6

come to light concerning his parentage and education.
On Hay 18, 1792, he advertised that

The subscriber respectfully informs the public,
that he has taken the house, lately occupied by
Mr. Joseph Williams, merchant, in which he pro-
poses opening, on Monday the 21st instant, a new
printing office, where he intends carrying on
the printing-business, in all its various branches,
and humbly solicits the countenance and patronage
of the public, in the line of his profession.
Blanks of every description, handbills, &c. &c.
and copper plate printing, will be done in the
neatest and most expeditious manner.

As an appendage to the advertisement, he added that he
would take as an apprentice, "a smart, active lad, of
14 or 15 years of age, who has a tolerable education,"

About July 13, 1792, Edwards began the publication
of the Baltimore Evening Post a daily newspaper. Dur-
ing 1792, also, he is known to have published a sermon,
Macgowan's Priestcraft Defended,¹⁵ and a broadside for
James L. Walker, painter by trade, who made known the
fact that he did Painting in General.¹⁶

Edwards printed the first magazine known to have
a Baltimore imprint In January 1793, the third number
of the Free Universal Magazine,¹⁷ the first two numbers
having been issued from New York. It was a quarterly
publication, edited by the Reverend Abel Sarjent,
pastor of the Unlversallst Church In Baltimore, a man

14 Maryland Journal. May 18, 1792.

15 Appendix A. Imprint bibliography, item 64.

16 Appendix A. Imprint bibliography, item 95.

17 Appendix A. Imprint bibliography, item 116.