Fortunately, Mathew Carey preserved many of the bills he paid.
These state the costs of his equipment as well as the expenses of
maintenance. Furthermore, they reveal the sources of supply available to
a printer in Philadelphia at the end of the eighteenth century and in the
beginning of the nineteenth. At that time, the present-day printers'
wholesale supply house with its large stock did not exist. Therefore, Carey
and the other American printers had to depend upon a variety of craftsmen.
By identifying these men and noting the prices they charged, one can obtain
an insight into printing house management of the period.
The history of printing is filled with proof that the production of
printed matter has always required a sizeable investment. Some printers,
like Gutenberg, borrowed money to get started; a few acquired their shops
by marrying the widows of printers; other printers depended on patrons for
subsidies. And then, of course, there were the courageous men with slender
resources who managed to set up on their own. Mathew Carey was one of
these.
Having determined to emigrate because of possible new prosecution
for attacking the Irish government in his Volunteer's Journal,
Carey, then twenty-four years old, landed in Philadelphia on November 1,
1784. In his Autobiography, he described his financial
situation:
Behold me now landed in Philadelphia, with about a dozen guineas
in my pocket, without relation, or friend, and even without an acquaintance,
except my compagnons de voyage, of whom very few were
eligible associates.
While I was contemplating a removal into the country, where I could
have boarded at about a dollar, or a dollar and a quarter a week, intending
to wait the arrival of my funds, a most extraordinary and unlooked-for
circumstance occurred, which changed my purpose, gave a new direction
to my views, and, in some degree, colored the course of my future life.
It reflects great credit on the Marquess de La Fayette, who was then at
Mount Vernon, to take leave of General Washington. A young gentleman
of the name of Wallace, a fellow-passenger of mine, had brought letters of
recommendation to the General; and having gone to his seat to deliver
them, fell into the Marquess's company, and in the course of conversation,
the affairs of Ireland came on the tapis. The Marquess, who had, in the
Philadelphia papers, seen an account of my adventures with the Parliament,
and the persecution I had undergone, inquired of Wallace, what had become
of the poor persecuted Dublin printer? He replied, "He came passenger with
me, and is now in Philadelphia," stating the boarding-house where I had
pitched my tent. On the arrival of the Marquess in this city, he sent me a
billet, requesting to see me at his lodgings, whither I went. He received me
with great kindness; condoled with me on the persecution I had undergone;
inquired into my prospects; — and having
told him that I proposed, on the receipt of my funds, to set up a newspaper,
he approved the idea, and promised to recommend me to his friends,
Robert Morris, Thomas, Fitzsimons, &c. &c. After half an hour's
conversation, we parted. Next morning, while I was at breakfast, a letter
from him was handed me, which, to my very great surprise, contained four
one hundred dollar notes of the Bank of North-America.
[1]
Lafayette's generosity thus supplied the capital needed to establish a
printing office for Carey's projected newspaper. Funds from home did
arrive, but the amount was a great disappointment — fifty pounds.[2]
In an advertisement dated December 9, Carey "respectfully informs
the inhabitants of Philadelphia, that early in January next, he will publish
a Newspaper in this city; the terms of which shall be advertised in a few
days."[3] Having announced the
paper, he found himself required to obtain a press in as short a time as
possible. But presses were scarce and Carey's situation increasingly serious,
when he learned that the shop of the late Robert Bell was to be sold at
auction. The announcement of this sale, scheduled for December 28,
included, among the items to be sold, a complete mahogany printing press,
"little the worse for wear."[4] Carey
saw his opportunity, but, at the sale, he had an unexpectedly difficult time:
As the press was very old, and very much impaired in usefulness, I
expected to have it a bargain. But Colonel Oswald, who printed the
Independent Gazetteer, and who viewed my operations with a jealous eye,
commenced
that hostility, which, ultimately, as will appear in the sequel, nearly cost me
my life. He bid against me; and as I had absurdly fixed on a day for
publication which was so near that I had not time to procure a new press,
he continued bidding till he raised the price to about fifty pounds currency,
or, one hundred and thirty-three dollars, being one third of my whole
fortune, and about the price of a new press.
[5]
One wishes that this vignette of the sale contained more detail, for it
certainly was one of the most interesting auctions in the history of
American printing. On the block was the shop of the well-known, if not
notorious, Robert Bell; the opposing bidders were an established newspaper
publisher and an upstart Irishman who later became one of the greatest of
American book publishers. The hostility which began on that day eventually
resulted in a duel in which Carey received a serious wound in the thigh
although Oswald was uninjured. Despite Oswald's attempt to thwart him,
Carey managed to bid in the components needed for his shop. They are
listed in the bill which he preserved:
|
Philada. Decr.
