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JAMES RIVINGTON.
The Portrait by Gilbert Stuart is in the Possession of William H. Appleton, Esq.
Dodd, Mead, and Company, New York
SKETCHES OF
PRINTERS AND
PRINTING
IN
COLONIAL NEW YORK
BY
CHARLES R. HILDEBURN
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
1895
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Copyright, 1895, by
Dodd, Mead & Company
PREFACE
WHEN these sketches were undertaken a short time ago, I had no idea that they would appear even in book form, much less in the elaborate setting which the publishers 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 imperfect in many of their details as they must be. If they should arouse some
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interest in the New York printers who followed Bradford and lead to the collection and preservation of their works, I shall at least have aided some one in the future to produce a more extensive work.
C.R.H.
 | |
| CHAPTER I | |
| PAGE | |
William Bradford, 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 Parkers, and their Numerous Establishments | 34 |
| CHAPTER IV | |
Henry De Foreest, and the Minor Presses of the Middle of the Century: Samuel Brown, William Weyman, Samuel Farley, Benjamin Mecom, and Samuel Campbell | 55 |
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| PAGE | |
| CHAPTER V | |
Hugh Gaine, the Irish Printer, and his Journalistic Straddle | 72 |
| CHAPTER VI | |
Whigs and Tories, or the Holts and the Robertsons | 89 |
| CHAPTER VII | |
James Rivington, “the only London Bookseller in America” | 105 |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
James Rivington, and his “Lying Gazette” | 133 |
| CHAPTER IX | |
A Group of Small Fry Prior to the Revolution: Inslee & Car, Hodge & Shober, John Anderson, and Samuel Loudon | 143 |
| CHAPTER X | |
The Loyalist Printers of the Revolution: Macdonald & Cameron, Mills & Hicks, William Lewis, Morton & Horner, and Christopher Sower, 3d | 159 |
| |
| Etched Portraits. | |
| Frontispiece | |
| FACING PAGE | |
| 72 | |
| 150 | |
| Facsimiles of Title pages. | |
| PAGE | |
An Almanack For the Year of Christian Account 1694. William Bradford, 1694 | 3 |
Le Tresor des Consolations Divines et Humaines . William Bradford, 1696 | 5 |
Grondlycke Onderricht van Sekere Voorname Hoofd-stucken, etc. William Bradford, 1708 | 8 |
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| PAGE | |
The Book of Common-Prayer, And Administration 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 Purchassors 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 Detection 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 Inhabitants of the Town of Newark. Samuel F. 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 |
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| PAGE | |
Evening Service of Roshashanah, and Kippur. W. Weyinan, 1761 | 62 |
The Death of Abel. S. Campbell, 1764 | 70 |
Military Collections and Remarks. Published 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 Rivington, 1780 | 127 |
Paris Papers. James Rivington, [1782] | 129 |
An Enquiry into the Nature, Cause and Cure, of the Angina Suffocativa, . . . By Samuel Bard, M. D. S. Inslee & A. Car, 1771 | 142 |
The Moral and Religious Miscellany By Hugh Knox. Hodge & Shober, 1775 | 145 |
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| PAGE | |
A Voyage to Boston. John Anderson, [1775] | 151 |
The Constitution of the State of New-York. Samuel Loudon, 1777 | 156 |
A List of the General and Staff Officers [etc.] serving in North-America. Macdonald & Cameron, 1777 | 160 |
Mills and Hicks’s British and American Register. Mills & Hicks, [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.
| |
| The dates define the period during which the printer was in business in New 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 Parley | 1760-1762 |
| Benjamin Mecom | 1763 |
| Samuel Campbell | 1764 |
| Samuel Brown | 1766 |
| Alexander Robertson | 1769-1783 |
| James Robertson | 1769-1783 |
| Samuel Inslee | 1770-1772 |
| Anthony Car | 1770-1772 |
| Samuel Franklin Parker | 1770-1772 |
| Frederick Shober | 1772-1775 |
| Robert 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 |