Source:Fleming-franklin-head
George T. Fleming. "At 'The Sign of the Franklin Head': A further account of Zadok Cramer's pioneer publications—his print shop and its celebrated sign—the old-time presses and press makers, Adam Ramage, et al.; Cramer's press work analyzed." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Oct. 7, 1923, sec. 5, [p. 6]. Newspapers.com 85846839.
DOWN at the foot of Market street, in the literary area of Pittsburgh in its borough days and almost in the business center of the borough, was Zadok Cramer's small print shop, "At the Sign of the Franklin Head," and an additional sign, "Zadok Cramer, Bookbinder and Publisher." The building in which the shop was located was on the east side of the street between what is now known as First and Second avenues. Some notice of Cramer appeared in last week's story on this page, principally devoted to the man and the beginning of his business as a publisher. Today some account will be presented of the products of his shop.
Cramer's first attempt was not printed on his own presses. For five years he divided his press work between his neighboring printing offices in the same block. The Almanacs were printed by John Israel in the office of The Tree of Liberty and the Navigator by John Scull in the office of The Pittsburgh Gazette. It was not until the summer of 1805 that Cramer advertised in The Commonwealth that he had received the presses for use in his own shop.
Up to 1800 the printing press had been but slightly improved since the days of Guttenberg [sic], as will be noted. Hence there was not the whirr in Cramer's little shop so noticeable in the printing shops of today. The old common press continued in general use until 1620 before an improvement was made. This was by Blaeu, a mathematical instrument maker of Amsterdam, and this press lasted for more than a century. In the United States the Ramage press was the chief one in use. Adam Ramage, a Scotchman, came to Philadelphia about 1790 and engaged in the manufacture of printing presses, making many improvements in the century old styles. His chief improvement was the substitution of an iron bed for the stone one long in use.
The Earl of Stanhope, in England, contrived his celebrated press in 1800 but it was soon surpassed by the Columbian press, invented by George Clymer of Philadelphia. Subsequent presses in use in this country was [sic] the one invented by Peter Smith of New York and Samuel Rust's celebrated Washington press. It is not known what style of press Cramer used, probably Ramage's.
All these models were hand presses. In Clymer's the power was procured by a long bar, or handle, acting upon a powerful combination of levers. The return of the handle, or levers, being effected by means of countrepoises or weights. This press was especially adapted to book work. John Scull, printing The Pittsburgh Gazette in 1786, antedated Ramage's arrival in Pennsylvania. Our Pittsburgh historian, George H. Thurston, says in the book published in 1888, "Allegheny County One Hundred Years [sic]:"
"It is of interest to note that The Gazette was printed on a Ramage press, brought across the mountains by wagon. This press was so small that but one page of The Gazette, about 10 by 16, could be printed at a time, taking, therefore, four impressions to produce a copy and occupying about 10 hours to produce 700 copies. The contrast between then and now is strikingly illustrated by the press now in use by The Gazette, which throws off 15,000 copies in one hour."
Cramer's presses were brought from Philadelphia and were undoubtedly the best procurable at the time, and, being hand presses, were especially adapted to book offices devoted to extra fine printing. However, from inspection of the copies of the "Navigator" and the Almanacs, the output of Cramer's shop cannot be classified under the head of fine work, although much of it is creditable. The facsimile page in the souvenir of the Bank of Pittsburgh is at hand. This is a photographic reproduction: "Memorial of the president, directors and company of the Bank of Pittsburgh, to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, praying for a charter, or act of incorporation," printed in Pittsburgh in 1810 by Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum. The typogrophy [sic] is clear but the types appear to be well worn, and the set-up in conformity with title page styles of that day. Of course the more than century-old copies of the Almanacs and the "Navigator" now accessible cannot measure up to the products of the modern book shop. These old copies remain standards of their day and we are to remember that Cramer's day was the day of the pioneer in his line in this section.
