greneral, Sir Archibald Campbell de- scribing bis treatment by the govern- ment of Massachusetts, give grounds to assert that the subsequent horrors of the British Prison Ships in New York Bay and the brutality of Cun- ningham had their forerunners among the "Patriots of '76." The author, by the way, as J. P. T>. Smyth, after- ward published a couple of volumes of his travels in the United States, and later on claimed to be the representa- tive of the Stuarts, in support of which he published in London, in 1808, under the name of Ferdinand Smyth Stuart, what he called " an historical poem," entitled "Destiny and Fortitude," il- lustrated with nicely engraved por- traits of Mary, Queen of Scots, and himself. Graine printed GraUoway's " Letters of Papinian" in 1779 ; apoemonthe burn- ing of New York in September, 1776, in 1780 ; the " Charter of the Marine So- 83 ciety," on paper in part made from wood, in 1781 ; " Rules to be observed by tbe Hand-in-Hand Fire Company," on tbe only known copy of which a former owner has written, " preserved merely to shew that there is a Fire Company without Fire Buckets." After the Revolution and the suspen- sion of the " Grazette " Gaine was more of a bookseller than a printer, but he issued a number of works which are worthy of mention. In 1784 he printed the last of the folio edition of the " Laws, Statutes, Ordinances and Constitutions, Ordained and Estab- hshed by the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of New York," and in 1789 Jones and Yarick's edition of the " Laws of the State of New- York." The copy of this work which was specially bound and presented to Greneral Washington, was sold at auc- tion in Philadelphia in November, 1876, with other volumes from Washington's 84 library. It is in two volumes, and is a remarkable specimen of American bookbinding of its day, but it sold for no more than $9 a volume. Its pur- chaser found in one of the volumes a survey of Mount Yernon drawn in "Washington's own hand. Taking this out, he sold the volumes for $30 apiece to Mr. C. W. Frederickson, at whose sale they were bought by Dr. G-eorge H. Moore for $104 a vol- ume. Dr. Moore disposed of them to the writer at the comfortable advance of $750 for the two, and they now repose in the Tower Collection of American Colonial Laws in the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania. Gaine printed a duodecimo edition of the Bible in 1792, a duodecimo edition of the Book of Common Prayer in 1793, and a folio edition of the same in 1795. In 1790 he pubhshed the first New York edition of the New Testament, 85 To tlie half-dozen almanacs — HuteMns's and Moore's, pocket and sheet, Enghsh and Dutch — which he issued for many years, Gaine added in 1774 another in his " Universal Reg- ister," which in its subsequent issues became of the greatest historical value by the addition to its regular Usts of the civil of&cers of government in America of a hst of the of&cers of the British army serving here during the Revolution, embracing not only those of the hne, artillery, and engineers of the regular army, but of the German mercenaries and loyalist regiments embodied during the war. In another field — books for the amusing instruc- tion of children — Gaine was a pioneer. Instead of the New England or the duller New York Primer he from time to time offered a variety of educational works couched in terms meant to be attractive to juvenile minds. Concern- ing the inevitable and innumerable 86 editions of Watts's Psalms and Hymns I have not gone into details, but he did Ms share in adding to their num- ber, and no doubt reaped his propor- tion of profit thereby. In the half century of his active bus- iness career Gaine acquired a hand- some fortune, and at the same time, by the rectitude of his conduct, won the respect of his fellow-citizens. The former he lost toward the close of his life through an unfortunate partner- ship in a lottery scheme, but the latter he retained unimpaired until his death. He was twice married : first in 1759 to Sarah Robins, by whom he had an only son, John R., who died in 1787 at the age of twenty-six, and two daugh- ters. His second marriage, which took place about ten years later, in 1769, was contracted with a widow named Cor- nelia Wallace, by whom he had several daughters. He has numerous descen- dants at the present day, one of whom 87 owns the original portrait from wMcli our etching is made, and is to-day a successful and enterprising publisher. Graine took an active part in social and religious matters, if not in pohtics. He was treasurer and vice-president of the St. Patrick Society, and for many years a vestryman of Trinity Church. He died in New York on April 25, 1807, in the 81st year of his age, and was buried in his vault in Trinity churchyard. CHAPTER VI WHIGS AND TORIES, OB, THE HOLTS AND THE ROBERTSONS JOHN HOLT was bom at WDliams- ^ burg, in Yirginia, in 1721 ; received a liberal education, became a merchant, and was elected mayor of his native place. Meeting with financial reverses, he procured in 1754, through the influ- ence of his wife's brother, one of the two deputy postmasters-general for America, a situation with James Par- ker, the newly appointed postmaster of New Haven. Parker not only placed Holt in charge of the post-of&ce, but took him into partnership in a book- 12 89 store and prmtiag-house wMcli lie established in New Haven, tlie firm name being James Parker & Co, Holt, I presume, bad learned tjrpe-setting in the office of bis brotber-in-law. Hunter, before he left Wilhamsburg. His first publication, " Liber Primus Novo- Portu Impressus," according to the title-page, was an edition in Latin of the statutes of Yale College. On the 1st of January, 1755, he be- gan " The Connecticut Gazette," the first newspaper printed in the colony, and continued its publication until 1760, when he was called to New York to take charge of Parker's printing- office. The business of the New Haven firm of James Parker & Co. was car- ried on through an agent until 1764, when it was sold to Benjamin Mecom. In New York, Holt had entire charge of the business, Parker preferring to attend to his printing-office at Wood- bridge. He soon acquired an interest 90 LAWS, STATUTES, ORDINANCES AND CONSTITUTIONS, ORDAINED, MADE and ESTABLISHED, BY THE Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty, OF THE City of New-Tork, Convened in Common-Council, FOR The good Rule and Government of the Inhabitants and Refideots of the faid City. Published the Ninth Day of November, in tbe third Tear tf the Reign of cur Sovereign Lard, GEORGE tbe Third, 6} the Grace 0/ GOD, «/ Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender oj tbe Faith, C^c. Annoque Domini 1762. And in the Mayoralty ef John Cruoex, E/q; To which i* added, ^11 Appendix, eontaining Exlraffs 0/ fandry ASs of tbe General tiffemiiy, af tbe Colony of New- York, immediately relating to the geed Government of tbe faid City and Corferatien. Printed and Sold, by John Holt, at the Ntw Prnling Ofiie, at the lower ^nd of Broad Street^ oppofitc the Excbonge, 1763. Type-page of original title is lOV^ inches by 5% inches. in tlie concern, and for a couple of years its publications bore the imprint of James Parker & Co. In 1764 both, partnerships were dis- solved ; Holt leased the New York es- tablishment, and began publishing on his own account. He also continued the " New York Grazette" ; butof this, al- though issued in Holt's name, Parker retained the proprietorship. The earli- est publication bearing Holt's imprint was " The Laws, [etc.,] of the City of New- York," issued late in 1763. In 1764 he printed the " Report " of the famous New York case of Porsey vs. Cunningham, and 1765 reprinted Dan- iel Dulany's "Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies, Por the Purpose of raising a Revenue. " In 1766 he printed a small quarto volume of 72 pages, a collection of Jewish prayers translated by Isaac Pinto of New York. In 1766 he quarreled with Parker, and instead 92 of issuing the " Gazette " on May 29 lie pnt forth. " The New York Journal, No, 1." Before the next weekly issue of the " Grazette " was due, the quar- rel was composed and the publication of the "Journal" was discontiuued in favor of the "Grazette." The peace lasted only until October, when Holt opened a printing-office of his own and recommenced the " New York Jour- nal," but this time numbering at No. 1241, in sequence with the " Gazette," which he supposed would expire with- out his attention. Parker, however, was too good a business man to per- mit this, and the " Gazette " and "Journal" continued to appear as two distinct newspapers niunbered from a common starting-point for several years. Holt gave the " Jour- nal" a vigorous Whig tone, and it achieved an immediate success, at- tained a wide circulation, and attracted contributions from many able writers 93 who took the side of American liberty. In 1774 he replaced the cut of the royal arms, which had ornamented his heading, with the rattlesnake, di- vided into twelve parts, and the motto " Join or Die," which had been occa- sionally used before from the time it was suggested in the "Pennsylvania Gazette " of May 9, 1754, On the ap- proach