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PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL, Carrier's Address. New Year

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Philadelphia: [Thomas Bradford], 1 January 1780. Letterpress broadside (260 x 210 mm). Deckle edges, uncut. a presumed lost broadside discovered -- a war-date philadelphia newspaper carrier's address. Since the mid-18th century, on New Year's Day, the young men who delivered newspapers, generally the printers's apprentices, would circulate a broadside greeting to solicit tips. The present greeting, in verse as was generally the custom, is rife with references to the Revolution, beginning with a mention of General Anthony Wayne and his 1779 midnight attack on Stony Point. Written from the Loyalist perspective of the "Devil" (a play on words referring to both his position as the printer's apprentice as well as an evil entity), he laments the "oppression" of "Freedom, Virtue, Truth and Common Sense" (references to pseudonyms used in anti-British letters published in the Pennsylvania Journal?) and recalls being put out of his misery by the British occupation of Philadelphia, when the newspaper suspended publication. The poem continues: "Methinks you cry 'Do prithee, hold your Prate, / Nothing but Devils have we seen of late; / Tories and Traitors, or what else their Name, / Foes of Mankind, their Country's Curse and shame. / I would to Heaven the Authors of this Evil, / This Civil War, or rather most uncivil, / Were sent, without Distinction, to the Devil.'" Ephemeral carrier's addresses are quite collectible, and those from the American Revolution particularly rare and desirable. This carrier's address was presumed to exist, but no copies were known. This is believed to be the only extant example. A Checklist of American Newspaper Carriers' Addresses 177 ("No copy located"); Evans 16941; Hildeburn 4032.

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