A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland

cumstance that the pagination of these session laws is consecutive with that
of the edition of the compiled laws of the previous year, it seems that Jones
had in mind the continuance of a series of annual Acts of Assembly to be
bound with the body of laws and used as one collection until the passage
of years should render necessary another revision and compilation of the
whole. That Bradford's work was fairly well done, the copies remaining
attest, but that it was not without vexatious errors may be inferred from a
passage in the Upper House journal of two years later, when, after discov-
ering that they had been bickering with the delegates over a point in one of
the acts the sense of which, it eventuated, had been beclouded by a mis-
print, their Honours in an ungracious note to the Lower House declared,
"We should be Glad you would Provide agt such Grosse mistakes in the
Printing for the future."¹

During the three sessions which followed this of May 1719 for which,
with Evan Jones as intermediary, Andrew Bradford had printed the laws
and addresses, these important state papers, almost certainly, were printed
by John Peter Zenger, a resident prin ter to whose Maryland venture a later
section of this narrative is devoted. On the departure of this individual from
Maryland late in the year 1721, the Province was again without a printer.
Once more and for the last time before his death a few months afterwards,
the worthy Evan Jones stepped forward to act as the agent for its printing.
On February 28, 1721/22, the Lower House journal records that "Mr. Evan
Jones has the liberty of printing the Tobacco laws." No provision was made
for the printing of the session laws, but as only one public law was passed
at this session and as this was a tobacco law, the neglect explains itself. De-
spite the fact that no copy of this law remains, it is probable that it was
printed by Bradford at Evan Jones's behest, for other documents of this
session found their way into print through the Philadelphia office. One of
the reasons given by Governor Calvert for calling this session had been his
desire to explain to the Houses his dismissal of Thomas Bordley from his
Council. The several addresses to and from the Governor on this and rou-
tine matters before the session, Bordley's defense and other pertinent
documents were collected and printed under the title of The Speech of his
Excellency Coll. Charles Calvert, Governour of the Province of Maryland, to
both Houses of Assembly, Feb. 20, 1721.

Unfortunately there remains of this printed collection a single mutilated
copy containing only three pages,² and as none of these is title-page or colo-

¹U. H. J., August 5, 1721, Archives of Maryland, 34:186.
² See bibliographical appendix.

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