of 'the British army in 1776, Holt removed to Esopus (Kingston), leaving much of his personal property in New York, "which he totally lost." He resumed the " Journal " at Esopus, continued it when he removed to Poughkeepsie, and again printed it in New York City in the fall of 1783, after the British had evacuated. At the last-named place Holt changed the name of the paper to " The Indepen- dent Grazette, or the New York Jour- nal." After his death its pubhcation was continued by his widow until 1785, and from that time until 1787 it was 9i published by Eleazer Oswald, a relative of Mrs. Holt. Early in the last-men- tioned year the paper was sold to Thomas Greenleaf, who continued it, with several changes of name, until 1798. About 1770 Holt established a print- iag-ofB.ce at Norfolk, Yirgiuia. This was under the management of his son, John Hunter Holt, who pubhshed a newspaper there, and did such other printing as came in his way. The Norfolk paper became obnoxious to Lord Drummond, and in October, 1775, he despatched an officer and thirteen men from the man-of-war on which he had taken refuge in the previous June to seize the printer and destroy his effects. The latter part of their object was accomphshed, and aroused great indignation throughout Virginia. The elder Holt was twice again a sufferer at the hands of the British : once when they bumedEsopus,and then when they 95 sacked Danbury, to wMch. place lie had sent a part of his effects for safety. Holt does not seem to have been very enterprising as a book-pubhsher. Be- sides his newspaper he did but ht- tle, except in printing pamphlets and broadsides. In 1776 he became " Printer to the State," and as such his time was fully occupied by the printing of the "Laws" and "Jour- nals" and his newspaper and al- manacs. He died in New York, Janu- ary 30, 1784, and was buried in St. Paul's churchyard. ELIZABETH HOLT,who succeeded her husband as Printer to the State of New York, is perhaps beyond the scope of a work on the colonial printers; but as she may have aided her husband in his business before the Revolution, I have included a brief notice of her. She was bom in Wil- 96 LAWS Of THE STATE N E W - Y O R K, PafTcd at the firft Meeting of the Seventh Seffion of the Le- giflature of faid State Beginning the laih Day of February, 17I4, and eodmg the liUi Otjr of May t'ol lowing. NEW YORK. Printed by Elizabeth Holt, Ptintei to the State. M.DCC.LXXXIV. Type-page of origimal title is H5g inches by 6^ inches. 13 liamsburg, Virginia, in 1727, and was a daughter of Jolin Hunter, a mer- chant of that colonial capital. She married Holt in 1749, and after his death continued his business, at first alone, and afterward with the assis- tance of a relative, Eleazer Oswald. She disposed of her interest in the printing-office and newspaper about 1787, and removed to Philadelphia, where she died on March 6, 1788, in her sixty-first year. JAMES EOBEETSON was bom in Scotland, and learned his trade in his father's printing-office. In 1764, he, in company with several compa- triots, went to Boston, where for a time he found employment as a jour- neyman. In 1768 he removed to New York, and, having been joined by a younger brother, estabUshed a printing-house under the name of 98 James Eobertson & Co. The Eobert- sons began a newspaper called " The New York Chronicle," and printed a few pamphlets. In 1770, at the in- stance of Sir William Johnson, they removed to Albany, where, in Novem- ber of the foUowiag year, they began the pubhcation of "The Albany Ga- zette," which they continued to pub- Ush mitil 1775. Beyond the city ordi- nances and a few pamphlets, I know of nothing else that they produced while in Albany. In 1773 they formed a partnership with John Trumbull, and opened another ofS.ce in Norwich, Connecticut. Their first pubhcation seems to have been a newspaper called " The Norwich Packet," which was begun in October, 1773. As at Albany, not much is known of the issues of their Norwich press. An edition of Watts's Psahns and a few pamphlets are aU that can be traced. The Rob- ertsons were loyahsts, and on the 99 entry of the British into New York they disposed of their interest in the Norwich business to Trumhull, and confided the Albany plant to a friend, who caused it to be buried on his farm, from whence it was resurrected about 1782 and sold to Balentine and "Web- ster, who estabhshed the second print- ing-office in Albany. Removing to New York City, the Robertsons began the pubhcation, in January, 1777, of ' ' The Royal American Gazette. " This paper was continued in their joint names until James Robertson followed the British army to Philadelphia in February, 1778, and began the pubh- cation of " The Royal Pennsylvania Grazette," the last number of which appeared on May 26, 1778. Soon after this he returned to New York and opened a shop in Hanover Square. He soon, however, rejoined his brother in the pubhcation of " The Royal American Grazette," and contiaued thus 100 engaged until tlie early part of 1780, when, with Macdonald and Cameron, he removed to Charleston, South Caro- lina, where they estahhshed, " by au- thority," " The Eoyal South Carolina Grazette." This paper lasted during the British occupation of Charleston, on the termination of which Robert- son rejoined his brother in New York. "The Royal American Gazette" was issued by them ^ntil near the time of the evacuation of New York by the British ; after 1781 it for a while bore the imprint of Robertsons, Mills and Hicks, but how long this firm lasted I have not ascertained. James Robert- son returned to Scotland and became a bookseller in Edinburgh, where he was hving in 1810. His wife. Amy, died at Norwich, June 15, 1776, just before he left there for New York. 101 R E V I E W O F T H E MILITARY OPERATIONS I N NORTH-AMERICA FROM The Commencement of the French Hostilities on rhc Frontiers of Vtrgmta, id 1753, to the Sur- render of OJwego, on the 14th of Ao^ufl, 1756. INTERSPERSED, With various Obfervanons, Charaders, and Anecdotes > nccffTary to give Light mto the Coaduft of American Tranfadions in general, and more Specially into the poli- tical Management of Affairs in New-York In a LeriER to a Nobleman. NEW YORK: Printed by Alexander and James Robirtson, MoccLJfX Type-page ol original title is 6)^ inehes by 4 inches. ALEXANDEE E0BERT80N was -Ti born in 1742 in Scotland, and like Ms brother learned his trade in his father's printing-office. About 1768 he joined his older brother, already noticed, in New York, and began business with him under the name of James Robertson & Co. Besides the newspaper published by them, the only thing of importance which they printed was the third American edition of WiUiam Livingston's " Re- view of the Mihtary Operations in America from 1753 to 1756," printed in 1770. In company with his brother he engaged in business in Albany, hav- ing also a printing-office at Norwich, Connecticut; and on the occupation of New York by the British army, in 1776, removed to that place. There, in connection with his brother, alone, or again with his brother and Mills and Hicks, he pubhshed " The Royal American Grazette," January, 1777, un- 103 til 1783. On the evacuation of New York by the British, he removed to Nova Scotia, where he began the pub- lication of a newspaper at Shelburne, or, as it was at first called. Port Eose- way. He died there in November, 1784, in the forty-second year of his age. 104 CHAPTER VII JAMES RIVINGTON "THE ONLY LONDON BOOKSELLER IN AMERICA" ON the death of Richard Chiswell in 1711, a London publishing-house estabhshed some fifty years before, which had produced in that period, among other books, the fourth foho edi- tion of Shakespeare, passed into the control of Charles Rivington. The new proprietor turned his attention largely to rehgious publications, and became the founder of a house which earned fame and wealth by following in his footsteps until its very recent dissolution. Charles Rivington had, U 105 besides, a sound judgment which in- cited him to urge upon Richardson the writing of a series of " letters, in a common style," which acquired an instant success under the unforgotten title of "Pamela." But he also had a humorous appreciation of the foibles of mankind, of which Curwen relates an amusing instance. A poor vicar of a remote country parish had preached a sermon so acceptable to his con- gregation that they begged him to have it printed. Full of the honor conferred, and the celebrity to come, the parson started to London to find a pubhsher. He was recommended to Rivington, who accepted his pro- posals, but was startled with the preacher's idea that the edition should consist of about thirty-five thousand copies. Rivington remonstrated, but in vain ; the author insisted that no less a number would meet the demand, and the matter was settled. The cler- 106 gyraan returned home and waited. Two months exhausted his patience, and he wrote demanding an account, adding he was in no hurry for a re- mittance. In response Rivington sent the following bill: The Rev. Dr. To C. Rivington Dr. To Printing and Paper, 35,000 copies £ s d of Sermon 785 5 6 By sale of 17 copies of said Sermon 15 6 Balance due C. Rivington . . . £784 The horror of the poor vicar, which can be readily imagined, was soon re- heved by the following letter from the printer : Rev. Sir, — I beg pardon for innocently amus- ing myseM at your expense, but you need not give yourself any uneasiness. I knew better than you could do the extent of the sale of sin- gle sermons, and accordingly printed one hun- dred copies, to the expense of which you are heartily welcome. 