Last week's story told of the earliest issues from Cramer's print shop, namely his almanacs, The Navigator, and the pamphlet containing an account of President Jefferson's election and inauguration, also a brief notice of the Pittsburgh Circulation Library which he continued. The history of this library is the most interesting chapter in the general history of the Public Libraries of Pittsburgh. On Cramer's book shelves there could be found the books of all the popular novelists of those years, but space forbids their enumeration here. "The Sign of the Franklin Head" was not only a publishing house, but the seat of a circulation library that prospered, but there were few periodicals circulated, the principal one, the American Museum, published monthly; a journal of wide range in the miscellaneous character of its pages. The Philadelphia Mirror, a reprint of the celebrated Mirror of Edinburgh, appeared semi-weekly, and the Philanthropist weekly. These appeared to be the sum-total of the periodical circulation.
An account of Cramer's Almanacs appeared in last week's article with some quotations handed down to us by Isaac Harris, Pittsburgh's third directory publisher, so we will pass up further mention of the same today and give some attention to Cramer's Navigator. The idea of this standard work was original with Cramer. He had been in Pittsburgh only a short time when he saw the necessity of a work which would furnish information for the swarms of travelers en route to the West and South. Here and at Robbstown on the Youghiogheny, now West Newton, they sold their vehicles, in which they had made their long journey over the mountains, for boats to transport their families and their cattle and horses down the broad and tortuous Ohio, the easiest and quickest route to the West. Some did not take this waterway but continued overland, but the majority preferred the river transportation. Gazetteers were common later, but when Cramer started his Navigator they were rare and did not furnish the exact information that the travelers desired. The town of Pittsburgh was at times filled with immigrants, who lingered here, endeavoring to learn how to navigate the rivers to the South and West, and also something of the sections in which they desired to locate. Cramer met these people and talked with them and set about collecting the data and putting it in proper shape for practical purposes. This was distinctly a pioneer venture in publication: the concrete outcome of a utilitarian idea that prospered and brought great praise to the little print shop, "The Sign of the Franklin Head," and its owner.
That rare little book of Capt. Hutchin's [sic], "A Topographical Description of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia," served Cramer as a model. Thomas Hutchins was an American who had seen much service under Bouquet and Forbes previous to the Revolution. He was with Bouquet at Fort Pitt and has a notable record. He died in Pittsburgh in April, 1789, as an obituary in the Pittsburgh Gazette attested. He was in England when the Revolution broke out but nevertheless, he found opportunity to publish his book in London in 1778. He escaped to America, what year is not stated in the scant matter from which these facts are drawn today. Through the influence of Benjamin Franklin he was made "Geographer to the United States of America." His title "Geographer" meant that he was in charge of the government surveys. Cramer, as publisher, and familiar with all literature of his time, undoubtedly knew of other gazetteer publications; Imlay's "North America," for instance; and Jedidiah Mores's [sic] work, "The American Gazetteer," which were published prior to 1800, the American edition of Morse in Boston, but three years prior to Cramer's appearance in Pittsburgh, so that it was then recent and much in use.
It is known that Cramer's first "Navigator" came out in 1801, but no copies have ever been found. The basis of the presumption is to be found in the edition of 1802, wherein in the preface the statement is made that two editions had previously been issued and that these were confined to the navigation of the Ohio River only, and that they had been sold quickly. In the newspapers of Pittsburgh there is no mention of the Navigator until February 26, 1802, when the following appeared in The Tree of Liberty:
"IN THE PRESS
And speedily will be published by Z. Cramer.
THE NAVIGATION
of the Monongahela, Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers."
Cramer subsequently advertised after 1802 that three editions had appeared since 1801, numbered the sixth, seventh and eighth. The editions were mere pamphlets, octavo in form. The third edition contained 40 pages. In the early editions the navigation directions were for the Ohio only, but the description of the Mississippi was inserted. At this time in our history our Western boundary was the Mississippi River; beyond that was the French territory of Louisiana, acquired by Thomas Jefferson in 1804. The Trans-Mississippi region made good its appearance as a land of great promise, and many thousands of emigrants cast longing eyes in this direction. This vast territory, having become part of the United States of America, and the flood of emigration having set in, the necessity of a book detailing information about the territory becoming greater and greater, emigrants by the thousands appeared in Pittsburgh and the head of each group wanted a copy of the Navigator, hence the sales were large and increased from year to year.
