Early American newspaper prospectus
Proposals for Printing a New Weekly Paper, called The Boston Chronicle.
Boston: Printed by Mein and Fleemin[g], [October] 22, 1767.
Price: $2,500.00
About the item
2 pp. prospectus, printed recto and verso of a single sheet. 4to (10-1/2 x 8 inches). Early American newspaper prospectus. Damage at edges with loss to text, month (October) missing from heading, lower corner torn away with loss to"G" in Fleeming in imprint, a few letters lost from right margin on recto and 12 lines affected on verso, toned and stained. Signed "Mich. Franklin 1768" at top of recto. Ford Broadsides 1418; Shipton-Mooney 41736; Bristol B2787 (recording 4 copie); Evans 10565 (for newspaper).
Item #313300
Rare early American newspaper prospectus, announcing publication of The Boston Chronicle, a weekly Loyalist paper. "John Mein, a bookseller, was the publisher, and John Fleeming the printer. With the beginning of the second year the size of the paper was enlarged to folio, and it was publihsed every Monday and Thursday, and was the first newspaper to be published twice a week in New-England. To avoid popular resentment of his political views Mein was forced to leave the country before the close of its second year, and the paper was continued by Fleeming in the name of the firm until its publication ceased on the 25th of June, 1770" (Evans).
The five "conditions" listed on the recto detail the general design of the paper — that it will be printed on high quality demy paper with specially designed type, 8 pages in quarto, priced at 6 shillings and 8 pence, printed every Monday, and delivered to subscrribers with care. The verso, with text in three columns, outlines a plan of the contents of the paper, including coverage of current events and issues, essays on moral subjects, notices on newly published books, poetry, etc.
