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III
Of the specimens of type, paper, and workmanship submitted with the proposals, those of Charles Gist were the most comprehensive. He offered as a sample of his printing abilities a sheet of the Journals of Congress set in Pica, and a sheet of Congressional accounts set in a smaller type that he
Childs in his proposals made certain that his connection with Benjamin Franklin should come to the attention of Congress, for he wrote, 'The subscriber from a Letter received from Doctor Franklin, since his arrival, expects, in the next French packet, a Variety of Types—the Matrixes of which were designed by the Doctor and cast under his direction.' To bolster his credentials he later sent to Thomson that letter itself and another one from Franklin expressing an interest in assisting Childs to establish himself in the printing business in New York. Shepard Kollock also relied on Franklin's eminence as a help in procuring the favor of Congress. For his specimens he submitted both his own proposals and an address to Congress set in Pica, and pointed out that they had been 'printed with a new and elegant Type . . . cast under the immediate supervision of that great Typographer, Doctor Franklin.' At the end of his proposals he noted, 'The superior talents of Doctor Franklin, in the typographical art, in which he is so familiar, flatter the publisher with producing a work which will attract the admiration of Congress; and from which he will derive a proportionate share of the credit.'
Oswald and Dunlap submitted sample pages of the Journals of Congress, which they had printed in earlier years while they were serving as public printers. Adams offered samples of Latin paragraphs in three kinds of Roman and Italic sizes, Pica, Small Pica, and Long Primer, and spoke admiringly of his type supply as follows: 'As I have lately imported from London a general Assortment of Types, Specimens of such as I suppose you will have the Work printed on you have here enclosed, think there is not a Printer on the Continent better provided for that Work—If a larger Size Letter than you have here inclos'd might be pitch'd on, I have such.' Samuel Loudon offered no specimens, but suggested 'Lawsize' paper and English type, or 'Demy' paper
The proposals of the nine printers afford thus a unique cross section of information about a number of aspects of the printing trade in the young American republic. From them can be made comparisons of costs of printing and paper, prices of indexing and binding, and estimates of the length of time necessary for the completion of the job. With the comments about type, paper, and proofing, and the samples of workmanship, the proposals constitute a collection of contemporary information of particular interest in any examination of early American publishing.
A final matter worth noting is that actually nothing ever came of Thomson's advertisement and the printer's replies to it. Evidently the total cost of the new edition would have been too great an expense for the Continental Congress to bear; for after the entry in the Resolve book authorizing Thomson to request bids, there is the following notation in his handwriting: 'On this the Secretary took order to publish for proposals, the proposals he laid before Congress, who referred them to a come.e. and the come.e. made report on which no decision is come to.'[5] Instead of the whole new edition originally planned for, Congress decided to satisfy itself with an index to the Journals that had previously been printed by various hands from year to year. On August 15, 1786, the following resolution was passed: 'That the Secy. of cong. take order without Delay to employ some person or persons to make an Index of the printed Journals of Congress. . . .'[6] There the matter rested.
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