University of Virginia Library

Introduction of the Art.

The early part of the history of the United States, is
not, like that of most other nations, blended with fable.
Many of the first European settlers of this country were
men of letters; they made records of events as they passed,
and they, from the first, adopted effectual methods to
transmit the knowledge of them to their posterity. The
rise and progress of English America, therefore, from its
colonization to the period at which it took a name and
place among sovereign and independent nations, may be
traced with the clearness and certainty of authentic history.

That art which is the preserver of all arts, is worthy of
the attention of the learned and the curious. An account
of the first printing executed in the English colonies of
America, combines many of the important transactions of
the settlement, as well as many incidents interesting in the
revolutions of nations; and exhibits the pious and charitable
efforts of our ancestors in New England, to translate the
sacred books into a language which, at this short distance
of time is, probably, not spoken by an individual of the
human race, and for the use of a nation [1] which is now
virtually extinct. Such is the fluctuation of human affairs!

The particulars respecting the printing and printers of
this country, it is presumed, will gratify professional men;
and a general history of this nature will certainly preserve
many important facts which, in a few years, would be
irrecoverably lost.

Among the first settlers of New England were not
only pious but educated men. They emigrated from
a country where the press had more license than in
other parts of Europe, and they were acquainted with the
usefulness of it. As soon as they had made those provisions
that were necessary for their existence in this land,
which was then a rude wilderness, their next objects were,
the establishment of schools, and a printing press; the
latter of which was not tolerated, till many years afterward,
by the elder colony of Virginia.

The founders of the colony of Massachusetts[2] consisted
of but a small number of persons, who arrived at Salem in
1628.[3] A few more joined them in 1629; and Governor
Winthrop, with the addition of his company of settlers,
arrived in 1630. These last landed at the place since
called Charlestown, opposite to Boston, where they pitched
their tents and built a few huts for shelter. In 1631, they
began to settle Cambridge, four miles from the place
where they landed. They also began a settlement on the
identical spot where Boston now stands. In 1638, they
built an academy at Cambridge, which in process of time
was increased to a college: and they also established
a printing house in that place. In January, 1639, printing
was first performed in that part of North America

which extends from the gulf of Mexico to the Frozen
ocean.

For this press our country is chiefly indebted to the Rev.
Mr. Glover, a nonconformist minister, who possessed a
considerable estate, and had left his native country with a
determination to settle among his friends, who had emigrated
to Massachusetts; because in this wilderness, he
could freely enjoy, with them, those opinions which were
not countenanced by the government and a majority of the
people in England.

Another press, with types, and another printer, were,
in 1660, sent over from England by the corporation for
propagating the gospel among the Indians in New England.
This press, &c., was designed solely for the purpose
of printing the Bible, and other books, in the Indian
language. On their arrival they were carried to Cambridge,
and employed in the printing house already established in
that place.

Notwithstanding printing continued to be performed in
Cambridge, from a variety of causes it happened, that many
original works were sent from New England, Massachusetts
in particular, to London, to be printed. Among these
causes the principal were—first, the press at Cambridge
had, generally, full employment; secondly, the printing
done there was executed in an inferior style; and, thirdly,
many works on controverted points of religion, were not
allowed to be printed in this country. Hence it happened
that for more than eighty years after printing was first
practiced in the colony, manuscripts were occasionally sent
to England for publication.

The fathers of Massachusetts kept a watchful eye on the
press; and in neither a religious nor civil point of view,
were they disposed to give it much liberty. Both the civil
and ecclesiastical rulers were fearful that if it was not under
wholesome restraints, contentions and heresies would arise

among the people. In 1662, the government of Massachusetts
appointed licensers of the press;[4] and afterward,
in 1664, passed a law that "no printing should be allowed
in any town within the jurisdiction, except in Cambridge;"
nor should any thing be printed there but what the government
permitted through the agency of those persons who
were empowered for the purpose. Offenders against this
regulation were to forfeit their presses to the country, and
to be disfranchised of the privilege of printing thereafter.[5]
In a short time, this law was so far repealed as to permit
the use of a press at Boston, and a person was authorized
to conduct it; subject, however, to the licensers who were
appointed for the purpose of inspecting it.

It does not appear that the press, in Massachusetts, was
free from legal restraints till about the year 1755. Holyoke's
Almanack, for 1715, has, in the title page, "Imprimatur,
J. Dudley." A pamphlet, printed in Boston, on the
subject of building market houses in that town, has the
addition of, "Imprimatur, Samuel Shute, Boston, Feb. 19,
1719." James Franklin, in 1723, was ordered by the
government not to publish The New England Courant,
without previously submitting its contents to the secretary
of the province; and Daniel Fowle was imprisoned by
the house of representatives, in 1754, barely on suspicion of
his having printed a pamphlet said to contain reflections
on some members of the general court.[6]

For several years preceding the year 1730, the government
of Massachusetts had been less rigid than formerly; and,
after that period, I do not find that any officer is mentioned
as having a particular control over the press. For a long

time, however, the press appeared to be under greater restrictions
here than in England; that is, till toward the close of
the seventeenth century.

In the course of this work it will appear, that the presses
established in other colonies were not entirely free from
restraint.

The rulers in the colony of Virginia in the seventeenth,
century, judged it best not to permit public schools, nor
to allow the use of the press.[7] And thus, by keeping the
people in ignorance, they thought to render them more
obedient to the laws, to prevent them from libelling the
government, and to impede the growth of heresy, &c.

The press had become free some years previous to the
commencement of the revolution; but it continued for a
long time duly to discriminate between liberty and licentiousness.

Except in Massachusetts, no presses were set up in the
colonies till near the close of the seventeenth century.
Printing then was performed in Pennsylvania, "near
Philadelphia," and afterward in that city, by the same
press, which, in a few years subsequent, was removed to
New York. The use of types commenced in Virginia
about 1681; in 1682 the press was prohibited. In 1709, a
press was established at New London, in Connecticut;
and, from this period, it was gradually introduced into the
other colonies; as well as into several of the West India
islands, belonging to Great Britain.

In 1775 the whole number of printing houses in the
British colonies, now comprising the United States, was
fifty.

Till the year 1760, it, appears that more books were
printed in Massachusetts, annually, than in any of the
other colonies; and, before 1740, more printing was done

there than in all the other colonies. After 1760, the
quantum of printing done in Boston and Philadelphia was
nearly equal, till the commencement of the war. New
York produced some octavo and duodecimo volumes.
The presses of Connecticut were not idle; they furnished
many pamphlets on various subjects, and some small
volumes. Some books were handsomely printed in Virginia
and Maryland; and folio volumes of laws, and a few
octavos and duodecimos, on religion, history and politics,
issued from the presses of Carolina, Rhode Island, New
Hampshire, &c.

Before 1775, printing was confined to the capitals of the
colonies; but the war occasioned the dispersion of presses,
and many were set up in other towns. After the establishment
of our independence, by the peace of 1783, presses
multiplied very fast, not only in seaports, but in all the
principal inland towns and villages.