107 Charles Rivington died in 1742, and was succeeded in business by Ms sons John and James. James Rivington was born in Lon- don in 1724, and with his brother con- tinued the business in the channel it had been led into by their father — the publication of works mostly of a reli- gious character until sometime after 1752. On September 14 of that year he married a daughter of Thomas MynshuU of Charlton Hall, Lanca- shire, and about 1754 he withdrew from St. Paul's Churchyard and began busi- ness first with one Millar and then in partnership with James Fletcher " at the Oxford Theatre in Pater-noster Row." His connection with the latter began early in 1756, but their first notable publication did not appear un- til about May, 1757. It was Smol- lett's "History of England," in four quarto yolumes, and it is said that the author reahzed £2000, and the pubhsh- 108 ers £10,000, by its publication. Riv- ington & Fletcher issued a number of other very successful works, among which were " Newcomb's Version of Hervey's Contemplations," Mably's "Principles of Negociation," "En- quiries concerning the First Inhabi- tants of Europe," "Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris," "The Natural and Civil History of California," and "A Dialogue between General Wolfe and the Marquis Mont- calm." The wealth acquired by suc- cess in business enabled Rivington to keep a carriage and hve in hand- some style, while his manners and address were such as to gain for him. a footing in the higher classes of Eng- lish society. He became devoted to the turf and a regular attendant of the races at Newmarket. During the sea- son of 1759 his losses were so heavy that he thought himself ruined, and persuaded one of his creditors in Jan- 109 uary, 1760, to have him declared a bankrupt. His assignee was finally enabled to pay twenty shillings on the pound, and hand over a balance to Rivington. In September, 1760, he opened a book-store in Hanover Square, New York, announcing himself as the "only London Bookseller in America." In January, 1761, he removed to Phila- delphia and opened a store there, leav- ing his New York house in the care of an agent. The arrangement underwent a change in 1762. Samuel Brown, of whom a brief notice will be found on page 58, became his partner, and took charge of the business in New York. Rivington brought out a considerable stock of books from London, of which he issued a catalogue in November, 1760, no copy of which is now known to exist. A copy of " A Catalogue of Books sold by Rivington and Brown at their Stores in New York and Phil- no adelpMa," issued in 1762, has been preserved. It is a small pamphlet of ninety pages, and is divided into two parts, the jfirst of which comprises 783 titles, to many of which are appended long descriptive notes and extracts. Among the hooks catalogued are " The Rambler " ; Smollett's indecent ' ' Ferdi- nand Fathom" and famous "Peregrine Pickle"; "Chrysal"; " The Spectator"; "The Tatler"; Anson's "Voyages"; Gibber's "Lives of the Poets"; Plu- tarch's "Lives"; ",History of the Devil, written by Daniel Defoe, father of the late Mr. Defoe, Merchant at New York"; Middleton's "Cic6ro"; the works of Addison, Pope, and Swift; several editions of Shakespeare and Dryden; Bayle's "Dictionary"; a complete edi- tion of Voltaire's works, then appear- ing monthly, with Smollett's name as translator; "Walton's "Complete An- gler"; "The American G-azetteer"; many school-books, works on mathe- 111 matics, architecture, astronomy, hus- bandry, etc. ; and two or three pages of novels and plays. To Rousseau's "New Heloise " Rivington gives as a note an extract from the preface filling twelve pages, whUe from Smollett's " History of England " he quotes the characters given of the elder Pitt and Greneral Wolfe. The last five pages are filled with one-line titles of hooks which "were the Library of a Grentleman of genteel Taste." This hst comprises three hundred and fifty volumes, and is interesting and instructive in show- ing the extent of colonial reading in the middle provinces. Theology, to which, according to McMaster, the New England library was almost con- fined, finds but little space. Pufen- dorf, Locke, Sidney, MachiavelU, Milton, and Johnson's Dictionary ap- pear among the folios ; Newton's " Prin- cipia," Francis's "Horace," Plutarch, Swift, Pope, Smollett, and Sydenham 112 among the octavos ; Shakespeare," The Spectator," "Tom Jones," Moli^re's plays (in French), and other Ughter works, among the duodecimos. There is a sprinkling of Americana too, such as the " Laws of PennsylYania," printed by Bradford in 1714; Franklin's " Cato Major," and Stith's "Virginia." At the end of the catalogue Rivington offers: "The greatest Yariety of ele- gant Pocket-books with Knives, Scis- sars [sic], Pencils, Cork-screws, &o. &c." "Also an elegant Assortment of Jewelry; consisting of Diamond, Grarnet, and Past [sic] Ornaments for Ladies and Gentlemen, and of Grold, Pinchbeck and Silver Buckles." " With the very Best Grreen, and Bo- hea Teas, Finest Snuffs." UntU the advent of Rivington it was generally possible to tell from an American bookseller's advertisements in the current newspapers whether the work offered for sale was printed in 15 113 America or England. But the books he received in every fresh invoice from London were "Just published by James Rivington," and this form was speedily adopted by the other book- sellers, so that after 1761 the adver- tisements of books are no longer a guide to the issues of the colonial press. Some of the pamphlets announced by Rivington were no doubt printed for him in Philadelphia or New York, but it is difficult to distinguish them. In 1762 he further extended his business by estabhshing a store in Boston. This was discontinued, however, in 1765, on the death of the person to whom its management was committed. He withdrew from Philadelphia in 1763 or 1764, and returned to New York, and soon afterward dissolved his con- nection with Brown. After 1765 he confined his business to New York, where he was not successful, and finally became a second time a bank- 114 rupt. He soon recovered, and in 1767 was keeping a book-store under tlie name of J. Rivington & Co, In Jan- uary, 1769, he was admitted a Free- man of the City of New York, and in March of the same year married his second wife, EUzabeth Van Home. This lady was an aunt of the Revolu- tionary belles described so vivaciously in Becky Frank's letter to her sister, Mrs. Andrew Hamilton of Philadel- phia, which is printed in " The Re- pubhcan Court," except a few sen- tences. One of these, relating to Cor- neha Yan Home, reads : " Her feet as you desire I '11 say nothing about [and then, like a woman, does directly the contrary], they are Y. Horn's and what you 'd call Wilhngs." About 1772 Rivington moved to a shop "facing the Coffee-House bridge," and toward the close of that year added a printing-office to his book- store, where, in 1773, he began the 115 publication of a newspaper, to wMcli I shall refer later on. A sermon by the Rev. John Sayre, a volume of church music, a catalogue of books for sale at his store, and a couple of almanacs were the only separate pub- lications of his press during the first year of its existence. But in the fol- lowing year his business as printer became one of the most active in the country. Besides the two volumes of Cook's "Voyages," with plates en- graved by the Boston silversmith of midnight-ride fame — Paul Revere — he issued some forty other pubhca- tions. These were mostly pohtical pamphlets called forth by the dispute between the colonies and Great Britaia. Rivington printed for both sides with great impartiahty. Among his publi- cations in 1774 are Hamilton's rephes to Seabury, Wilkins, and Cooper, whose pamphlets were also printed on Rivington's press. The latter's 116 "American Querist" called foriih the following card from the printer : Last Week the Heads of the Platbergasted Fraternity, who have lately affected to stile themselves the Public, in solemn Conclave au- dited the Queries contained in the following Book, and on finding some they could not, and others they would not answer, with a Candour, Justice and Decorum, by which their Proceed- ings have ever been distinguished, they com- mitted it to the Flames ; in immediate Conse- quence of which the Printer has been called upon by large demands for the Editio Altera, of this piece. When you damn the Printer, and burn his Pamphlet, he laughs, reprints, tri- umphs and fills his Pocket. In 1775 Erivington issued some twenty-eight pohtical brochures, near- ly all on the Tory side. Among them were 8e wall's " The Americans Roused, in a Cure for the Spleen," Chandler's ' ' What think ye of the Congress Now "? " Barry's " The General, attacked By a Subaltern," and Oallo way's " Candid