158

THE PRESS IN FREDERICK

Matthias Bartgis Continues German and English
Printing in Frederick... Matthias Echternach Bartgis

was the first to engage in the printing business west
of the tidewater in Maryland, having set up a press
in Frederick approximately in the fall of 1776.¹ The
events of his life and printing career, especially
during the early years, have been chronicled by
Joseph Towne Wheeler in Chapter Seven of his Maryland
Press, 1777-1790.

Bartgis may have suspended his newspaper, the
Maryland Gazette; or, The Frederick Advertiser (former-
ly the Maryland Chronicle) at the close of 1789, for
no issue has been located after December 2, 1789; he
entered the newspaper field again on May 22, 1791,
when volume 1, number 1 of Bartgis's Maryland Gazette
made its appearance.

This newspaper must have proved a profitable
venture, for at the end of its first year, the editor
informed the citizens of Frederick that he had con-
cluded to publish a German newspaper, commencing Jan-
uary 5, 1793, at the price of seven shillings six-pence
par annum. Apparently no issues of the German news-

1 Wheeler, J.T. The Maryland press, 1777-1790.
p. 59.