Chapter 49. The Decline of the Book
- output of books very small considering intellectual energy
- other types of printed grew in profusion
- reasons for book's lack of development
- scarcity of type
- scarcity and poor quality of paper
- Stamp Act and Townshend Acts both taxed paper among other items
- correspondence written on any scraps of paper to be found
- paper that was manufactured was not made to last
- inferior ink
- printing presses had to be imported
- imported book became staple of American bookseller
- American printing lagged technically behind England's
- printer tried to cover investment through advance subscriptions
- had to play it safe
- solidly conventional list of publications
- few books of lasting significance appeared
- religious books proliferated in North
- legal books in South
Chapter 50. The Rise of the Newspaper
- American printers left free to serve special needs of his community
- presses were flourishing by mid 18th century
- bulk of printed material was government work in early years
- statutes
- votes and proceedings of colonial assemblies
- legal and commercial forms, a staple commodity
- almanacs
- most important printed matter next to Bible for many farmers
- back numbers kept for reading matter
- spread up-to-date political information, opinion and argument in pre-Revolutionary era
- larger income and future lay with newspaper
- by early 18th century, newspapers had become a familiar institution
- precocious development
- growth stimulated by circumstances
- spread of literacy
- extent of the country
- existence of several capitals, each with its own different ways
- competition among a number of seaboard cities
- symbol of how Americans broke down all distinctions
- need to be useful and relevant, not requiring long study and concentration
- mixed the public and private
- took the community into account with a view to action and specific events rather than universal principles
- advertising
- saved the newspaper from becoming too literary
- history of journalism shows tie to commercial spirit
- magazines
- mixed literary form
- first one with continuous history appeared in 1741
- few, short-lived, and pallid sums up overall output
- practiced habit of copying articles from other, mostly English publications
Chapter 51. Why Colonial Printed Matter was Conservative
- tight, effective control by government
- no secret presses
- no real freedom of the press as we know it
- traditional European idea of a monopoly of the press to cement the social order was successfully transplanted
- influence of New England
- more than half the colonial imprints between 1639 and 1763
- press restrictions were single largest influence
- government control remained effective into Revolutionary era and during war itself
- printing began under government supervision in all the colonies
- no press in Virginia from 1683 until 1730
- only one until 1767, an official organ of government
- outside of Boston, Philadelphia and New York were two leading printing centers
- government support meant government control
- confinement of the American press
- government control
- censorship
- threat of libel prosecution
- under these restrictions, colonial presses could hardly be centers of novel, startling or radical ideas
- printers' need to be a government man acceptable to ruling group
- only government business made it possible for a man to live by his press
Chapter 52. "The Publick Printer"
- steps to success
- winning confidence of government
- discovering sources of news
- finding ways of distributing his commodity quickly
- results led to the development of an unprecedented network of public information which eventually would link a vast nation together
- aspects of life which increased printer's influence
- large number of separate governments
- this gave a focus and practical purpose to printed matter
- put printing press in service of entire literate community
- men qualified to be public printers were always in demand
- became an American institution
- influence in public life foreshadowed special American relationship between politics and the press (e.g., Presidential press conference)
- growth of responsibility
- printer was chief local customer of post office
- gathering place for men of affairs
- postmaster had quickest and most confidential access to news through letters.
- printer found it convenient to take on duties of local postmaster
- printer's shop came to resemble a general store
- advantage of being postmaster kept press in hands of respectable men
- advantages developed by earliest printers
- intimately acquainted with public tastes
- learned the problems of selling and delivering printed matter to a wide audience
- reason for first U.S post office
- needs of the Continental Congress
- new American army
- rising colonial newspapers
- system set up on model of William Goddard
- man who had opposed post office monopoly under Franklin's rule as Deputy Postmaster General
- Franklin chosen as first postmaster which sealed the continuing close relationship between the post office and politics
The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel Boorstin, Book 1. The Vision and the Reality Part 1. A City Upon a Hill: The Puritans of Massachusetts. (12/8/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Part 2. The Inward Plantation: The Quakers of Pennsylvania. (12/10/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Part 3. Victims of Philanthropy: The Settlers of Georgia. (12/13/2014)
The Americans; The Colonial Experience, Part 4. Transplanters: The Virginians. (12/14/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 2. Viewpoints and Institutions. Part 5: An American Frame of Mind. (12/17/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 2. Viewpoints and Institutions. Part 6: Educating the Community
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 2. Viewpoints and Institutions. Part 7: The Learned Lose Their Monopolies. (12/24/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 2. Viewpoints and Institutions. Part 8: New World Medicine. (12/31/2014)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 2. Viewpoints and Institutions. Part 9: The Limits of American Science
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 3. Language and the Printed Word. Part 10: The New Uniformity. (1/6/2015)
The Americans: The Colonial Experience. Book 3. Language and the Printed Word. Part 11: Culture Without a Capital; (1/11/2015)
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