University of Virginia Library

Worcester.

This was the fifth town in Massachusetts in which the
press was established. In 1774, a number of gentlemen
in the county of Worcester, zealously engaged in the cause
of the country, were, from the then appearance of public
affairs, desirous to have a press established in Worcester,

the shire town of the county. In December of that year,
they applied to a printer in Boston, who engaged to open
a printing house, and to publish a newspaper there, in the
course of the ensuing spring.

Isaiah Thomas, in consequence of an agreement with
the gentlemen as above related, to send a press, with a
suitable person to manage the concerns of it, to this town,
in February, 1775, issued a proposal for publishing a
newspaper, to be entitled The Worcester Gazette; or, American
Oracle of Liberty. The war commencing sooner than
was expected, he was obliged to leave Boston, and came himself
to Worcester, opened a printing house, and on the 3d
of May, 1775, executed the first printing done in the town.

Thomas remained at Worcester until 1776, when he let
a part of his printing apparatus, and his newspaper, to
two gentlemen of the bar, William Stearns and Daniel
Bigelow, and with the other part removed to Salem, with
an intention to commence business in that place; but
many obstructions to the plan arising in consequence of
the war, he sold the printing materials which he carried
to that town, and, in 1778, returned to Worcester, took
into possession the press which he had left there, and
resumed the publication of the Spy.

He received his types worn down, and found paper,
wretchedly as it was then manufactured, difficult to be
obtained; but, in a few months, he was fortunate enough
to purchase some new types which were taken in a vessel
from London. After some time he also procured paper
which was superior in quality to what was generally
manufactured at that period; and thus he was enabled to
keep his printing business alive whilst the war continued.

During two or three years he was concerned with Joseph
Trumbull in a medicinal store. On the establishment of
peace, an intercourse was opened with Europe, and he

procured a liberal supply of new printing materials, engaged
in book printing, opened a bookstore, and united the two
branches of printing and bookselling.

In September, 1788, he recommenced printing in Boston,
and at the same time opened a bookstore there. At
first, the business was managed by three partners, under
the firm of I. Thomas & Co.; but one of the partners leaving
the company, Thomas formed a copartnership with
the other, Ebenezer T. Andrews, who had served his
apprenticeship with him, and the house took the firm of
Thomas & Andrews.

In 1793, he set up a press and opened a bookstore at
Walpole, New Hampshire, where he began the publication
of a newspaper entitled The Farmer's Museum.[104]

In 1794, he opened another printing house and a bookstore
at Brookfield, Massachusetts. All these concerns
were managed by partners, and distinct from his business
in Worcester; where he continued to reside, and to carry
on printing and bookselling on his sole account. At
Worcester, he also erected a paper mill, and set up a
bindery; and was thus enabled to go through the whole
process of manufacturing books.

In 1794, he and his partner at Boston extended a branch
of their bookselling business to Baltimore. The house
there established was known as the firm of Thomas,
Andrews & Butler; and, in 1796, they established
another branch of their business at Albany, under the firm
of Thomas, Andrews & Penniman, and there opened a
printing house and bookstore.

The books printed by him at Worcester, and by him
and his partners in other places, form a very considerable
catalogue. At one time they had sixteen presses in use;

seven of them at his printing house in Worcester, and five
at the company's printing house in Boston. They printed
three newspapers in the country, and a magazine in
Boston; and they had five bookstores in Massachusetts,
one in New Hampshire, one at Albany, and one at Baltimore.

Among the books which issued from Thomas's press at
Worcester, were, in 1791, an edition of the Bible, in folio,
with copperplates, and, an edition, in royal quarto, with
a concordance; in 1793, a large edition of the Bible in
octavo; and, in 1797, the Bible in duodecimo. Of this last
size, several editions were printed, as the types, complete
for the work, were kept standing. In 1802, he printed a
second edition of the octavo Bible.

Among the books printed by the company in Boston,
were, The Massachusetts Magazine, published monthly, in
numbers, for five years, constituting five octavo volumes;
five editions of The Universal Geography, in two volumes
octavo, and several other heavy works; also, the Bible in
12mo, numerous editions; the types for which were removed
from Worcester to Boston.

In 1802, Thomas resigned the printing at Worcester to
his son Isaiah Thomas, jun., and soon after, transferred to
him the management of the Massachusetts Spy. His son
continued the publication of that paper, and carried on
printing and bookselling.

[See Boston—Newburyport—Hist. of Newspapers, in
vol. ii.]