31st 1784 |
Mr Mathew Carey. |
|
Bought at Robt. Bell's Auction. |
1 Chase demi |
|
|
£ 1 |
-- |
-- |
2 pair of Cases |
|
&c.mmat; 15/6 p |
1 |
11 |
-- |
2 pair of ditto |
|
&c.mmat; 3/- p |
-- |
6 |
-- |
1 Rack |
|
|
-- |
10 |
-- |
2 Double frames for Cases |
|
&c.mmat; 11/- |
1 |
2 |
-- |
2 Single frames for Ditto |
|
9/- |
-- |
18 |
-- |
1 Imposing Stone |
|
|
2 |
10 |
-- |
1 Small ditto |
|
|
-- |
7 |
6 |
A printing Press Complete |
|
|
60 |
-- |
-- |
1 Lie Trough, Brush Lea
|
|
|
-- |
15 |
-- |
1 Single Chase |
|
|
-- |
15 |
-- |
2 Composing Sticks |
|
&c.mmat; 12/6 |
1 |
5 |
-- |
2 Ditto 1 lost |
|
&c.mmat; 15/- |
1 |
10 |
-- |
2 Chases for Advertisements |
|
7/6 p |
-- |
15 |
-- |
2 Ditto |
|
|
-- |
8 |
4 |
5 Boards for wetting paper |
|
|
-- |
7 |
6 |
6 Empty letter Boxes |
|
|
-- |
5 |
-- |
31 Wooden Types 10 line pica |
|
|
-- |
9 |
-- |
1 Sawing press with Keys |
|
|
-- |
10 |
-- |
2 pair of Shears |
|
|
-- |
2 |
6 |
Roman & Italic Types wt. |
219lb
|
&c.mmat; 6d. p |
5 |
9 |
6 |
Ditto Pie D° |
152lb
|
&c.mmat; 5d p |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 pair of Cases |
|
&c.mmat; 3/- p |
-- |
9 |
-- |
Double pica |
48lb. |
&c.mmat; 12d p |
2 |
8 |
-- |
|
|
|
------- |
|
|
|
|
£86. 16. 8[6]
|
For this purchase, Carey paid sixty pounds cash and gave the administrators
a thirty-day note for the balance. A receipt proves that he paid off the note
on March 4, 1785.
Within four weeks of the auction, his shop was in production; on
January 25, 1785, Carey's Pennsylvania Evening Herald, a
semi-weekly, appeared and Carey's distinguished American career had
begun. By January 1, 1817, when he made his son a partner, he had
published more than six hundred and fifty editions of books, exclusive of
the Bibles and Testaments which made him "the foremost printer and
publisher of the Bible in America during the first quarter of the nineteenth
century."[7] Not all of his imprints
came from his own press, but many did. The process of producing them
required constant renewal and repair of equipment.
For the purpose of this paper, it is neither possible nor sensible to
print every bill Carey preserved. Many are repetitious; others are unclear.
A sampling will be adequate to indicate sources of supply and costs. It
should be noted that the period covered by this investigation ends at the
time Carey admitted his son to partnership.
A few of Carey's printing presses were acquired from men who were
not press manufacturers. About the time that John Watts closed his
"Literary Publication Office" in Philadelphia and moved to New York
where he became one of the first, if not the first, of American stereotypers,
he sold some of his equipment to Carey. The bill, October 28, 1806,
includes an English press at $41.50, an American press at $20.00, 9 pairs
of cases for $7.87½ as well as an imposing stone and frame for $5.50.
John Vallance, the engraver, sold Carey a press on July 10, 1813, for
$100.00 and on the same bill he gave twenty per cent discount for a
standing press at $30.00 and a cutting press at $13.00. These "special
situations" provided bargains, but Carey also bought presses from the
manufacturers. On May 25, 1792, he obtained one for $60.00 from John
Hamilton who, four years later, advertised that "he had supplied many New
Jersey and New York printers with presses of a very good quality that he
could
make for others on three weeks' notice at a cost of seventy-five dollars
each."[8] In 1804, a few years after
Henry Ouram, a former blacksmith, opened his "Printing Press
manufactory" in Philadelphia, Carey paid him $115.00 for a
press.
[9] Ouram, as will be seen later,
also had other transactions with Carey, but the greatest single share of
Carey's press equipment and repair orders went to Adam Ramage.
By the 1830's, Ramage had become, as Hamilton says in his fine
study, "the Ford of the printing press industry."[10] However, his ability as a
craftsman was
recognized by Carey soon after Ramage commenced to work with presses.
In 1801, among other jobs, he charged Carey 3s
3d
for repairing a "Lying Press" and sold him a "Plough with Iorn
[sic] & Knife" for 1/2/6. During the next few years, he
sold
him various supplies such as twelve feet of brass rule for 15s,
one hundred quoins for .67, "Mallat planner & Shooting Stick" for
5s 6d. And, in 1805, he sold Carey a
mahogany
printing press "compleat" for $130.00 as well as a standing press for
$61.00. As Carey's shop increased in size, Ramage was frequently called
upon. By 1807, when it was a five-press shop, a Ramage statement read:
1807 |
March |
10 |
To 2 pair of Points |
.80 |
|
18 |
To a Mallat & planner |
.67 |
|
|
To Work at Press |
.37½ |
April |
12 |
To a pair of points |
.40 |
|
14 & 16 |
To planing 2 plattings |
.50 |
May |
1 |
To 8 feet Brass rule &c.mmat; 15cts
|
1.20 |
|
18 |
To oil cup & Die steeling point of screw |
1.25 |
June |
8 |
To 100 quoins |
.67 |
|
16 |
To 6 feet Rule &c.mmat; 15 |
.90 |
July |
14 |
To a pair of ball stocks |
.75 |
Septr. |
15 |
To work at Timpans hooks & Eys [?] planing a platting
&c |
.80 |
|
|
To a pair of Points |
.40 |
October |
5 & 9 |
To 2 pair ball stocks |
1.50 |
|
10 & 20 |
To planing 2 plattings cutting one at 3 times 84
yds.
