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A History of the Maryland Press, 1777-1790
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incident, the relations between the printers of the two newspapers
were not of such a nature as to give rise to controversial articles.
The trade in printed legal forms and blanks of all sorts was a lucrative
one and James Hayes made full use of his newspaper to advertise this
service. One of the most interesting of these notices was that printed
in Dunlap1 s Maryland Gazette on April 8, 1777.
"Blanks of all sorts for the Army, printed on the shortest notice, by John Dunlap."
The Goddard Press was equally active, selling an assortment of blanks
and offering to do job printing of all kinds. In the colophon of 'The
Maryland Journal for 1784 the publisher announced that he would print
at short notice "..... Labels for Windows, large Posting-Bills, Shop-Bills,
Handbills, Blanks, and Cards, in various Languages and Colours....."
Book illustration was in its infancy in Baltimore when John Hayes
announced in 1786 that he would undertake "Copper-plate-Printing,
in all its various Branches, neatly performed, on the most moderate
Terms....." The most pretentious copper-plate printing which was done
in his shop was that of the engraved frontispiece to Chatterton's 'The
Buds of Beauty.10 The engraving was done in New York and was de-
scribed in the following language in the prospectus which appeared in
The Maryland Gazette on November 28, 1786.
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"The whole to be embellished with an elegant emblematical frontispiece, (not usual in Amer-
ican publications) beautifully engraved; representing on the fore-ground to the left, Liberty intro-
ducing the Arts to America—to the right, an obelisk dedicated to independency, upon the pedestal
of which appear warlike trophies, surrounded by the inscription July 4th, 1776, and above, the
names of the American worthies, who fell in the contest for freedom; with a young Fame engraving
the name of Laurens as the last whose life became a sacrafice for his country.—This plate is now in
the hands of an ingenious artist in New York, and will be finished in a few days."
During the early period when John Dunlap controlled the concern,
the paper for the press probably came from Pennsylvania. He made
the customary appeals for rags and doubtless had them shipped up to
Philadelphia by water when a sufficient quantity had accumulated as a
result of advertisements like that printed on February 25, 1777:
"Linen Rags. The highest price is given for clean Linen Rags, by John Dunlap, in Market Street,
Baltimore. Who begs leave to inform the Public in general, and the good people of this town in par-
ticular that the Paper Mills are idle for want of Rags; and of consequence, the Presses, the impor-
tant vehicles of instruction and amusement, must soon be reduced to the same unhappy situation.—
10 See Bibliography of Imprints, No. 429.
[ 54 ]
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