Examination. " The last called for ' 'An 117 Answer," and to this Gralloway wrote " A Reply" wMcli was printed by Riy- ington in April, but not published until liis return to New York in January, 1777, as the following advertisement in GTaine's " New York Gazette " shows : The above pamplilet was printed by James Rivington about a twelve month ago ; but the spirit of persecution and sedition raged so high at that time he dared not publish it. The last sheet had been scarcely struck off, when an armed mob surrounded his house, and forcibly carried off all his types. Also, Leonard's "Present Pohtical State of Massachusetts " and " Origin of the American Contest," " The Pa- triots of North- America," and "The Triumph of the Whigs." On the Amer- ican side he printed several tracts, such as Burke's speeches in Parhament, Arthur Lee's "Appeal to the People of Grreat Britain," Greneral Charles Lee's "Letters" and "Strictures" on the "Friendly Address," and Hamil- 118 ton's " The Farmer Refuted." Besides these controversial publications he also printed a four- volume edition of Ches- terfield's "Letters," "A Short State of the Proceedings of the Proprietors of East and West Jersey, Relative to the Liae of division between them," and Bernard Romans's " Concise Nat- ural History of East and West Flor- ida." The last-mentioned nugget, like the WUmington edition of Eilson's " Kentucky," is always found with- out the two large maps promised on the title-page. The maps were en- graved by some one who resided far up the Hudson, were printed on paper made at Wilcox's mills near Phil- adelphia, and their completion was announced on May 4, 1775, ia Riv- ington's newspaper. At present but a single copy of each is known, both of which are in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In the "Gazetteer" of April 13, 119 1775, Rivington announced as in the press " The Republican Dissected : Or the Anatomy of an American Whig, in Answer to the Farmer Refuted," which brought the popular feehng against him to a chmax. The Whigs of Newport, Rhode Island, had passed resolutions condemning his course on March 1, and similar action was taken at Freehold, New Jersey, a week later. He had during the previous year in- dulged in an epistolary quarrel with Isaac Sears, the leader of the " Sons of Liberty " in New York, which partook of a very personal character, and in which Rivington made Sears appear both ill-tempered and illiterate, and, of course, ridiculous. Sears now seized the opportunity for revenge, and head- ing a body of " Sons of Liberty" from Connecticut, attacked Rivington, and destroyed the sheets and manuscript of " The RepubHcan Dissected," and much more of the printer's property. This act 120 was disavowed by the leading Whigs, and the New York Provincial Con- vention several times endeavored to obtain from Connecticut pectmiary compensation for the damages Riving- ton had sustained. Soon after Sears's raid Rivington was formally arrested, but after being detained some time he " signed the Greneral Association," published a handbill declaring his in- tention to adhere to it, and asking pardon for his iU-judged pubhcations, and was thereupon " permitted to re- turn to his house and family." While under arrest he addressed the follow- ing protest to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia : Whereas the subscriber, by the freedom of his publications during the present unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her Colo- nies, has brought upon himself much public displeasure and resentment, in consequence of which his life has been endangered, his property invaded, and a regard to his personal safety re- 16 121 quires him still to be absent from Ms family and business ; and whereas, it has been ordered by the Committee of Correspondence for the city of New York that a report of the state of his case should be made to the Continental Congress, that the manner of his future treat- ment may be submitted to their direction, he thinks himself happy in having at last for his judges gentlemen of eminent rank and distinc- tion in the Colonies, from whose enlarged and liberal sentiments he flatters himself that he can receive no other than an equitable sentence, unbiased by popular clamor and resentment. He humbly presumes that the very respectable gentlemen of the Congress now sitting at Phila- delphia will permit him to declare, and, as a man of honor and veracity, he can and does solemnly declare that however wrong and mis- taken he may have been in his opinions, he has always meant honestly and openly to do his duty as a servant of the public. Accordingly his conduct, as a printer, has always been con- formable to the ideas which he entertained of English liberty, warranted by the practice of all printers in Great Britain and Ireland for a century past, under every administration; au- thorized, as he conceives, by the laws of Eng- land, and countenanced by the declaration of the late Congress. He declares that his press 122 has been always open and free to all parties, and for the truth of this fact appeals to his publications, among which are to be reckoned all the pamphlets, and many of the best pieces that have been written in this and the neighbor- ing Colonies in favor of the American claims. However, having found that the inhabitants of the Colonies were not satisfied with this plan of conduct, a few weeks ago he published in his paper a short apology, in which he assured the public that he would be cautious for the future of giving any further offence. To this decla- ration he resolves to adhere, and he cannot but hope for the patronage of the public, so long as his conduct shall be found to correspond with it. It is his wish and ambition to be an useful mem- ber of society. Although an Englishman by birth, he is an American by choice, and he is de- sirous of devoting his Uf e, in the business of his profession, to the service of the country he has adopted for his own. He lately employed no less than sixteen workmen, at near one thousand pounds annually ; and his consumption of print- ing paper, the manufacture of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and the Massachusetts Bay, has amounted to nearly that sum. His extensive foreign correspondence, his large ac- quaintance in Europe and America, and the man- ner of his education, are circumstances which, 123 he conceives, have not improperly qualified him for the station in which he wishes to continue, and in which he will exert every endeavor to be useful. He therefore humbly submits his case to the honorable gentlemen now assembled in the Continental Congress, and begs that their determination may be such as will secure him, especially as it is the only thing that can effectu- ally secure him in the safety of his person, the enjoyment of his property, and the uninter- rupted prosecution of his business. May 20, 1775. James Rivington. Toward the close of 1775 he once more made himself obnoxious to the Revolutionary party, and in Novem- ber of that year his office was again mobbed and its contents almost en- tirely destroyed. In January, 1776, Rivington left New York for London, in the ship Sansom, in company with a number of other loyahsts. After a stay in England of more than a year, he returned to New York with a new outfit and the appointment of " Printer to his Majesty," but printed 124 nothing worth mentioning until the following year. Among his publica- tions during 1778 were: "The Ad- ventures of a British Nobleman at Paris, or the art of ruining a man of fashion ia fourteen days, said to be written by a Mr. Eoutledge, who melted his twelve thousand Louis there in the above space, and then returned pensive and chop fallen to recruit in his native country"; An- stey's "Election Ball," a volume of spurious " Letters from Greneral Wash- ington," Charles Lee's "Account of the treatment of Major-General Con- way," Pratt's "Pupil of Pleasure," •Robertson's "History of America," an " Army List," and some lampoons on the Americans, such as " The Dia- boHad," " The Triumph of Folly," and "A fuU and perfect List of the rebel Council, Assembly, Committees, etc., etc., of the Province of Massachu- setts Bay." His business as a pub- 125 lisher began to decline in 1779, and with the exception of a reprint of Tickell's "Anticipation" and a collec- tion of " Songs, Naval and Military," compiled by himself, I know of noth- ing from his press worthy of mention. In regard to the last-mentioned vol- ume the following advertisement was inserted in "The Royal G-azette" of March 10, 1779 : The printer being employed at the desire of many gentlemen, in compiling a collection of Navy, Military, and Constitutional Songs, and being in want of the following, begs the favour of any G-entlemen, possessed of the words, to oblige him as soon as possible with copies of them : Genius of England, and Sing all ye_ Muses, by PurceU ; Grog is the Liquor of Life, by Harry Greene; The Soldier who Danger and Death doth despise ; Hot Stuff, by Colonel Hale, of the 47th. The collection was pubUshed in " a pocket volume" on March 24. It is curious to note that the last-mentioned 126 COW-CHACE, IN THREE CANTOS, Publifhed on OccaGon of Ihe Rebel