To study Colonial American history, is to also see the continual influence that the printer of colonial times held in the community. They were very literate craftsmen who often not only edited and published the newspapers but were also the post office for their towns.

      Consider also that letters, pamphlets and books that fueled the hearts of our patriot forefathers were products of these presses. It was their labors that helped spread the desire for independence.

      A typical colonial print shop was owned most often by a journeyman printer himself. It is documented, however, that some shops were owned by either men or women that had not earned the title of journeyman printer, but were the business factor of these shops. Within his shop, the owner had his lead journeyman and other journeymen printers necessary to operate the press or presses he owned. Along with these men, there were often young apprentices between the ages of 13 to 20 years who lived with the owner and worked in the print shop training in the print craft.

      This crew, in a daily routine, would produce either newspapers, books, government forms, hand bills and many other items for their paying customers.

      The inventory of a print shop seems simple compared to today’s printers. Most colonial printers owned a one or possibly two wooden Common English Press. He would also own an assortment of type fonts in a few different designs and several sizes. A series of tools would be needed to hand set type and set up the press. Add to this a modest inventory of paper and ink and you have what many colonial print shops had.

      The greatest asset a colonial print shop had were its skilled labor. Each employee, indentured servant or even slaves were vital in the art of their craft. The average journeyman printer would have spent at least seven years or so of his youth mastering the craft of printing. Starting as a young boy, he slowly learned the methods, secrets and skills it took become a journeyman. In those times, it was uncommon for people to change their profession once they had become a journeyman in their craft. So, once a young man had gained his journeyman ship, then he was assured a career for life. As long as he dwelt in a city large enough to need a printer, a journeyman printer was assured of a job.

      Up until the beginning of the 19th century, most all of the Bibles and scholarly books were printed in Europe and imported into north America. This left books of a non-classical type such as Sermons, theological essays and “books for the aide of the Publick.” for the American presses. Colonial printers also printed pamphlets from small books of cookery to seditious works of Patriots such as Patrick Henry, Thomas Payne and many others. Also, where there are governments, there is mounds of paper work and colonial times are no different. Governments required laws to be printed, military commission forms, or even a colony’s financial forms. Regardless of the colony or city, there was work for the printers.

      The labor it took to produce a printed product was both dirty and tiresome. But, it may have been one of the most prestigious crafts in colonial times. A printer was most often the city’s center of news and information. A place where both the landed gentry and the poor but curious may gather to hear what was going on around them. Without TV, radios or the internet, the news of the world came to the door of the printer, and it was the printer who spread that news to the people around them. Quite a prestigious position in colonial times!