Reglet |
5.75 |
Decr. |
1 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
|
13 |
To a new frisket |
2.25 |
|
18 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
|
|
To 2 planners |
.67 |
The points, being thin pieces of metal which were adjusted to the tympan
to make register, could be easily mislaid and would be purchased from time
to time. More interesting is the attention given to the platen. In a statement
of the following year, one finds a different variety of jobs:
May |
5 |
To a pair of Points |
.40 |
|
8 |
To Staying 3 Presses |
.75 |
|
|
To a new Set of Cramps put on |
2.50 |
|
10 |
To Smith work at bolts &c |
.40 |
|
14 |
To 2 pair ball Stocks |
1.50 |
|
|
To Work at Press |
.30 |
|
18 |
To a pair of Steel points |
.60 |
|
28 |
To blocks for Press & mending Gally |
.37½ |
June |
17 |
To a pair ball Stocks |
.75 |
August |
8 |
To planing a platting & 4 blocks |
.30 |
|
12 |
To a Sleeve pin |
.30 |
|
|
To a new wood for rounce handle |
.25 |
Sept |
27 |
To 3 Bodkins |
.33 |
October |
13 & 19 |
To 23 yds. Reglet & Side Sticks 1 yd
Gutter |
1.50 |
|
31 |
To Staying Press & work at Ditto |
.80 |
Novr
|
2 |
To laying a Stone in plaster of Paris and plaster |
.75 |
|
8 |
To a Sleeve pin |
.30 |
|
|
To planing a platting |
.25 |
at several times |
12 |
Side 9 yds. Gutter Stick 12 Reglet |
2.20 |
|
|
To Press for paper Iron Screw & leaver |
32.00 |
Hardly a month went by without some sort of work being needed. If
Ramage was not called in to stay a press or supply a new rounce handle,
there was the platen or a new set of cramps or something else that required
his skill. This continued year in and year out, as seen in the work for the
first six months of 1816:
Feby. |
14 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
|
26 |
To planing & cutting one Ditto |
.50 |
|
|
To mending a frisket |
.25 |
March |
1 |
To 3 planners |
1.00 |
|
6 |
To a Set of Cramps |
3.00 |
|
7 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
|
16 |
To a pair of points |
.50 |
|
23 |
To a pair of Ditto |
.50 |
|
|
To spurring of Ditto |
.25 |
|
29 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
April |
6 |
To Laying Stone in plaster |
1.50 |
|
12 |
To bolting & planing a platting |
.75 |
|
|
To Laying Stone in plaster & a new Set of Cramps |
4.25 |
|
|
To a new brass bottom Galley |
5.00 |
|
25 |
To a pair of Large ball stocks |
.87½ |
|
27 |
To planing a platting |
.25 |
|
30 |
To 4 Ledge Galleys Mohogany [sic] &c.mmat;
.37½ |
1.50 |
May |
13 |
To planing a large platting |
.50 |
|
|
To a pair of Large ball stocks |
.87½ |
|
19 |
To new wood on Rounce |
.50 |
June |
3d
|
To a pair of Large ball stocks |
.87½ |
|
16 |
To 100 Quions [sic] & a pair of points |
1.25 |
|
17 |
To 2 pair of points |
1.00 |
|
24 |
To a pair of ball stocks |
.75 |
|
28 |
To a new slice a balance & a new frisket |
3.87½ |
|
|
To 2 pair of point screws & button |
.75 |
|
|
To mending rounce |
.50 |
|
|
To a pair of spring points |
1.00 |
Ramage occasionally sold Carey items not mentioned in the above
statements. Sample entries for some of them are listed:
Feb. |
24 |
1808 |
To 6 Bearers |
.25 |
April |
3 |
1809 |
To a Sheeps foot |
.45 |
Sept. |
12 |
1809 |
To a Ink block |
.50 |
|
|
|
To a Slice Galley |
1.00 |
March |
6 |
1811 |
To a footstep |
.25 |
March |
26 |
1811 |
To a Composing Stick |
2.50 |
August |
14 |
1813 |
To 2 pair of Chases lbs. 76 &c.mmat; 33 |
25.08 |
Dec. |
18 |
1816 |
To a Ball rack |
.37½ |
All of this business was conducted while Ramage was involved in the
manufacture of presses. Besides those already noted, he sold to Carey:
July |
23 |
1811 |
To a Printing Press compleat |
130.00 |
|
|
|
To one Ditto Screw up platting &c |
137.00 |
Dec. |
9 |
1811 |
To a Standing Press compleat |
75.00 |
June |
5 |
1812 |
To a Printing Press compleat |
130.00 |
Sept. |
27 |
1813 |
To a Printing Press compleat screw up platting No
371 |
137.00 |
Aug. |
27 |
1814 |
To a Bookbinders Cutting Press & plough |
13.00 |
As Hamilton points out, the "screw up platting" may have "referred to a
method of fastening the platen by four bolts at the upper corners, instead
of by the cord lashings of the common press."