General WAYNE's ATTACK OE THE REFUGEES BLOCK-HOUSE On HUDSON'S River, On Friday the. 21(1 of Jvtv, 1780. NEIV-rORK- Printed bv JAMES RIVINGTON, MDCCLXXX. Type-page of original title is 5^ by 3J inches. song had appeared in his own paper of May 5, 1774 (with the " clever hut in- decent " conclndiag verse which Sar- gent printed on a separate leaf), and was then ascribed to "Ned" Botwood, a sergeant of Hale's regiment. Could a copy of this collection now be found, we might have a new and enlarged edition of "The LoyaHst Poetry of the Revolution." Riviagton's publications during 1780 were few but varied in their char- acter. The report of the trial of Andre came from his press some six months after the "Cow-Chace," the original manuscript of which is now in the Childs collection at the Drexel Institute; and Bogatzky's "Grod's Thoughts of War in Peace," and "A Discourse upon Devilism," appeared at about a hke interval. Andre's " Cow- Chace" appeared originally in three numbers of " The Royal Gazette," the last canto on the very day of his cap- 128 ' Paris Papers ; O R Mr. Silas Deane's late intercepted LETTERS, T O His Brothers, and other intimate Friends, in AMERICA. To which are annexed for Comparifon, ihe Coogre/Tional Declaration of Independency in July 1776, and that now incalating among the revolted Provinces, with the nrvir-io he- forgolten Orders of the Rebel General in Ja- gujl 1776, Jot pnvmting a I'acifieetion. N E W. Y O R K: Re-pRtINTEd ay Jamej Rivincton. Size of origmal. 17 ture, a singular veriflcation of its pro- phetic epilogue : And now I 've clos'd my epic strain, I tremble as I show it, Lest this same warrior-drover Wayne Should ever catch the poet. In 1781 he issued "The Candid Retrospect, or the American War, examined by Whig Principles," Ray- hal's " Revolution in America," " The New Duty of Man," and Miss Sew- ard's "Monody on Andre"; and in 1782, " The Amusing Practice o| the Itahan Language" and the "Paris Papers, or Mr. Silas Deane's late intercepted Letters," the latter in a small volume now of great rarity. In 1783 he pub- hshed the last of the British "Army Lists" printed in America, and re- printed " Advice to the Of&cers of the British Army," and one or two other pamphlets. After the royal forces withdrew from New York, Rivington 130 was allowed to reraain, and continued business until near the beginning of tbe present century, when he again failed and retired finally from active hfe, and resided with his son James, a half -pay of&cer of the British army. He published a few books after the war, such as " The Democrat or In- trigues and Adventures of Jean Le Noir from his Enlistment as a Drum- mer in General Rochambeau's Army and Arrival at Boston," and a book of " Fairy Tales " with nine copperplates engraved by Alexander Anderson, but confined himself mainly to selling books and stationery. Dr. Francis, in his " Old New York," gives us a glimpse of "Rivington in rich purple velvet coat, full wig and cane, and ample frills, deahng good stationery to his customers." Rivington has been charged with being a traitor to the royal cause when it became the los- ing side, by furnishing Washington 131 with information as to the move- ments of the British; but the tale as told by Lossiag is loaded with such marvelous details as to the way in which his communications were made as to cast discredit on the main asser- tion. He certainly retained to the end the respect of Carleton, the last British commander-in-chief in New York, who, when peace was a practical necessity for England, presented his sons John and James with commissions ia the British army, which enabled them to enjoy half pay from 1783 until their deaths, without having seen any active service. Rivington died in New York City (one of whose streets still bears his name), July 3, 1802, and was buried in the yard of the old Dutch church on Nassau street, the site of which is now covered by a modern office-build- ing. At the time of his death he was the senior "Liveryman" of the "Sta- tioners' Company of London." 132 CHAPTER VIII JAMES EIVINGTON AND HIS "LYING GAZETTE" ONE of the first, if not the very first, of the issues of Rivington's press was " Rivington's New- York Ga- zetteer; or the Connecticut, New- Jer- sey, Hudson's-River, And Quebec Weekly Advertiser," aU of which wide-spreading title was divided by a poorly executed type-metal cut, la- beled "The London Packet." The first number, dated April 22, 1773, followed a well- written four-page pros- pectus, in which Rivington prom- ised a better journal than any that had previously appeared in the col- onies. In point of news he carried 133 out his prospectus, and tlie political articles from his contributors are ri- valed only in the earlier numbers of Zenger's "Journal" and Goddard's " Pennsylvania Chronicle." With his eighteenth number Rivington im- proved the "cut" and left off the legend. The nimierous advertise- ments and the almost continuous series of " supplements " issued for their accommodation show how suc- cessful the " Q-azette " was from the start. In October, 1774, B/ivington inserted the following announcement in his seventy-eighth number : The weekly impression of this Gazetteer is lately increased to Three Thousand Six Hun- dred, a number far beyond the most sanguine expectations of the Printer's warmest friends ; as the presses of very few, if any, of his breth- ren, including those of Great Britain, exceed it. This paper is constantly distributed thro' every colony of North America, most of the English, French, Spanish, Dutch and Danish "West India islands, the principal cities and towns of Great 134 Britain, France, Ireland, and in the Mediterra- nean. Such an extensive circulation fully evinces the great advantages found by every one that sends advertisements to be published in it. And whilst the Printer continues to do ample justice to all opinions in the unhappy dispute with the mother country, he doubts not of being honoured with the unremitted appro- bation and patronage of all those whom it is his highest ambition to please. The subscribers acquired by him since the 9th of June last, amount to upwards of five hundred, after al- lowing for every one who by death or other causes, has diminished the number. With niimber fifty-five he began to add to the heading the statement that the paper was "Printed at his ever open and uninfluenced Press," and it was conducted with great impartiahty as well as abihty until toward the close of 1774, when it became decidedly Tory in its tone. In November of that year, when most American editors were withdrawing the royal arms from the 135 headings, Rivington inserted them in place of Ms cut of the ship. Perhaps the following "Extract of a Letter from London to a Gentleman in this city " may explain the change in Riv- ington's line of conduct. It was is- sued as a handbill in New York on July 25, 1774, and read : It is the Purpose of Lord North to offer one of your Printers Five Hundred Pounds, as an Inducement to undertake and promote Minis- terial Measures. Perhaps native prejudice and a con- fidence in the certain success of the British regulars over the provincials influenced him. The material at hand does not justify me in venturing an opinion. The result, however, was that the paper became more feared and hated by the Whigs than any of its Tory contemporaries. Rivington's office was twice mobbed, and on the second occasion he was deprived of 136 the means of continuing his paper by the destruction of his presses and the conversion of his type into bullets for American use. I have already said something of all this, as well as of his going to England and of his return to New York. On October 4, 1777, the "G-azetteer" resumed its weekly ap- pearance, but a couple of weeks later the name was changed to "Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette." Another change was made in December, when the paper became " The Royal Ga- zette," under which title it continued to appear — twice a week after April, 1778 — until the end of the war. Its unsparing attacks upon " the rebels " aroused an animosity which found vent in Freneau's poetry,^ Wither- spoon's prose, and the popular nick- naming of the paper "Rivington's Lying Oazette." Of the opprobrious 1 One of Freneau's attacks was on the occa- sion of the introduction of a new cut of the 18 137 epithet it was no more deserving than was Graine's paper ; the tales of Brit- ish prowess and loyahst sufferings which appeared in the latter are not a whit less fabulous nor a paragraph royal arms in the heading of the "Gazette." It runs, in part : "From the regions of night, with his head in a sack. Ascended a person accoutred in black, And leaning his elbow on Rivington's shelf While the printer was busy, thus mus'd with himself — ' My mandates are fully complied with at last ; New arms are engraved, and new letters are cast; I therefore determine, and freely accord. This servant of mine shall receive his reward.' Then turning about to the printer he said, ' Who late was my servant shall now be my aid; Since under my banners so bravely you fight. Kneel down ! For your merits I dub you a knight ; From a passive subaltern I bid you to rise — The INVENTOR, as