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Extension of the Maryland Press
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He agreed to publish the Maryland Herald and Eastern Shore Intelli-
gencer as soon as five hundred subscribers were found who would pay
two dollars a year. The first number was printed on May 11, 1790. He
published the paper until 1804, when it was discontinued, perhaps
because of the competition of a rival local paper which had been started
in 1799 by Thomas P. Smith, and falls outside the period of this study.
Stewart Herbert began printing at Hager's-Town, or as it was then
known, Elizabeth's-Town, in 1790, and established the Washington Spy,
a weekly newspaper, sometime in June of that year. After his death on
March 3, 1795, his widow and her partner printed it until 1797. He may
have run a paper mill in connection with his printing shop for he often
advertised for rags. Like all early printers, he published the usual assort-
ment of blank forms. The business apparently increased beyond his
capacity to handle it, for after December 1790 he repeatedly advertised
for an apprentice. He also frequently announced the publications of
the Baltimore printing firms and may have had a small bookshop.
EARLY PRINTING AT GEORGETOWN
President Washington ended the uncertainty over the site of the
national capital along the Potomac River by his proclamation of Jan-
uary 24, 1791, accepting the present location of the District of Columbia.
He thereby deprived Maryland of one of her most interesting and flour-
ishing towns. Established by the Maryland legislature in 1751, George-
town quickly became an important trading center for the regions to
the westward. By 1790 the merchants of Baltimore already looked upon
it as a dangerous economic rival.
Printing was introduced to Georgetown by Charles Fierer,4 who began
his newspaper, The Times, and the Patowmack Packet, on February 12,
1789. It is possible that German printing was carried on in the newly
established printing office. On April 23, 1789 and again on April 21, 1790,
the following advertisement appeared in the Times:
"Wanted, An Apprentice to learn the printing business, in both the English and German lan-
guages.—He must be of genteel connections, and possessed of the cut lines of a classical education.
The age of 14 would be preferable.—Inquire at this office."5
4 His correspondents to the Times addressed him by the title of Major but in a letter to Washington on September 14,
1793, he called himself Captain. Practically nothing is known of his early career.
5 Fierer may have been advertising at the request of Bartgis at Frederick but on the other hand, Christian Kramer
whose German name suggests a possible knowledge of that language, ended their partnership on April 12 and Fierer per-
haps intended to replace him with an apprentice.
[ 73 ]
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