[11]
Because Ramage's statements often covered work for about a year or
more, they clearly show the recurring problems of maintenance. In bills of
other artisans, one finds information about some specialized suppliers as
well as about those who performed work similar to that of Ramage. Before
Ramage started in business as a printers' joiner, Carey depended upon
cabinetmakers and metal workers. During his first month in operation,
January, 1785, he purchased three galleys for 1/2/6, a dozen side sticks for
6s, and seventeen yards of reglet for 17s from
William Rigby, a cabinetmaker.[12]
Trade with Rigby continued and the following excerpt from a Rigby
statement resembles those later submitted by Ramage:
1790 |
Jan. |
15 |
1 mallet & shuting stick |
-- |
2 |
3 |
|
|
8 side sticks 3d 1 planer
1s/- |
-- |
3 |
-- |
Feb. |
1st
|
3 yards Riglet & Job |
-- |
1 |
6 |
|
6 |
plaining the pladden |
-- |
1 |
0 |
April |
9 |
4 yards Gutter Sticks 5d 4 do.
Riglet 4d
|
-- |
3 |
0 |
|
|
8 side sticks 3d
|
-- |
2 |
0 |
|
16 |
To Job |
-- |
1 |
3 |
May |
6 |
Staying & Repairing the Press |
-- |
7 |
6 |
|
21 |
Mending Tympan |
-- |
1 |
-- |
June |
22 |
To work done to the pladden |
-- |
3 |
-- |
|
24 |
2 Shuting sticks & wooding Cut |
-- |
2 |
6 |
|
|
To new Tympan and Sundrys |
-- |
7 |
6 |
Rigby worked for Carey until at least 1793. In the meantime, Daniel
Dawson, a whitesmith, also supplied help and equipment.
[13] In December, 1787, he mended a
frisket
for 1
s 6
d and made one for 10
s.
Four
years later, his statement contained such items as:
4th Mo. |
12th
|
To Mending 1 Frisket |
-- |
1 |
-- |
4th Mo. |
17th
|
To 1 Large Rod for Press 2 f 8 |
-- |
2 |
6 |
|
28 |
To Mending 1 Timken |
-- |
1 |
3 |
5th Mo. |
4th
|
To Press Handle Mended |
-- |
2 |
6 |
|
13th
|
To 1 Chace |
1 |
10 |
-- |
|
17 |
To 1 Timken Iron Mended |
-- |
2 |
-- |
7th Mo. |
10th
|
To 1 Chace |
1 |
10 |
-- |
|
|
To 3 Half Joints for a Frisket |
-- |
4 |
6 |
Surprisingly enough, neither William Bryden whom the
American
Dictionary of Printing and Bookmaking refers to as "an early maker
of presses in Philadelphia," nor John Goodman, mentioned as a press-maker
by McCulloch, appear to have received much business from Carey.
[14] Bryden's bills of 1792 and 1794
include
charges for a mallet at 2
s, setting up a printing press for 7
s 6
d, putting on a set of cramps for
3
s
9
d; Goodman, in 1794, presented two bills for, among other
things, a new frisket at 13
s 6
d, a set of brass
cramps for 17
s 6
d, and a set of brass linings
for the
hose at 7
s 6
d. Press repairs were also made,
during
the early years by John Aitken, the printer, bookseller, and silversmith, by
James Hendricks, a cutler who, in 1793, supplied a pair of points and
mended a frisket for 5
s 7½
d, and by Milne
&
Price whose bill reads:
[15]
1789 |
3 mo |
6 |
To Box & Screw for Printing Press |
5 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
To mending frisket & altering thumb Piece |
-- |
1 |
6 |
|
18 |
To mending frisket |
-- |
1 |
0 |
5 mo |
5 |
To Repairing Rounce of Press |
-- |
1 |
6 |
While these mechanics kept the presses in running order, Carey
increased the equipment of the shop. From John Sidleman, a stonecutter,
he bought, in March, 1787, an imposing stone for 2/6/10 and a stone for
a press for 1/6/10.[16] In the same
month, Hall & Adgate sold him a pair of "Letter cases" for
17s 6d, a sink and water trough for 1/13/9, and
"1
paper & 1 Letter Board" for 6s. Later in the year, John
Cushing sold him, among other things, ten pairs of cases at
16s
8d a pair and three composing sticks for 3s
9d. The price of cases varied but slightly at that time; in
1790,
John Fimeton, a house carpenter, supplied four pairs at 15s
per
pair.[17] Similarly, the price of reglet
remained constant for a while — 4d per yard from
Jacob
Wayne, a cabinetmaker, in 1787 and 1788 and, as already noted, from
William Rigby in 1790.[18]
On the other hand, in the same bills, Wayne charged 9d per
yard for gutter sticks and Rigby charged 5d, a difference
which
may have been based on the quality of the wood.
The inking apparatus, of course, required constant renewal. Between
1787 and 1794, pelts and wool came from Joseph Rogers,
"parchment-maker, glue boiler."[19]
One or two pelts were usually purchased every month at 2s
per
pelt until May, 1790, at 2s 6d thereafter until
March, 1792, when the price became 3s. Six to twelve
pounds
of wool sufficed for a year, the price varying from 1s
3d
to 2 s 6d per pound. Rogers also
provided
Carey with parchment skins for the tympans; these cost 3s
9d each in 1787, 4s 2d in 1790,
5s in 1791, but they were not replaced very often. Neither
were
ballstocks. When Carey needed them, he could always obtain them from a
turner. In 1814, Edwin Barry charged $3.75 for three pairs of gumwood
ballstocks.
