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Transcriber’s notes

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More transcriber’s notes may be found at the end of this text.




  A
  HISTORY OF ADVERTISING.


  PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY
  EDINBURGH AND LONDON


[Illustration:

A. Concanen, del. et lith.

Stannard & Son, imp.

MODERN ADVERTISING: A RAILWAY STATION IN 1874.]


  A
  HISTORY OF ADVERTISING
  ^From the Earliest Times^.

  _ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES, CURIOUS SPECIMENS, AND
  BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES._

  BY HENRY SAMPSON.

  [Illustration]

  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES.

  ^London:^
  CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
  1874.


  TO
  THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
  THOMAS MILNER GIBSON,
  IN HUMBLE RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANT SERVICES
  HE HAS RENDERED TO THE CAUSE OF
  _ADVERTISING,_
  AS WELL AS TO JOURNALISM GENERALLY,
  ^This Book^
  IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
  BY
  HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT,
  THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.


  CHAP.                                                     PAGE

  I.     INTRODUCTORY--NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING    1
  II.    INTRODUCTORY--STREET AND GENERAL ADVERTISING         19
  III.   ANCIENT FORMS OF ADVERTISING                         33
  IV.    MEDIÆVAL AND OTHER VARIETIES OF ADVERTISING          43
  V.     NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING FORESHADOWED--ITS EARLIEST
         USE--HOUGHTON’S LESSONS                              61
  VI.    DEVELOPMENT OF ADVERTISING                           94
  VII.   CONCLUSION OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY                   120
  VIII.  EARLY PART OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY                    142
  IX.    MIDDLE OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY                        176
  X.     THE EDUCATION COMPLETED                             205
  XI.    CURIOUS AND ECCENTRIC ADVERTISEMENTS                240
  XII.   SWINDLES AND HOAXES                                 304
  XIII.  THE GREAT BOTTLE-TRICK SWINDLE                      365
  XIV.   QUACKS AND IMPOSTORS                                373
  XV.    GRAHAM AND HIS CELESTIAL BED                        411
  XVI.   LOTTERIES AND LOTTERY INSURANCE                     422
  XVII.  MATRIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND AGENCIES             475
  XVIII. HANDBILLS, INSCRIPTIONS, ETC.                       510
  XIX.   AMERICAN AND COLONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS                556
  XX.    ADVERSARIA                                          597




PREFACE.


In presenting the following humble attempt at history-writing to the
reader, I am selfish enough to admit a preference for his tender mercy
rather than for his critical judgment. I would ask him to remember that
there are many almost insurmountable difficulties to be faced in the
accomplishment of a work like this, and a narrowed space adds to rather
than diminishes from their antagonistic power.

When the work was first proposed to me, it was imagined that the subject
could be fully disposed of in less than five hundred pages. I have
already gone considerably over that number, and feel that the charge of
incompleteness may still be brought against the book. But I also feel
that if I had extended it to five thousand pages, the charge could still
have been made, for with such a subject actual exhaustion cannot be
expected; and so, despite the great quantity of unused material I have
yet by me, I must rest satisfied with what I have done. I trust the
reader will be satisfied also.

Almost everybody has in the course of his lifetime discovered some sort
of a pet advertisement without which he considers no collection can be
complete. During the progress of this “history” I have received many
hundreds such--have received sufficient, with accompanying notes, to
fill a bigger volume than this--and I can therefore imagine every fresh
reader turning to look for his favourite, and, in the event of his
finding it not, condemning the book unconditionally. I hope that in the
event of a reconsideration some worthy representative will be found
occupying the missing one’s place. In like manner, and judging by my own
friends’ observations, I have found that almost every one would have
treated the “history” differently, not only from my way but from each
other’s. Every one would have done something wonderful with such a
wonderful subject. It will not be out of place perhaps, therefore, to
ask the reader to think,