well as the printeb of Lies.' " 138 less numerous than those printed by Rivington. It is quite hkely that Rivington told the truth so often and so plainly (in which form it is fre- quently more unpalatable than false- hood) that the Whigs called him a har whether he was or not. To this kind of abuse, however, he was im- pervious, and when threatened with personal violence he more than once showed great tact in escaping. An instance of this, told by Curwen, al- though frequently reprinted, cannot be omitted here. It is given as told in Rivington's own words : I was sitting down, after a good dinner, with a bottle of Madeira before me, when I heard an unusual noise in the street, and a huzza from the boys. I was on the second story, and, step-- ping to the window, saw a tall figure in tar- nished regimentals, with a large cocked hat and an enormously long sword, followed by a crowd of boys, who occasionally cheered him with huzzas, of which he seemed quite unaware. He came up to my door and stopped. I could see 139 no more — My heart told me it was Ethan AJlen. I shut my window, and retired behind my table and my bottle. I was certain the hour of reckoning had come — there was no retreat. Mr. Staples, my clerk, came in, paler than ever, clasping his hands — " Master, he has come ! " " I know it." I made np my mind, looked at the Madeira, possibly took a glass. "Show him up, and if such Madeira cannot mollify him, he must be harder than adamant." There was a fearful moment of suspense ; I heard him on the stairs, his long sword clanking at every step. In he stalked. " Is your name James Rivington?" "It is, sir, and no man can be more delighted to see Colonel Ethan Allen." " Sir, I have come " " Not another word, my dear Colonel, until you have taken a seat and a glass of old Madeira." " But, sir, I don't think it proper ." "Not another word, Colonel, but taste this wine ; I have had it in glass ten years." He took the glass, swallowed the wine, smacked his lips, and shook his head approvingly. "Sir, I come " "Not an- other word until you have taken another glass, and then, my dear Colonel, we will talk of old officers, and I have some queer events to detail." In short, we finished three bottles of Madeira, and parted as good friends as if we never had cause to be otherwise. 140 After tlie evacuation of New York by the British, Eivington dropped the cut of the arms which he had intro- duced into his heading in 1777, and November 22, 1783, altered the name of the paper to " Rivington's New- York Grazette, and Universal Advertiser." In this form he endeavored to con- tinue its pubhcation, but it failed to meet with support, and its last number appeared on December 31, 1783. 141 A N E N Q U I R Y INTO THE NATURE, CAUSE andCURE, OF THE Angina Suffocativa, O R, SORE THROAT DISTEMPER, As it 15 commonly called by the InKabitantj of this City and Colony. Bv SAMUEL BARD, And Professor of Medicine in King N E W - Y O R K. M. D. 's CoLLias,. Is RtCTE CURA'I URL'S tJ^EM PRIMA ORICO CAUS^ NOB rfFEI.I.rRlT. CEI.SUS. NEW YORK: Printed by S Inslec, and A Car, at the New Printing-OfTice in Beaver-Street M.DCC.LXXI Type-page of original title is 6f inches by 3-fg inches. CHAPTER IX A GROUP OF SMALL FEY PRIOR TO THE REVOLUTION : INSLEE & CAR, HODGE & SHOBBR, JOHN ANDERSON, AND SAMUEL LOUDON SAMUEL INSLEE was a journey- man in James Parker's New York of&ee at the time of the latter's death, and as Parker's son was disin- clined to give his personal attention to the business, Inslee found a partner in Anthony Car and leased the office. They continued " The New York Ga- zette " and printed a few pamphlets, only one of which I have seen, namely, "An Enquiry into the Nature, Cause and Cure of the Angina SufEocativa," 143 or diphtheria, by Dr. Samuel Bard, issued in 1771. They met with Ut- tle success and retired from business about April, 1773. Inslee was after- ward employed as a journeyman by Isaac Collins, in whose office he died suddenly about October, 1778, while at work. Of Car I have been unable to obtain any particulars. FREDEEICK 8H0BER, according to Thomas, was a native of Ger- many, but learned his trade as an ap- prentice to Anthony Armbruster in Philadelphia. After working two or three years as a journeyman, he began business in partnership with Robert Hodge. They selected Baltimore as their first location, but in less than a year removed to New York. This was toward the end of 1772, but the earhest of their pubhcations I have seen is dated in the following year. 144 THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS MISCELLANY? O R, S 1 X T Y . N E APHORETICAL ESSAYS, ON SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES asd VIRTUES^ B V HUGH KNOX, D. D. Ik St. CROIX. : htcc tgo mecum Comfrejjil agits iabril, vii qui J Jdtur oil Ittudt cha^hi, HoR. ^uicquiApraeipiet^ tfia hrtvit^ ut c:t» d'tHa Percifiant animi docitei^ UHiantque ^tiekt. HoB. Ars Poet. Scribtntem jwvat iji/tfavor^ minmrque Ukorem^ Caiti^ue/uf crefcens peftereftrvet afiuh O'viD* =.*5B^ii-*«£i5^= HEW YORK: PiiNTED BV MODGB «KD SHOBEH. M. Dec. tXXV. Type-page of original title is 6J^ inches by Z% inohes. 19 Their printing-office was first in Queen street and then in Maiden Lane, They printed largely for hook- sellers, printing in 1773 Toplady's ''Predestination " and " The Religious Trader or advice for the Trader's prudent and pious Conduct from his Entrance into Business to His Leav- ing it off," for Samuel Loudon, and a number of pamphlets for Ebenezer Hazard and Garret Noel, then the most considerable booksellers in New York who had no presses of their own. They pubhshed on their own account a number of pamphlets, among which were G-arrick's " Irish Widow," Grold- smith's " She Stoops to Conquer," and Benjamin Brush's "Address to the Inhabitants of America upon Slave Keeping." In 1774 they printed for John McGibbons, a bookseller who had removed from Philadelphia to New York, the second volume of the first American edition of Josephus. 146 The first volume had been printed by the Bradfords in Philadelphia; the third and fourth volumes appeared in 1775, the last of them with the imprint of Shober & Loudon. The three volumes average five hundred pages each, and in that respect, as a bookseller's venture, have no peers among the colonial books of New York. In the early part of 1775 Shober bought out Hodge's interest in the business, but at once sold it to Samuel Loudon. This firm was dissolved during the same year, by Loudon's purchase of his partner's share in the business. Shober then retired to a farm near Shrewsbury, New Jersey, ia the cultivation of which he spent the remaiader of his life. He died there about 1806. 147 ROBERT HODGE was bom in Scot- land in 1746, and learned Ms trade as a printer in Edinburgh. At the expiration of his apprenticeship he went to London, and after work- ing there two years as a joumejonan, came, in 1770, to Philadelphia, where he found employment in the printing- of6.ce of John Dunlap. Two years later he formed a partnership with Erederick Shober. They estabhshed themselves in Baltimore, " where they intended to have published a newspa- per," but not meeting with sufficient encouragement, toward the close of the same year they removed to New York, The partnership was dissolved early in 1775, Hodge selhng his in- terest in the business to Shober, and engaging in bookselling. On the approach of the British, Hodge fled to the country, abandoning a large part of his stock, which was subsequently destroyed by the invaders. After re- us siding in New York State for a year or two he went to Boston, " and there, in connection with others, opened a printing-house." After the war he returned to New York and resumed business as a bookseller. About 1788 he, with Samuel Campbell and Thomas Allen, added a printing-ofl&ce to the book-store. Each of the mem- bers of the firm maintained a separate place of business in his individual name ; their pubhcations being adver- tised as "for sale at their several book-stores. " Among the books issued by them was " The New York Direc- tory for 1789," the third attempt at such a publication. It was a small duodecimo of one hundred and forty- four pages, a part of which was de- voted to statistical matter. Allen withdrew from the firm before 1792, when Hodge & Campbell issued an edition of the Bible. About this time the building used by the firm, which 149 was also Hodge's dwelling, was de- stroyed by fire, entailing heavy loss. Soon afterward Hodge & Campbell separated. The former continued the business of a bookseller for several years, but about 1800 disposed of Ms stock and purchased an estate in Brooklyn, where he resided until about 1810, when he returned to New York City, living at No. 3 Beaver street until his death. He died on the 23d of August, 1813, leaving a considerable property to charity, to a sister, and to numerous nephews and nieces. TOHN ANDERSON, a native of " Scotland, came to New York about 1770 and found employment in James Parker's ofB.ce. In August, 1772, he married, in New York, Sarah, daugh- ter of Joseph Lockwood, of Fairfield, Connecticut. In June, 1773, he formed a partnership with Samuel F. Parker, 150 > JOHN ANDERSON A VOYAGE T O BOSTON. A