In an archive such as this one comes across bills with a bit of mystery
about them. What, for instance, were the six "Printer's Candlesticks"
bought from James Truman, a coppersmith, in 1794 for 1s
each?[20] Perhaps a spike at the base,
enabling the printer to place it over the case, distinguished the printer's
candlestick. Another bill
implies that Carey attempted casting:
March 7th 1803 |
Mr Mathew Carey |
To Henry Voight Dr. |
|
$ |
Ct
|
To Brass Moulds for Casting Spaces with coares at 9 Doll per
piece |
18 |
-- |
To dito dito [sic] for dito without coares at 6 Doll
per
piece |
12 |
-- |
It may be noted that since Voight, at that time, worked at the Mint as Chief
Coiner, he either used government property or did some moonlighting. He
must have been a rather independent employee; in 1796, when called upon
to answer charges for leaving the Mint without permission, he declared that
"I did not go altogether on my own account in the country."
[21] That Carey ever used these molds
cannot
be ascertained, yet it is difficult to believe that he would have paid for them
and turned them over to Binny & Ronaldson for casting.
When the Bible projects started, more chases were needed most of
which came from the whitesmith, David Scott.[22] The first recorded large shipment,
billed
on January 30, 1802, comprised 250 chases for 356/12/3 (4509 lbs. &c.mmat;
1s 7d). In a second large purchase, shipped
between
August 19 and October 21, 1803, Carey obtained 78 chases for 109/4/8. In
addition to these, there were smaller orders, some delivered by Scott to
printers working for Carey rather than to his own shop.
Though Ramage received many of Carey's press and press repair
orders after the turn of the century, Henry Ouram managed to get some,
too. It will be recalled that he sold Carey a press in 1804. In the same year
and during four years thereafter, his sales included 50 quoins
(2s 6d in 1804), a few composing sticks
(18s 9d each in 1805), a few chases
(2s
9d per lb. in 1807). His repair jobs included facing two
platens
(3s 9d in 1804), a pair of points
(3s in
1805), and repairing a rounce handle (1s in 1805).
Ramage and Ouram could work with wood and metal, but stone was
evidently beyond their capacities. Occasionally Ramage would lay a stone
in plaster; Ouram's bills make no mention of stone. If such work was
required, a stonecutter executed the job. Because the stonecutter needed no
specialized skill to meet the requirements of the printer, Carey had no
difficulty in acquiring press stones or composing
stones. Press stones, of course, required maintenance, as may be seen in the
following:
1805 |
March |
22 |
John Miller[23]
|
To a Composing stone by agreement |
7.00 |
|
|
|
Porterage |
.25 |
1806 |
Nov. |
4 |
Richard North[24]
|
To facing a press stone |
1.50 |
1807 |
Oct. |
7 |
Moore & Herkness[25]
|
To rubbing 1 press stone |
1.00 |
1809 |
Jan. |
7 |
John Sanson[26]
|
for one Press Stone and Laying in plaster |
5.75 |
1810 |
Oct. |
9 |
John Sanson |
Facing two Press Stones |
2.00 |
|
|
|
Laying one in Plaster |
.75 |
1811 |
March |
11 |
John Sanson |
for one Press Stone Lade in Plaster |
5.75 |
Dec. |
3 |
John Sanson |
for facing a Press-Stone and Laying |
1.75 |
1812 |
April |
23 |
John Sanson |
for one Press Stone |
5.00 |
|
|
|
Laying in Plaster |
.75 |
1816 |
Oct. |
12 |
Alexander Napier[27]
|
for a marble Press Stone |
6.50 |
Oct. |
18 |
Isaac B. Garrigues[28]
|
To Sanding and fixing a Press Stone with Plaster Paris |
2.50 |
Additional equipment came to the shop from the estates of deceased
printers. For example, in 1806, Carey purchased fifty-two yards of
furniture at three cents per yard and three pairs of cases for two dollars per
pair from the estate of William Spotswood. One year later, Hannah
Spotswood sold Carey two frames for five dollars as well as some more
cases at a dollar and a half and two dollars per pair.
The purchase of printing type incurred far greater expenses
throughout the history of the firm. In one of his first transactions, on the
day before the Bell auction, Moore & Rhea, importers, sold Carey
508½ lbs. for 63/11/3 — a sum greater than that paid for a
press.
[29] With the type in the Bell lot
plus an additional supply costing nine pounds delivered by Jacob Bay in
February of the following year, Carey possessed a stock adequate for the
first few years. In 1787, he picked up more from two of his colleagues.
Some, including one batch of "a small fount Brevier," quadrats, and
"Sundry sorts" totaling 165 lbs. for 34/7/6 came from Joseph James, a
Philadelphia printer. Another Philadelphian, Benjamin Franklin, sold Carey
about 500 lbs. of the small pica Franklin brought from France and which
had been returned to him by Francis Childs — a story which will be
recorded by Professor Labaree in forthcoming volumes of
The
Papers
of Benjamin Franklin. But the expanded business necessitated a
further
increase. The following two bills from Richard Vaux, merchant, show
sizeable amounts of type, probably imported by Vaux:
[30]
I.
