66

Early Printing inPittsburgh, 1786-1856

Audrey Abbott Iacone

'Allthatmankind has done, thought, gained orbeen: it is lyingas inmagic preservation in thepages ofbooks.

'—Thomas Carlyle

JOHANNGutenberg's invention in 1453 of

movable metal type spawned a revolution. Histechniques spread rapidly from Mainz to other

cities in Germany, and soon, throughout Europe.Recognized as a major innovation ofman, this inven-tionhad tremendous impact on the course ofhumanevents. Once the art of printing arrived in the NewWorld, ittravelled ever westward

—never many steps

behind the earliest pioneers. Eventually, Gutenberg'sinvention arrived inPittsburgh.

Before the Revolutionary War, Pittsburgh was asmall village sleeping on the fringe ofcivilization,butwith the conclusion ofthe conflict,the citizens crowdedon the eastern coast turned their eyes westward to theopen lands just over the Allegheny Mountains. Pitts-burgh, nestled where the Allegheny and Mononga-hela rivers meet to form the Ohio, was a naturalgateway to the vast lands that lay to the West. Overroughly a half- century, Pittsburgh became animpor-tant publishing center, crucial in the dissemination ofwritten material to frontier areas. The Library of theHistorical Society of Western Pennsylvania has anumber ofpublications from this period. The follow-ing sketch of Pittsburgh's early publishing commu-nity places some of these works inhistoric context.(Those works in the Historical Society's collection aredenoted by HSWP.)

Among the early settlers toPittsburgh was HughHenry Brackenridge, a Philadelphia lawyer oftremen-dous insight and vision. Arrivingin178 1,he saw greatopportunity inPittsburgh and felt that the tinyhamletofless than 40 loghouses "would one day be a townofnote." 1 He quickly decided that Pittsburgh's po-tential would not be realized without a means toadvertise it. In1786, when Pittsburgh's populationscarcely numbered 300, he enticed two young print-ers from Philadelphia tocome set up aprinting shop.Audrey A.Iacone is the Librarian at the Historical SocietyofWestern Pennsylvania. Opposite page: One ofthe city'slarge bookstores announces itsnew location after the greatfire of1845.

John Scull and Joseph Hall,both 21,accepted the in-vitation and carried their printing equipment over themountains to establish the first printing press west ofthe Alleghenies. 2 Thus began a fascinating associationbetween Brackenridge and the publishing commu-nityofPittsburgh. Indeed, Brackenridge was not onlyresponsible for encouraging the city's first press, butplayed a part inpromoting many ofthe early publish-ers in the region.

Atthe corner of Water Street and Chancery Lane,Scull and Hall issued the first weekly newspaper,Pittsburgh Gazette (HSWP) on July 29, 1786. Thispioneer press encountered many obstacles inobtain-ing materials and in distribution. Since the printingoffice was also the firstpost office, the problems ofdis-tribution were perhaps reduced; however, troubleswith the Indians in Western Pennsylvania affecteddistribution, and these conditions persisted until1794,especially inareas west and northwest ofthe town. Asa consequence, the early settlers (and subscribers)lived mostly in the east and southeast. 3

Scull and Hall also published a number of booksand pamphlets. For example, they reproduced inpamphlet form a Fourth of July oration by MajorWilliam Jackson, given in Philadelphia. No knowncopies of this first Pittsburgh pamphlet exist today.4

Joseph Hall died shortly after his arrival in Pitts-burgh. The Gazette announced his passing on No-vember 18, 1786, reporting that he died at age 22after a short illness. Brackenridge continued as apatron of the fledgling newspaper, contributing ar-ticles and probably financial assistance as well. Scullpersisted in the enterprise, forming a briefpartnershipwith John Boyd of Philadelphia, on the advice ofBrackenridge. The Gazette announced the partner-ship on January 6, 1787. 5

InMay,1787, the firmofScull and BoydpublishedThe ABC with the Shorter Catechism, and soon fol-lowed with Pittsburgh's firstalmanac, encouraged byBrackenridge; the Gazette announced the sale of thePittsburg Almanac, or Western Ephemeris, For the

68

Pittsburgh History, Summer 1990

Tear of our Lord,1788. This is theearliest knownPittsburgh im-printextant today.