POEM. In peace thereat nothing fo hecomti a man. As modtft ftillnrfi and hurnUtty ; But wbtn the bla/l of viar blows in yeur ears, then imitate the aSlion of the Tigtr, Stiffen the /mews, Jummon up tbi- blood. Shakefpcare. By the Author of American Liberty^ a Poem: General Ctie'i Soliloquy, &C. N fi W - Y O R K : Printed by John Anderjon, at Beekman'5 Slip. Type-page of original title is 63^ inches by Z% inches. and ttey attempted, unsuccessfully, to revive " The New York Gazette." In 1775 he estaMished an office of his own near Beekman's Slip, where he printed a few pamphlets, among which was Freneau's Hudibrastic "Voyage to Boston," and also reprinted an Eng- Hsh periodical, then very popular ia America, called "The Crisis," the fore- runner of Tom Paine's spasmodic but effective pubhcation of nearly the same name. He also began in August, 1775, a newspaper called "The Constitutional Grazette," of which it was said that the hne at the top giving the name of the printer and the price of the paper were the only words of truth in it. Anderson had warmly espoused the side of the Whigs in the controversy with the parent country, and on the approach of the British ia the autumn of 1776 packed up his effects and started to leave New York. On reach- ing the American lines, however, his 152 wagons were seized for military pur- poses, Ms press and furniture ruth- lessly thrown out in the road, and his books and papers used for making cartridges. He finally reached Green- wich, in Connecticut, where his wife had relatives who sheltered the ruined printer. He found employment dur- ing the war as " captain of a sort of scouts on the Neutral Ground," and when peace was declared returned to New York City. Here he was at first a printer, and latterly an auctioneer, but never a successful man. He died during an epidemic of yeUow fever in September, 1798. One of his sons, Alexander Anderson, was the founder in America of that art in which we have no rival — engraving on wood. OAMUEL LOUDON was bom in ^ Scotland in 1727. He estabhshed himself in New York as a ship-chan- 20 153 dler about 1760, but about 1772 be- came a bookseller. In 1775 he bought the interest in the business of Hodge & Shober which the latter had then just purchased from his partner, and the firm of Shober & Loudon had a brief existence. Before the end of the same year Loudon bought out Shober and became sole proprietor of the estabhshment. In January, 1776, he began " The New York Packet," which he conducted on Whig principles. Loudon, though a zealous Presbyterian and warm republican, undertook to print a pamphlet in answer to " Com- mon Sense," and accordingly adver- tised its speedy appearance in aU the papers. The Whigs became alarmed and "a meeting was summoned, the parties met, and after swallowing [at the house of Jasper Drake, a tavern- keeper upon the dock, and father-in- law to Isaac Sears before mentioned] a sufficient quantity of Rumbo, about 154 twelve at night they sallied forth, headed by Alexander McDougal, John Morin Scott, Isaac Sears, John Lamb, Peter R. 'Livingston, the brother-in- law, and John Smith and Joshua Hett Smith, full brothers, of William Smith, and a few other warm, inveterate re- publicans, attacked the house of the printer, broke open the doors, pulled him out of his bed, and forcibly seized upon and destroyed the whole impres- sion with the original manuscript." On the approach of the British in the fall of 1776, he removed to Fish- kill and continued the publication of his newspaper there until the close of the war enabled him to return safely to New York City, "The Packet" was published until 1792 or later. In February, 1792, he began " The Diary or Loudon's Register," a daily paper which had not a very long existence. In 1776 Loudon printed, in foho an edition of "The Charter of the City of 155 T H_B CONSTITUTION OF T H STATE o P N E W-Y O R K. FISH-KILL: Printed by SAMUEL LOUD0N^ M.DCCLXXYU. Type-page of original title is 5% inches by 35^ inches. New York," and in the following year became for a short time State printer, and during this period printed the first edition of "The Constitution of the State of New- York," FishkUl, 1777. In 1783 he printed the notorious New- burg Letters in a pamphlet called "A Collection of Papers relating to Half Pay to the Officers of the Army," which were several times reprinted. In 1784 he published Alexander Ham- ilton's " Letters from Phocion," and a report of the famous case of " Rutgers vs. Waddington." Among his later publications were the "Laws of the City of New York," and another edi- tion of the "City Charter" granted by Grovemor Montgomerie, both of which appeared in 1786. In 1787 he took his son John Loudon into partnership, and about 1792 retired from business. He died at Middletown Point, New Jersey, February 24, 1813, He was an active member of the St. Andrew 157 Society from 1785, when lie joined it, and also for many years an elder of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar street. 158 CHAPTER X THE LOYALIST PEINTERS OF THE EEVOLUTION : MACDONALD & CAMEEON, MILLS & HICKS, "WILLIAM LEWIS, MOETON & HOENEE, AND CHRISTOPHEE SOWEE, 3d. ALEXANDER CAMERON, a Xi Scotchman, came to New York in 1777 in company with his partner Macdonald. From the character of their pubhcations and their following the movements of the royal army, I infer that they were sent to America by the British Government as semi- official printers to the army. In New York they published "A List of the G-eneral and Staff Officers and of the 159 [By Permiffion.'\ LIST OF THE General and Staff Officers AND OF THE OFFICERS in the feveral REGIMENTS fervmg in NoRTH-AwmicA, Under The Command of His Excellency General Sir WILLIAM HOWE, K. B. With the Dates of their COMMISSIONS as they Rank in eacT\ CORPS and in the ARMY. Ni: W-Y O R K: riinled by Macdom ald & Cameron in Water- Street, betwew the CoSee-Houfe and Old Slip-Bndg«, 1777. Type-page of original title is 6-i\ inches by 3^ inches. Officers in the several Regiments serving in Nortli-Amerioa," and a numlber of proclamations and mili- tary notices. In February, 1778, they moved to Philadelphia, where they printed an " Army List " for 1778, and more proclamations and notices. They returned to New York in June, 1778, and in 1779 issued a third "Army List." In the following year they fol- , lowed the British to Charleston, South CaroHna, where, besides printing the yearly " Army List " and the necessary official broadsides, they, in conjunc- tion with James Robertson, printed " The Royal South Carolina Gazette." On the evacuation of Charleston they returned to New York, but did not, so far as I can learn, resume business. Cameron was in New York in October, 1782, beyond which date I am unable to trace him. 31 161 DONALD MACDONALD, like Ms partner Alexander Cameron, al- ready noticed, was a Scotchman, and came to New York in 1777. The of- fice of the firm was " in Water-Street, between the Coffee-House and Old Slip-Bridge." While -in Philadelphia they were located on " Chestnut street, a few doors above the Barrack- Office." In Charleston they had " their Print- ing-Of&ce, [at] No. 20, Broad Street," and there sold " Hyson Tea, Jewelry, Perfumery, G-enuine Scotch Snuff, etc.," in addition to books. I have noticed the publications of this firm, on which their name always appears as "Macdonald & Cameron," in my sketch of the junior partner, but I may add here, in support of my theory of their official connection with the army, that the publications are almost all " By Permission," or " By Author- ity." Macdonald, who died at Newton, on Long Island, October 5, 1782, " was 162 a gentleman of inoffensive manners and had a native goodness of heart." NATHANIEL MILLS was bom November 3, 1749, at Dorches- ter, Massachusetts, and was appren- ticed to John Fleming, a Boston printer. At the expiration of his time of service, Mills, in partnership with John Hicks, bought out his former master, who was desirous of returning to Grreat Britain. Mills & Hicks be- gan business in Boston in April, 1773. They also acquired control of " The Massachusetts Gazette," and contin- ued it in the interest of the govern- ment party. This paper, according to Thomas, was terminated in April, 1775. The same writer is authority for the statement that besides their newspaper they printed " only a few political pamphlets and the 'Massa- chusetts Register.'" Mills resided a 163 I MILLS AjjD HICKS's | 5 BRITISH H § I i 3 AND I 5 I '5 - *; I s5>| AMERICAN |^ II REGISTER,!