336 Long Primer |
|
1/6 |
25 |
-- |
4 |
-- |
8 Brevier flowers |
|
2/6 |
1 |
-- |
-- |
|
2 Boxes |
2/. |
|
|
4 |
|
|
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
26 |
-- |
8 |
|
Advance 120 pCent |
|
31 |
|
13 |
-- |
7 |
|
|
|
----------------- |
|
|
|
£58 |
-- |
1 |
-- |
7 |
Philada. 16th June 1787 |
II.
3 Boxes Printing Types C Contg. |
445.8 Long Primer on Burgeois |
|
|
|
2/ |
|
|
44 |
-- |
11 |
-- |
4.0 Two line Letters |
|
|
|
1/ |
|
|
-- |
|
4 |
-- |
|
3 Boxes |
|
|
|
|
|
-- |
|
6 |
-- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
45 |
-- |
1 |
-- |
1 Box Do. N. 8 Contg. |
172.4 English N. 1 |
2 Nic |
1/ |
8 |
-- |
12 |
-- |
3 |
|
Box |
|
|
2 |
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8 |
-- |
14 |
|
3 |
1 Box Do. N: 26 Contg. |
116.8 Two lines |
English |
1/ |
5 |
-- |
16 |
-- |
6 |
|
Box |
|
|
1 |
-- |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
-- |
18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
59 |
-- |
13 |
-- |
3 |
|
Advance 120 pCent. |
|
|
|
71 |
-- |
11 |
-- |
11 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
------------------- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
131 |
-- |
5 |
-- |
2 |
Philada. 28th March 1788 |
A more convenient source appeared when John Baine and his grandson,
having removed from Edinburgh to Philadelphia in 1787, opened their
foundry which continued for a short and at times successful period. This
meant that Carey could obtain type frequently and without the delay of
importation. The Baine statements disclose that deliveries were sometimes
very frequent; in the month of November, 1789, the Baines submitted
thirteen bills. Though the foundry did its best to accommodate Carey, the
minimal orders caused an occasional comment. In 1790, the younger Baine
delivered 51½ lbs. of English at 1
s 9
d per
pound with a note on the statement: "It was impossible for me to cast a less
quantity of the English than what I have done without charging an
additional price." Two years later, he wrote that he had to charge
3
s per pound for some two-line English sorts "on acct. of the
small quantity which occasion'd so much more trouble." The Baine prices
varied only
slightly, as seen in these examples of costs:
|
|
|
|
Per Pound |
|
|
|
|
s
|
d
|
Nov. |
6 |
1789 |
Small pica |
2 |
1 |
May |
11 |
1792 |
Small pica |
2 |
2 |
Aug. |
10 |
1791 |
Long primer |
2 |
10 |
June |
23 |
1792 |
Pica |
2 |
-- |
July |
9 |
1792 |
Bourgeois |
3 |
7 |
Aug. |
26 |
1792 |
Brevier |
4 |
6 |
Aug. |
26 |
1792 |
English |
1 |
10½ |
Dec. |
5 |
1793 |
Long primer |
3 |
-- |
Despite its advantages, the local foundry could not meet all of
Carey's requirements. He continued to buy other type, domestic and
imported. Of domestic type, sorts were acquired from Justus Fox as late as
1794, though it is apparent from the absence of bills that only a small
amount of type came from him. Imported type arrived by way of other
members of the Philadelphia book trade as well as by direct shipment. The
box of imported type purchased from Zachariah Poulson, Jr., the
Philadelphia printer, in 1792 was probably part of a joint venture. One year
later, Carey began to receive type from the Glasgow foundry of Dr.
Alexander Wilson & Sons, the financing being negotiated through
Carey's London agent, George Barclay & Co. From Wilson, he
received
over seven hundred pounds of pica, over five hundred pounds of long
primer, over two hundred pounds of brevier, and some two-line letters. The
bill for small pica purchased bears a
note about the duty charged:
Aside from a few transactions with fellow-printers, Carey seems to have
kept his stock fairly constant for a few years. Then, about the beginning of
the nineteenth century, his trade with the recently established foundry of
Binny & Ronaldson began to grow. From that time on, the firm of
Binny
& Ronaldson was Carey's chief source of supply. At one period,
Carey's
account reached surprisingly large proportions: according to a statement of
type delivered between March 12, 1803, and March 3, 1804, Carey owed
$6,806.20 on the total of $9,874.59. Ten thousand dollars worth of type in
one year remains an impressive amount today. Not all of this type went to
Carey's own shop; most of it was delivered directly to printers who worked
for him. An excerpt from a bill containing such items is this:
1803 |
|
lb |
oz |
|
Deliver'd to |
&c.mmat; |
March |
30 |
6 |
12 |
Pica Small Pica |
Palmers |
.42 |
2.83½ |
|
" |
7 |
1 |
ditto |
Aitken |
" |
2.96½ |
April |
1 |
21 |
-- |
Small Pica |
Way |
" |
8.82 |
|
" |
3 |
13 |
P Small Pica |
Aitken |
" |
1.60 |
|
5 |
1 |
9 |
Superior P S P |
Way |
.88 |
1.37½ |
|
7 |
19 |
13 |
Small Pica |
do. |
.42 |
8.32 |
|
11 |
3 |
3 |
Superior -- P Sm Pica |
Adams |
.88 |
2.80½ |
|
15 |
20 |
-- |
Small Pica |
Way |
.42 |
8.40 |
|
|
10 |
1 |
P Sm P |
Palmers |
" |
4.22½ |
For the bibliographer, the most useful information in this series of
Binny & Ronaldson bills lies in the prices rather than in the amount of
type purchased. Here one can observe variations from year to year in much
greater detail than that provided by the published price lists.
