BOOK REVIEWS
The Country Printer, New York State,
1785-1830. By Milton W.
Hamilton. (New York, Columbia
University Press, 1936.
361p. $3.75.)
One of the most colorful figures in the
period immediately
following the Revolutionary War was the
country printer, the
printer-editor-publisher, who was
indeed a distinctive character in
his community. Too often the press as
an institution and influence
is identified with the great dailies
published in the chief cities of
our country. Too little attention is
paid to those cultural pioneers
who institute the "Gazettes,"
"Intelligencers," and "Patriots" in the
rural communities.
It is the purpose of Dr. Milton W.
Hamilton's book to point
out the unique position occupied by the
country printer before 1830
in the life of his time as observed
through the study of the country
journals. In addition to that the
technical methods of printing,
apprenticeships, labor conditions,
business methods, and the char-
acter of the news and advertising are
discussed at length.
Omitting the references to the several
papers which were
printed in New York state during the
Revolutionary War, Dr.
Hamilton begins with the first of a
long line of weeklies which was
issued at Poughkeepsie in 1785, eight
years before the first paper
was published in what is now Ohio, and
carries the story down
through the next forty-five years.
During this period the power
of the press became an indispensable
factor in the political, social,
and economic history of American
culture and civilization.
The author has assembled his data from
a study of the more
than 650 printers, editors, and
publishers who were active in this
period. From this data a composite
portrait of the country printer
and an estimate of the influence of the
country press is drawn.
One thing more than anything else
characterizes Dr. Hamil-
ton's study of the printing press as a
social instrument--that is
his utter lack of prejudice and his
scholarly treatment of these
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