A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland, 1686-1776

Abstract

zA History of Printing in Qolonial 'i^^aryland this day before him & the Councel to answer for his presumption, in printing the acts of Assembly made in James Citty in November 1682, and several other papers, without lycence, acquainted this board, that he had several times commanded the Printer not to let any thing whatever passe his presse, before he had obtained his Excellencies lycence, and that noe acts of assembly are yet printed, only two sheetes, wch were designed to be presented to his Excellency for his approbation of the print: This board having seriously considered, what the said Mr. John Buckner has said, in his defence, are well satisfied therewith, but for prevention of all troubles and inconveniences, that may be occasioned thorow the Uberty of a presse, doe hereby order that Mr. John Buckner and William Nulhead (sic) the Printer enter into bond of one hundred pounds sterling with good security, that from and after the date hereof, nothing be printed by either of them, or any others for them, of what nature soever, in the aforesaid presse or any other in this Colony, untill the signification of his Maj'ties pleasure shall be known therein, which his Excellency hath promised to acquaint his Majesty with.Nicho: Spencer, Secr'ty.Several months later, on September 29, 1683, this order of the Virginia Council was read before the Lords of Trade in England, and it was by them decided that the new governor, Lord Francis Howard of Effingham, should pursue a policy of absolute prohibition in regard to printing in his government. On December 14, 1683, they approved the King's letters of instruction to Howard, in which his Majesty had written, "And whereas We have taken notice of the inconvenience that may arise by the Liberty of Printing in that Our Colony, you are to provide by all necessary orders and Directions that no person be permitted to use any press for printing upon any occasion whatsoever."* Seven years later this restriction was modified to accord with the usual form of conditional prohibition under which the press operated in other colonies. In his instructions of October 9, 1690, Howard was told that "No printer's press is to be used without the Governor's leave first obtained,"b ut even then, after it had been put on the same footing of suflFerance as it stood upon in the northern colonies, the press in Virginia didnotrevive as might have been expected.' It was not until the coming of William Parks to Williamsburg in the year 1730 that printing became an established feature of life in the oldest of the American colonies, although as has been shown, it had been practised there for a short period nearly half a century before this time.'

The Press, Paper Shortages, and Revolution in Early America

“…73 While Wroth, the definitive historian of printing for this period, suggests that costs for the locally made paper went down over the years, the account books, newspaper reports, and pleas for raw materials show that in fact paper grew more costly, especially during the Revolution. 74 There were occasionally other sources of paper supplementing the normal supplies of local paper and paper imported from British merchants. Paper captured from enemy ships and smuggled paper would sometimes bring the cost of printing materials down, at least temporarily.…”