^ ^ 2^1 wrxH AN I*. II ALMANACK || :(+ *^ I For the Year 1781 ; ^M, I g BeingthcfirftafterBifl'cxtileor LcapYear. § 5 I s Cakulaied for the Meridian of ? I II ^ I " 1^ N E W - y O R K, J |. S I N ]• W - Y O R K : - ^ I I § ^ Printed by Mii.i.5 and Hicks, and fold | S I ^ at tScir Office in Q^ren-ftrcet ; and by § | pS 1)f. RkY and Rogers, in Hanovtr- ^ ■ S Square. § Type-page of original title is 41^ inches by 23^ inches. short time at Cambridge, but rejoined Ms partner in Boston before its evac- uation by the British, They accom- panied the British army to Halifax, and from thence went to England, where they remained about two years. In 1777 they came to New York and opened a printing-office in connection with a stationery store. They pub- Hshed there the "British and Ameri- can Register" and "Army List in 1778," and a few other pamphlets. In 1782 they joined the Robertsons, the firm being Robertsons, MiUs & Hicks. In 1783 Mills went to Nova Scotia, setthng first at Halifax and then at Shelbume. JOHN HICKS was bom October 16, 1750, at Cambridge, Massachu- setts. His father, John Hicks, was a great-grandson of Zachariah Hicks, who settled in Cambridge prior to 165 1652. Tlie elder John Hicks was an ardent Whig, and lost his life by a British bullet as the royal forces on their retreat from Lexington passed through Cambridge on April 19, 1775. The younger Hicks served his ap- prenticeship with Grreen & Russell in Boston, and until 1773 was supposed to be on the side of American liberty. "He was reputed to have been one of the young men who had the affray with some British soldiers which led to the memorable massacre in King street, Boston, on March 5, 1770." In April, 1773, he began business in partnership with Nathaniel Mills, and adopted the side of the government in the pohtical dispute of the time. The death of his father made no change in Hicks's pohtics, and on the evacu- ation of Boston he accompanied the British forces to Halifax. Soon after- ward both Mills and Hicks went to England, where they remained nearly 166 two years. In 1777 they rettLrned to America and established a printing- office and a stationery store in New York City. Their publications were not numerous. I have mentioned some of them in the sketch of Mills, and need only say here that the later issues of their " Register " are of great historical value on account of the "Army Lists" which they contain. Nearly aU the army rosters printed in America contain lists of the loyalist corps and German mercenaries em- ployed by the British, which were never included in the official " Army Lists " printed in Great Britain, and are therefore sources of information not to be obtained elsewhere. Sometime in 1782 they joined in business with the Robertsons, with whom they ap- pear as joint publishers of "The Royal American Gazette." After the peace in 1783 they retired again to Hali- fax and began business there. They 167 separated after a short time, and Hicks obtained permission to return to Mas- sachusetts. He purchased a fine estate at Newton and resided there until 1794, when he died. WILLIAM LEWIS was a native of Kent, England. He came to New York, I think, but a short time before he opened his printing-office at 19 WaU street, and there began " The New York Mercury." The first num- ber was issued September 3, 1779, and was "pubhshed at Mr. Philip Brooks's Stationery Store in the same House." Lewis soon acquired the store and car- ried on the stationery business himself, adding to it a trade in snuff, pat- ent medicines, and popular nostrums, cosmetics and perfumery, gold and silver epaulets, and military trim- mings. The paper was weU printed and contained as much news as any 168 other then issued in New York, but it met with poor success, more than half the advertisements in the numbers I hare seen being of books and other goods for sale by James and Alexander Robertson. It was continued up to August, 1781, and probably longer. Lewis printed a few pamphlets and school-books besides his newspaper. In 1782 he was in partnership with Horner. The only publication of this firm that I can discover was a " Free- mason's Pocket Book, a curious collec- tion of original Masonic Songs." Lewis retired from the concern in 1783, and on June 28 of that year was arrested for debt. He was soon afterward released, and joined with John Eyan in settling at St. John, New Brunswick. Here, in December, 1783, they began " The Royal St. John's [sic] GTazette and Nova Scotia Intelligencer." This paper was continued under various names until about 1806, but Lewis's 22 169 connection "with, it ceased in 1785, and I have heen unable to obtain further information concerning him. WILLIAM MORTON, in October, 1776, was chosen second lieuten- ant of the Middle "Ward Company of the New York City Regiment of Mih- tia raised by the British immediately after their capture of the city. About May, 1782, he, in partnership with Christopher Sower and Samuel Hor- ner, established a printing-house and started a newspaper called " The New York Morning Post." The editors had to depend largely on Daniel Coxe's supply of foreign newspapers for their news, and in return agreed to send him their paper without charge. Sower withdrew in 1783, and soon afterward quarreled with his former associates about his share of the profits. Morton and Homer had con- 170 tinned the business, bnt were unable to meet Sower's demands, and upon their being unable to pay a note which Morton had given Sower and he had negotiated, Morton was committed to prison and remained there some time. While in jail Morton published a statement in "The Morning Post" attacking Sower, who rephed, first briefly, and then to the extent of two columns, in Rivington's " Royal Ga- zette." On the death of Horner, Mor- ton contiaued the newspaper and printing-office alone. Of the former I have seen no number later than 1788, and his name disappeared from the City Directory after 1789. It is pos- sible that he died about that time, although there is no wiU of his, nor any letters of administration on record at the surrogate's office. He married in New York City, in August, 1782, Mary Love ; but I have been unable to ascertain anything more about him, 171 nor can I record any publication bear- ing his imprint other than " The Morning Post" and the pamphlet mentioned in the notice of Sower. QAMUEL HORNER, the eldest child O of Isaac Homer and Rachel Carter, his wife, was born December 31, 1757, in New York City. I have been able to learn nothing about him from this time until May, 1782, when he was in partnership with WiUiam Lewis. This firm existed but a short time, as about the same year Homer joined Sower and Morton in opening a print- ing-office and establishing " The New York Morning Post." Sower retired in 1783 and became engaged in a quar- rel with his former partners about his share of the profits, which was exten- sively aired in the columns of " The Morning Post" and of Rivington's " Royal Grazette." Morton and Horner 172 made their peace in some way with the Whig authorities, and continued the publication of their paper after the evacuation of New York by the British. " The Morning Post " is re- markable as the only newspaper printed within the British lines which survived their withdrawal from the United States. The paper was con- verted into a daily shortly before Homer's death, which occurred in New York City in February, 1786. By his will he bequeathed his interest in the printing-office and newspaper to his partner Morton, pHRISTOPHER SAUR, or Sower, \J the third of that name, was bom January 27, 1754, at dermantown, Philadelphia County, where his grand- father, in 1738, had printed from the first German type used in America, and in 1743 had issued, the first edition 23 173 of the Bible printed in a European lan- guage in tlie Western world. He was brought up in the office of his father, Christopher Sower, Junior, of which he and his brother Peter became pro- prietors in 1777. Except his continu- ation of the " G-ermantown Grazette," and " Der Hoch-Deutsche American- ische Calender," the disturbed state of the times rendered his press barren. In both these publications he espoused the British side of the great question of the day. On the capture of Phila- delphia by Howe, he sought the pro- tection of the royal army. Venturing back to his house in dermantown to secure some valuable papers, he was made a prisoner. He was exchanged, after a shori detention, for his next door neighbor, whose services as a powder-maker were greatly valued by the Americans, and whose arrest by the British, Thomas says, was instigated by Sower. Sower accompanied the 174 English to New York, and from thence went to England. Before leaving New York he wrote, in December, 1779, a letter which, with a number of others, was captured by the Amer- icans. In the same packet was an- other letter touching the same topic as part of Sower's. The following ex- tract from the other letter, which was written by Daniel Coxe, of New Jer- sey, on December 7, 1779, — I have lately brought about a general rep- resentation of all the refugees from the respec- tive colonies, which now compose a board of which I have the honor to be president. We vote by colonies and conduct our debates in quite a parliamentary style, — becomes an amusing illustration of the old saw that there are two sides to everything, when considered with Sower's letter, which says : The deputies of the refugees from the differ- ent provinces meet once a week. Daniel Coxe, 175 R E T O Sir Henry Clinton's NARRATIVE HIS NUMEROUS ERRORS ARE POINTED OUT, AND THE CONDUCT OF LORD CORNWALL IS, FULLY VINDICATED FROM ALL AS PERSION: IMCLUDIMO THE WHOLE OFTHB PUBLIC AND SECRET CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN Lord Georoe Germain, Sir Henry Clinton, AND His Lordship, AS A L sa intercepted letters from GENERAL WASHINGTON. '^i/tfj ^lifi-am P/irfem.-- — l.ONDOM >*rmr