Some of the most significant prices are:
|
|
|
|
Per lb. |
Jan. |
11, |
1802 |
Pica |
.38 |
Jan. |
27, |
1802 |
Pica small pica |
.42 |
April |
1, |
1802 |
Nonpareil |
1.34 |
August |
30, |
1802 |
Brevier |
.70 |
|
|
|
Great primer |
.36 |
Oct. |
7, |
1802 |
Long primer |
.50 |
April |
22, |
1803 |
Two-line pica small pica |
.36 |
June |
6, |
1803 |
Bourgeois |
.60 |
Sept. |
30, |
1803 |
English |
.38 |
March |
19, |
1804 |
Great primer |
.38 |
Sept. |
3, |
1804 |
Bourgeois |
.63 |
Oct. |
8, |
1804 |
Pica small pica |
.45 |
Dec. |
1, |
1804 |
Nonpareil |
1.37 |
March |
2, |
1805 |
Brevier |
.73 |
Dec. |
5, |
1805 |
Pica |
.41 |
Oct. |
15, |
1807 |
Pica small pica |
.48 |
Jan. |
19, |
1808 |
Long primer |
.56 |
April |
29, |
1808 |
Minion |
1.03 |
May |
17, |
1811 |
Great primer |
.52 |
June |
13, |
1811 |
Nonpareil |
1.75 |
In addition to printing type, Binny & Ronaldson sold Carey metal
blocks
(1
s each in 1800 and .50 per lb. in 1811), presumably for
cuts,
and bookbinder's sorts (in 1815, $1.90 for a set in one size with 40
figures). Old type was sold back to Binny & Ronaldson —
$11.00 per
cwt. in 1807.
Despite the large bills from Binny & Ronaldson, Carey did not
restrict himself to that firm. Sometimes he paid for the type of a particular
job, as in these two bills from Thomas Kirk, the New York printer:
I.
1803 |
Jan. |
5 |
To 853lb Types &c.mmat; 30 Cents
pr. lb for Columbian
Spelling Book |
$255.90 |
|
|
To 121000 ms Composition for Do &c.mmat; 46 Cents
pr.
1000 |
55.81 |
II.
|
|
August 1, 1807 |
|
|
To Types for Child's Instructor |
$200 -- |
|
|
To Press work of one thousand Do at 50
Cents |
18 |
Carey also acquired type from Robert Carr, the Philadelphia printer, at
bargain prices, probably because the type had been used. Two examples
may be cited: in 1802, Carr sold him pica small pica (800 lbs. &c.mmat; .30)
when Binny & Ronaldson's price was much higher; six years later,
Carr
charged .37½ for long primer as compared with the Binny &
Ronaldson price of .56 per pound. But these and others were small deals;
for more extensive purchases, Carey remained faithful to Binny &
Ronaldson although he did not have to do so. About 1804,
Samuel Sower had established a foundry in Baltimore and, by 1808,
enjoyed a prosperous trade. Yet, with the exception of one relating to old
type which William McCulloch sold to Sower for Carey, no Sower-Carey
bills have been preserved. This certainly implies that Carey was well
satisfied with the Philadelphia founders.
Ink, being of relatively simple manufacture, seems to have been
readily available from printers as well as inkmakers. According to a bill of
October 22, 1785, John Albright, a printer, sold some ink (11½ lbs.
&c.mmat; 2s 9d) to Carey. During Carey's first ten
years
in Philadelphia, other printers and Justus Fox, the typefounder and
inkmaker of Germantown, supplied ink, too, but Francis Wrigley, a printer
and inkmaker, received most of the orders. For example, between January
7 and June 14, 1791, he sold Carey 49 pounds at 2s
6d per pound. This price, a net price with an extra charge for
the keg if supplied, prevailed until 1796 when charges of 3s,
3s 3d, and 3s 6d
begin to
appear. At this period, the ink was occasionally designated as summer ink
or winter ink though there was no difference in price. In 1802, Thomas
Condie provided two grades: printing ink at 3s per pound and
best book ink at 3s 3d.
Three years later, Francis Wrigley also billed ink at different prices (.40
and .50 per lb.), but he did not specify the difference. This did not last
long, at least as far as Carey is concerned, for Wrigley's bills soon
contained only one price, forty cents, which, in March, 1807, was
increased by five cents. By this time, the volume of purchases had
increased so that, between February 7 and December 24, 1806, Wrigley
sold over seven hundred pounds to Carey. The successor firm, Wrigley
& Johnson, maintained this high volume with Carey. In 1813, the
price
dropped back to forty cents per pound with random sales at forty-five and
fifty cents. After the dissolution of Wrigley & Johnson, Carey gave
most
of his business to Charles Johnson from whom he purchased over a
thousand pounds in 1815. Johnson, in 1817, still charged forty cents per
pound but his best book ink commanded ten cents more. Carey's purchases
from other firms were negligible.
The vendors thus far mentioned comprise a group one would expect
to find supplying equipment for a nineteenth century American printer. But
for woodworking Carey also employed men seldom, if ever, mentioned as
making printing house items, namely, the inmates of the local prison.