In July, 1788,Boyd attemptedto establish a cir-culating library,having a goal of500 volumes aswell as the newest

American maga-zines, but this en-terpnse was never

SETTLEMENTS, &c. realized_The nm

month, the part-nership endedwhen Boyd hunghimself; the rea-sons for his sui-cide are not

known. 6

Scull contin-ued the firm by

himself until1816. He en-dured many frus-trations; subscrib-ers were slow topay; sources forarticles and financ-ing were limited;

the columns ofthe newspaper, but took a unique ap-proach. For sixmonths, the Gazette published laws onthe last twopages ofeach issue. The pages could thenbe detached by the reader and folded into an eight-page pamphlet with consecutively numbered pages.Eventually all the pamphlets could be bound togetherinto a permanent book.

As westward migration increased, so did the popu-lation ofthe city,and John Scull's printing office grewand prospered with Pittsburgh. After his retirement in1816 — he died February 8, 1828

— the firmcontin-ued under the guidance of his son John IrwinScull,workingwithMorgan Neville.The young Scull sold toWilliamEichbaum and Samuel R. Johnston in 1820.

Soon the city grew large enough to accommodateother newspapers. John Israel established Pittsburgh'ssecond press, the Tree ofLiberty (HSWP), ananti-Fed-eralist paper, in August, 1800. He had previouslypublished the Herald ofLiberty in Washington, Pa.,but came toPittsburgh at the request ofBrackenridge,who had fallen out with Scull over political issues.Susbequently, Israel and Scull engaged in a long andbitter battle which ended with Scull pressing andwinning a libel suit against Israel. In 1806, Israelretired from the Tree ofLiberty, but the paper contin-ued until about 1810 under the leadership ofWalterForward and then, William Foster. 7

Ephraim Pentland began a thirdPittsburgh press inJuly 1805 known as the Commonwealth (HSWP); in1810, Benjamin Brown replaced Pentland. The papercontinued until 1818, when Pentland re-establishedcontrol inpartnership withSilas Engles, and renameditthe Statesman (HSWP). Afourth early newspaper ofnote was the Mercury (HSWP), begun in 1811 byJames C. Gilleland, and purchased the next year byJohn Snowden.

Brackenridge also had a hand in the establishmentof the first bookstore west of the Alleghenies byencouraging John C. Gilkison to settle inPittsburghfor this purpose. Gilkison opened his shop in 1798,chiefly offering textbooks for sale orborrow. The storepassed into Brackenridge's hands when Gilkison diedinMarch, 1800, but soon was sold to Zadok Cramer,who reopened the store inJune under the name "Signof the Franklin Head." Originally a bookstore andbook bindery, Cramer soon added publishing to thebusiness.

The Franklin Head Bookstore, located onMarketStreet between First and Second streets, provided avariety of books for westward migrants. The mostimportant imprints were almanacs and books on reli-gious topics, followed closely by textbooks, undoubt-edly regarded as necessary for the home -bound in-struction ofisolated farm children. Books on govern-ment and music were also popular. 8

Cramer became an important figure in the publish-ingcommunity, making a career of "firsts,"and pub-

Titlepage fromZadok Cramer's The Navigator.Published in 1801, this famous river guide was paper was scarcealmost indispensible to settlers traveling west and expensivethrough Pittsburgh. since it had to be

carried over themountains. When his supplies did not arrive in time,Scull had to obtain cartridge paper from the nearbymilitary post.InJune, 1797, the publisher announcedthat this problem had been alleviated by the recentlybuilt Jackson and Sharpless paper millon RedstoneCreek in Fayette County; this also reduced the sub-scription price.

In 1793, Scull published Volume IIIof HughHenry Brackenridge's Modern Chivalry, the firstnovelprinted inPittsburgh. John McCulloch had printedvolumes Iand IIinPhiladelphia in1792. Volume IVappeared in 1797. One of the earliest examples ofAmerican fiction,this picaresque novel relates the ad-ventures of Captain John Farrago and his trusty ser-vant, Teague O'Regan. Although this popular bookappeared in 10 editions in the first half of the nine-teenth century, the Pittsburgh edition remains rela-tively rare.

Scull undertook the printingofthe laws ofthe U.S.government in 1799. He did not print them within

69

Early Printing inPittsburgh, 1786-1856

lishing about 70 books and pamphlets. He succeededinestablishing a circulating library. Cramer had learnedprinting and book binding early inhis career inWash-ington, Pa. Although Cramer lacked a printing pressuntil 1805, he used other printers. He was responsiblefor two series of almanacs, Pittsburgh Almanack forthe Tear ofour Lord1802znd the Pittsburgh MagazineAlmanac, the latter including selections of the bestverse and prose of the day. Israel printed these alma-nacs. Cramer authored a famous river guide, TheNavigator, printed by Scull, which first appeared in1801, and saw numerous editions, the first twobeingvery rare today. This popular book, which was pro-duced in a new edition almost every year, described ingreat detail the Ohio Valley to the Mississippi River.Detailed maps printed from woodcuts accompaniedthe navigational information. As the inevitable multi-tude ofsettlers arrived inPittsburgh, pausing on theirjourney West for provisions, Cramer's Navigatorbecame almost indispensable. The significance ofthisbook cannot be overstated.