In 1805 the first issue of Ephriam [sic] Pentland's Commonwealth appeared, a political sheet brought out to fight The Pittsburgh Gazette, and especially John Israel's Tree of Liberty. The first accessible copy of this small sheet is that of August 4, 1805, the fourth issue of the paper, and in it there appeared a single-column advertisement of Cramer's publications, principally the books he had in press.
Each edition of the Navigator found new favor, for each was a distinct improvement over its predecessor. Descriptions, short or long, of all towns, posts, harbors and settlements on the navigatable [sic] rivers on which the Navigator treated were valuable. Pittsburgh was written up at length and this matter today is exceedingly valuable, and in the later editions of the Navigator the Pittsburgh descriptions were much extended. The fact that the work increased in bulk is attested by the edition of 1814, which contained 360 pages. After that the editions became smaller, the last, in 1824, containing 275 pages. It is very evident that the compilation and gathering of the subject matter of the Navigator, cost Cramer much time and money. It required patience, accuracy and system. That this subject matter was appreciated is evidenced by the fact that it was copied by others without credit to Cramer and in a manner pirated. Cramer charged the Rev. Thaddeus M. Harris, who came through Pittsburgh in 1805, with using the Navigator pages without credit to the publisher. Harris' book is entitled, "Journal of a Tour Northwest of the Allegheny Mountains." In this connection Thomas Ashe was the worst offender. Ashe, an erratic character, was in Pittsburgh in 1806 and the first edition of his book, "Travels In America," was published in London in 1808, reprinted at Newburyport, Mass., the same year.
Cramer accused Ashe of taking the Navigator account of our local rivers verbatim from the edition of 1806. A copy of Ashe's work, in the library of the writer hereof, shows that Ashe was at Wheeling in April, 1806, and that he devotes many chapters to the account of the Ohio River and the towns on its banks. Ashe's chapters are in the form of letters. Despite Cramer's ire he printed an edition of Ashe's book in 1808, and must have known Ashe in Pittsburgh, who was here for several months. The matter Cramer claimed Ashe pirated is found in the appendix to Ashe's book. Most of the writers who used the Navigator as a source of information commended it and acknowledged it as their authority. John Mellish, who was in Pittsburgh in 1807, said: "The Pittsburgh Navigator is a little book containing a vast variety of information regarding the Western country, the prosperity of which seems to be an object of peculiar solicitude with the editors, etc."
Christian Schultz, in his book of travels, said: "Before I left Pittsburgh I purchased a Navigator, a kind of 'Blunt' or 'Hamilton Moore' for these waters; it is a small pamphlet, but contains a great deal of useful and miscellaneous information and is particularly serviceable to a stranger." The authorities that Shultz [sic] refers to are Blunt's American Coast Pilot and Hamilton Moore's, which was a useful book entitled "The Practical Navigator."
In 1807 Cramer published the first account of the expedition of Lewis and Clark. This was the journal of Patrick Gass, a United States soldier, who was a member of the military force making the expedition. David McKeehan, an Irish schoolmaster, got the notes from him and had them published in Pittsburgh by Zadok Cramer under the title, "The Gass Journal." From this book Cramer compiled an account of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, which he printed in the edition of the "Navigator" for 1808, and continued in the subsequent editions.
In 1859 there was published in Wellsburg, W. Va., the home of Patrick Gass, a book by J. G. Jacobs entitled, "The Life and Times of Patrick Gass, the Only Survivor of the Lewis and Clark Expedition." This is perhaps the best known of the Gass bibliography, but it is now rare. Gass died in 1870 at Buffalo Mills, near Wellsburg, in the ninety-ninth year of his age. In the Sunday issue of The Gazette Times, June 1, 1919, an extended account of Patrick Gass and his Journal was printed from the pen of Frances E. Scott. The incentive to write this story came from a visit to Mrs. Rachel Gass Brierly, a daughter of Patrick Gass, who was then living at Independence, Washington county, Pa. In this article of Miss Scott's, the title page of the first Gass book printed by Cramer is reproduced as it occurs in the Cramer edition. This title page ends with the sentence: "Printed by Zadok Cramer, Pittsburgh, for David McKeehan, Publisher and Proprietor, 1807." A copy of Cramer's edition of Gass' book, a small volume, can be seen in the reference room of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