Perhaps because, having been in jail himself, Carey sympathized with them
and wanted to help in some way. Perhaps it was simply because the prices
were lower. For whatever reason, the Philadelphia Prison, between 1802
and 1816, made hundreds of boxes
for shipping books in addition to various printing house supplies. Some
examples are taken from the bills:
Nov. |
11, 1808 |
To making 15 Press Boards &c.mmat; |
10 Cts. |
1.50 |
Dec. |
14, 1810 |
To making a Slanting Box for Printing office |
|
.37½ |
Oct. |
24, 1811 |
To 7 Small press boards |
|
.14 |
Feb. |
19, 1812 |
To 12 press boards 18 cts. |
|
2.16 |
Oct. |
1, 1813 |
To making 10 Press boards |
&c.mmat; 18 |
1.80 |
|
|
To making 5 Type Boxes |
37½ |
1.87½ |
|
|
To 10 feet Cherry for ditto |
3 |
.30 |
Nov. |
1, 1813 |
To Making Case for Type drawers |
|
1.00 |
Nov. |
2, 1813 |
To Making a Case for Type drawers |
|
1.10 |
July |
6, 1816 |
Making 2 Troughs |
25c
|
.50 |
July |
12, 1816 |
80 pieces Furniture |
3c
|
2.40 |
July |
20, 1816 |
74 pieces Furniture &c.mmat; |
3c
|
2.22 |
July |
22, 1816 |
50 " do |
2c
|
1.00 |
Aug. |
23, 1816 |
54 Furniture strips &c.mmat; |
2c
|
1.08 |
Oct. |
26, 1816 |
2 Mahogany Gally's |
|
1.50 |
Dec. |
31, 1816 |
350 Quoins |
½c
|
1.75 |
The presence of other bills in the Carey Papers for wood delivered to the
prison makes it evident that the prison charged for labor only.
One cannot resist the temptation to call attention to two minor but
rather fascinating items in Carey's overhead expenses. The first concerns
the cost of educating apprentices, as seen in these two bills:
I.
Philadelphia September 25th 1792 to John Risdel
Dr
Mr Carey |
To 3 Months tuition his apprentice Chrystopher Oneil |
|
£ 12/6 |
II.
Philadelphia October 5th 1792 To John Risdel
Dr
Mr Carey |
To 3 Months tuition his Apprentice Nicholas Fink |
£ 12/6 |
The second relates to the professional organization in which Carey
participated. It is interesting that the Company of Printers fined members
who did not come to meetings:
|
|
Mr Mathew Carey To the Company of Printers. Dr. |
1791 |
July |
4 |
To admission |
£ |
-- . |
7. 6 |
1793 |
July |
4 |
To 2 fines for non-attendance |
|
-- . |
3. 9 |
1794 |
Jan. |
6 |
To 1 do
|
|
. |
1.10½ |
1795 |
July |
4 |
To 4 annual payments |
|
1. |
10. -- |
|
|
|
|
------------ |
|
|
|
|
£2. |
3. 1½ |
|
|
Cr |
1793 |
July |
1 |
By cash pd treasurer, 2 fines |
|
-- |
3. 9 |
|
|
|
|
------------ |
|
|
|
|
|
£1.19. 4½ |
|
|
Received payment for the Comp. D. Humphreys |
When Carey joined his Philadelphia colleagues in attending the Literary
Fair in New York, they paid their share of the cost:
New York, June 8, 1802 Recd of M Carey Ten
Dollars on a/c
of Messrs. Birch, Small, S. F. Bradford, W. Bradford
& W. Duane,
being their proportion of Hotel Room, office and other incidental expences
of the Fair — James Swords
Finally, there is a long series of statements which the foreman of the
shop submitted to Carey weekly, usually on Saturdays. These charge the
week's work, the foreman's wages, and out-of-pocket disbursements. Once,
when Carey was projecting new editions of his quarto and school Bibles,
he asked his foreman to estimate production time. Luckily, the reply which
has been preserved also reveals the size of the shop:
Printing-Office, March 14, 1807.
Memorandum. |
4to Bible, 135 sheets 1000 copies, 8 tok each |
1080 tok. |
4 presses, 10 tok each per day |
40 |
| 1080 |
|
|
------ |
|
|
27 days |
School Bible, 20 sheets |
10 | 400 tok |
|
------ |
one press |
40 days |
[_]
Note — It is hardly probable the whole number of five
presses
will average 10 tok. each, per day — on this there ought to be an
allowance of a few days.
Lewis Blackwell
Most of the time of the presses was devoted to Bible work, with the
remainder used for smaller jobs. Each of these reports of the foremen is not
very important in itself, but the series affords an excellent picture of the
week-by-week production entailing frequent purchases of skins, wool, oil,
and, in the winter, candles. Therefore, bills of one year, 1807, are printed
in the appendix although a selection from 1805 to 1815 might have been
made.
Students of the history of printing, especially those without experience
in a shop, are apt to think that the early nineteenth century printer,
equipped with press, ink, type, and paper, could be quite self-sufficient for
a while. This manifestly is not true. Even in a one-press shop, oil or wool
or something else would have to be obtained or repairs would be required
on the press more often than is usually realized. Carey's bills demonstrate
these facts of maintenance and must
certainly increase our respect for those men who persisted in overcoming
one deficiency after another.