Once Cramer had a press, he continued his careeras a publisher, producing a number of importantbooks. In1807, he printed John Brown's A Dicion-ary of the HolyBible in two volumes (HSWP). Thismay have been the firstillustrated book issued west ofthe Alleghenies. These two octavo volumes containeda total of 24 plates, including a folded frontispiece,and were printed on fine paper. The plates were thework of W. Kneass of Philadelphia. Subscribers tothese volumes included Scull,Pentland and PresidentThomas Jefferson.

In1807, Cramer published the first printed ac-count of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Brieflyentitled AJournal ofthe Voyages and Travels ofaCorpsofDiscovery, Under the Command ofCapt. Lewis andCapt. Clark ofthe Armyofthe United States, From theMouth ofthe RiverMissouri Through the Interior Parts

of North America to the Pacific Ocean, During theTearsl804, 1805, eWS0<5...(HSWP),itwas written byPatrick Gass, a member ofthe expedition. Inthe sameyear, Cramer produced the New System ofMercantileArithmetic (HSWP), and in 1809 he applied for acopyright for the United States Spelling Boo&.Cramereventually formed a partnership with John Spear andWilliam Eichbaum, Jr., and the firm in 1813 issuedThe Western Gleaner, one of the earliest magazineswest of the Alleghenies.

When he died on August 1,1814, Cramer's wife,Elizabeth, continued inhisplace. Eichbaum retired in1817. Cramer's daughter, Susan, replaced her motherin1818, and the firmofCramer and Spear continueduntil 1835.

Other early Pittsburgh printers included James M.Riddle, who issued the first Pittsburg Directory (HSWP)in 1815, and Patterson and Lambdin, (PittsburghTown and Country Magazine Almanac, HSWP), and

Henry Holdship ( The Western Farmer's Almanac forthe Tear ofLord..., HSWP), allofwhom published theexceedingly popular almanacs of the day. By 1856,there were 35 printing firms in the Pittsburgh area.Brackenridge, who died in Carlisle, Pa., in June,1816, played, as did his sons to a lesser extent, an im-portant role in the establishment and promotion ofprinting inPittsburgh.

After the Revolutionary War, the rapid growth ofPittsburgh spawned printing enterprises and allowedthem to flourish as printers supplied those booksdeemed necessary by settlers migrating west. As theflow of migrants waned, as the modes of transporta-tion became more efficient (train rather than wagonor raft), and as the cen-ters ofprintingbecame

Hentrenched in the East—New York, Philadel-

phia and Boston—

theimportance of Pitts-burgh as a printingcenter diminished. Butforroughly 60 years, thecity and its pioneerprinters rendered a vitalservice to the expand-ingnation. \u25a0

'Hugh Henry Bracken-ridge, Gazette Publications(Carlisle, Pa.: 1806), 7.2 They carried perhaps themost celebrated of earlyAmerican presses, a smallwooden hand machine,fashioned byAdam Ram-age. See J. CutlerAndrews, Pittsburgh's Engraving depicting the Tower ofBabel,

Post-Gazette: The First fromADictionaryoftbe HolyBible,1807.Newspaper West of the Engravings for the book were importedAlleghenies (Boston: from Philadelphia.1936), 2.3 Rollo G. Silver, The American Printer (Charlottesville,Va.: 1967), 142.4 Douglas C. McMurtrie, A History of Printing in theUnited States, 4 vols. (New York:1936), Vol.II,88. Thispamphlet sold for a half-dollar.5 Ibid.,90.6Boydhung himselfon the bluffthat overlooks the Monon-gahela River (in the area ofpresent-day Duquesne Univer-sity). The hillsubsequently became known as Boyd's Hill.7 McMurtrie, AHistoryofPrintinginthe UnitedStates, Vol.11,92.8 Evelyn C. Edie, "AChecklist ofPittsburgh Imprints From1821 through 1840, With A Historical Introduction"(unpublished diss., Catholic University ofAmerica, 1955),19.