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Maryland Imprints of the Colonial Period, 1689-1776
MARYLAND IMPRINTS OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1689-1776
1689
1. MARYLAND, PROVINCE OF. The | Address | of the Representatives of their Majestyes
Protestant | Subjects, in the Provinnce [sic] of Mary-Land Assembled. | To the Kings most
Excellent Majesty. | ..... [Colophon:] Maryland printed by order of the Assembly at the
Citty | of St. Maryes August: 26th. 1689.|
Broadside. 12 x 8 inches.
See Chapter One of the preceding narrative for a photographic reproduction and a discussion of this broad-
side, the earliest issue of the Maryland press of which a copy is known to be extant. As there remain no records
or traditions of the existence of other printers in Maryland at this time, it seems reasonable to attribute the print-
ing of this document to William Nuthead, the printer who was in the employment of the Province from 1686 to
1694. The single known copy of the broadside, that in the Public Record Office, London, (C. O. 5/718), bears the
following written attestation: "This is a true coppy of the Originall Attested per John Llewellin Clk Assembly."
It is endorsed "Maryland 26th August 1689. Address of the Representatives to the King. Reed, from my Lord
Shrewsbury 7th Feb: 89. Copy recd: 31. December." The copy referred to in the endorsement was in manuscript
and is dated "St Maryes the 4th day of Septr. 1689." The absence of the journals of this session of Assembly
makes it difficult to explain the earlier date of the printed document, but its colophon and the attestation of the
clerk of Assembly which it bears seem a guaranty of its Maryland origin and of its authenticity. The printed
"Address" was reprinted in Archives of Maryland, 13: 232; the manuscript document was printed in the same
volume, pages 239-240.
PRO.
2. PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, THE. The | Declaration | of the | Reasons and Motives | for
the Present | Appearing in Arms | of | their Majesties | Protestant Subjects | in the Prov-
ince of | Maryland.| Licens'd, November 28th 1689. J. F.| [Colophon:] Maryland, Printed
by William Nuthead at the city of St. | Maries. Re-printed in London, and Sold by Randal
Tay-| lor near Stationers Hall, 1689.|
Sm. fol. A-B2; 4 leaves; pages 1-8: text, with heading as above; page 8: "Published by Authority", at con-
clusion of text, followed by colophon as above.
Leaf measures: 11 3/4 x 7 15/16 inches. Type page, p. 3: 222 x 135 mm.
No copy of the original Maryland edition has been recorded. Evidence that it was published is found in the
colophon cited above, in the known facts of William Nuthead's life (see Chapter One of the foregoing narrative),
in the assertion regarding it in Chalmers, George, Political Annals (citation below), and in memorandum of the
Lords of Trade of Jan. 7, 1689/90 (C. O. 5: 723, printed in Archives of Maryland, 8: 162) when their lordships
requested their president to lay before the King, together with other Maryland documents, "a declaration in
Print from the Inhabitants there." The last mentioned piece of evidence, however, is weakened by the fact that
there is no printed copy of the "Declaration" among the Maryland papers preserved in the Public Record Office.
A Ms. copy with signatures is in C. O. 5/718.
In his Political Annals, Book I, Lond. 1780, p. 384, George Chalmers (lawyer, historian and typographical
annalist, resident of Maryland, 1763-circ. 1774) wrote: "The Declaration of the Associators was printed at St.
Mary's by the printer of the Province." In his Ms. "Notes and Transcripts" in the New York Public Library, of
which the transcripts are principally copies of papers in the Public Record Office, he has an abstract of the
"Declaration" and in a parenthesis at the head of it the word "printed." It is possible, of course, that Chalmers
had knowledge of the London reprint and accepted the statement of its colophon without question.
In the entry of the title as given above occurs the official imprimatur of the book: "Licens'd November 28th
1689. J- F." Under the impression that the person represented here by the initials "J- F." was the author of the
"Declaration", Evans, No. 466, has entered it under these initials. This was setting up a difficulty where none
existed; the "Declaration" was of joint authorship (see Chapter One of the foregoing narrative), and "J- F."
was simply the licenser of the London edition. His initials, or full name "James Fraser," appear in precisely the
same association in the entries of many works licensed in 1689 by the Stationers Company of London. (See A
Transcript of the Registers of the Worshipful Company of Stationers; from 1640-1708 A. D. 3v. Lond. 1913-1914,
being the Roxburghe Club supplement to Arber, Edward, ed. A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of
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