BIRTH OF ADVERTISING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 29

BIRTH OF ADVERTISING.

PUBLICITY DOWN THE AGES. QUAINT ANNOUNCEMENTS. (By CARLSON E. HOLMES.) ■ An. early writer on publicity maintains that the first public notices were displayed in the days of the Children of Israel, "the utterances of the Kings and Prophets being inscribed on parchment I and exposed in the high places of the [ cities." The Romans used bills (libelli) for advertising. These were affixed to pillars. In Pompeii baths and sports were boosted by wall advertisements. However, as time went on, the Government had to take-decisive steps to supervise this kind of advertising. The ancients found a very simple yet effective form of revenge in pasting about, in prominent places, unsavoury details concerning their personal and political enemies. Early English Publicity. Caxton is generally regarded as the founder of printing. Included in his efforts was one of the first posters ever printed in England. This was:— 'If it please any man spiritual or temporel to bye o.ur pyes of two or thre comemoracios' of Snhsburi use, emprynted after the form of this preset letre whiche ben wel and truly correct, late hym come to Westmonester, into the Almonestrye at the reed pole and he shall have them good and chepe." It is to be noted that these "pyes" were not edible. They were rules, for priests, regarding Easter. Tn the "Domestik Intelligence," of Tuesday, December 23rd, 1676, the following advertisements appeared:— "Lost, on Sunday night, the 11th instant in the Meuse a pocket with a watch in a single studded case, made by Richard Lyons, also . a bunch 1 of Keyes, and other things; whoever brings them to Mr. Behtley in Covent Garden, or Mr. Aiken at the Meuse Gate shall have 20s reward." "These are to give notice that the Right Honourable the Lord Maior, and the Commissioners of Serveyors for the City of London, and the Liberties thereof- 1 .'-ye constituted and appointed Samuel Potts and Roland Davies, Citizens to be the General Rakers of the said City and Liberties, and do keep their offices in Red Lyon Court, in Watling-street, where any Person or Persons that are desirous to be Imployed under them, as Carters and Sweepers of tiie Streets, may repair from eight a Clock *in the morning till twelve a Clock at noon, and from two till six at night, where they may be entertained accordingly." The "Domestik Intelligence" was published to "prevent false reports." It was one sheet of paper a little bigger than a sheet from an average-size writing pad. Though small in size it was vitriolic in the extreme, and, in the quaintest language possible, excused the Government of the day for its many misdeeds. . Tea Comes Into Notice. We live in an age when tea is regarded as an ordinary, everyday beverage. This fact makes the very first tea advertisement all the more interesting. Thus an old handbill published by one Thomas Garway:— "Tea in England hath been sold in the leaf for £0 and sometimes for £10 the pound weight, and in respect of the former scarceness and dearness it hath been used only as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and presents made thereof to princes and grandees till the year 1657. The said Garway did purchase a quantity thereof, and first sold the said tea in leaf or drink made according to the directions of the most knowing merchants into those Eastern countries. On the knowledge of -the said Gar way's continued care and industry in obtaining the best tea'and making drink thereof many noblemen, physicians, merchants, etc., have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily retort-to his house to drink the drink thereof. He -sell* tea from 16/ to 50/ • pound," , '".._■;

The Growth of Publicity. From those early days, newspaper advertising' continued to grow. Dealers, politicians and tradesmen saw that, the columns of the newspapers were goldfields that could be worked to advantage. Through careless supervision or by unscrupulous ingenuity, the advertising columns of newspapers of the early part of the eighteenth century, that is from 1700, were used for' purposes far from savoury. ' Advertisements for 'slaves, quack medicine, being contests between women, and blackmail. were among the worst offences. These examples are still preserved. . , ' Here is the quack naked and unashamed: 1 — "An admirable confect , which assuredly cures stuttering and stammering in children or grown persons, though never, so bad, causing them to speak distinct and free . without any trouble or difficulty, it remedies all manner of impediments in the speech or disorders of the voice of any kind, proceeding from what cause «oever, rendering those ' persons capable of speaking easily and freely, j and with a clear voice, who before were not able to utter a sentence without hesitation. Its stupendous effects in so quickly and infallibly curing stammering and all disorders of the voice and difficulty in delivery of the speech are really wonderful. Price 2/6 a pot with directions. Sold only at. Sir. Osborne's toyshop at the Rose -and Grown, under St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet.. Street." ''To be sold, a .Negro boy, 11 years, inquire of the Virginia Coffee House in Threadneedle Street, behind the Royal Exchange."—"Daily Journal," September 28, 1728. "Challenge:—l, Elizabeth /Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell,, having had some words with Hannah Hy'field, and requiring satisfaction, do invite her to meet mc upon the -stage and box *mc- for three guineas; each woman holding' half a crown in each hand, and the first Woman that drops the money to lose the battle." Aiißwer: "I, Hannah Hyfield, of Newgate Market, hearing of the resoluteness of Elizabeth' Wilkinson, will not fail, God willing, to give her more blows than words, desiring home blows, and from her no favour;: she may expect a good thumping' 1 ! .".', In those days .there were those who looked on blackmail as a good Sideline to run in conjunction with business. For instance: ■ > "Any ladies who have particular ! stories of their acquaintance winch they ; are willing privately to make public may send them by penny post to Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq., enclosed to Mr. John Morphea near Stationers' Hall." Advertising After 1800.' America and England were using a great amount of publicity at this" time. Though most of it was written in a very weird way and for very weird purposes, there was no doubt that it did itswork, and in the younger colonies, even in the settlements of Australia, publicity was doing its duty. Early Australian publicity was crude and terse, but to the point: "Mrs. Brown respectfully thanks the community of thieves for relieving her from the fatigues and wearisomeness of keeping a chandler's shop, by taking the following goods off her hands, viz., 35 yards of -shirting, 12 do. of muslin, 40 do. of calico, and various articles, as the auctioneer terms, it, 'too many to mention in an advertisement.' But the gentlemen in their dispatch of business forgot that they had taken along with them an infant's paraphernalia, two dozen of clouts, so elegantly termed by washerwomen. If professors o*f felony do not give a dinner to their pals, convert them into d'oyleys for finger glasses, Mrs. Brown will thank them to return them, as they would not be so unmagnanimous and deficient of honour to keep such bagatelles from a poor mother and four children. This is to apprise the receiver of stolen property that she will sooner or later have the pleasure of seeing their necks stretched, and that they will receive a tight cravat under the gallows by their beloved friend, Jack Ketch. As the old saying is, "The better the day, the better deed." The fraternity performed their operations on Sunday night "Sydney Gazette," August, 1825. With the passing of years, advertising has reached that stage when it has the implicit trust "of-.the public." - -If a thing is advertised it is good, and truth in advertising, is the spirit bghind it al>.

"There's nothing in sight," I responded regretfully: "Not a blessed thing doing all day to make fifty words." An hour later he rang" ine again. "Say. look here," he barked.* "The 'Globe's' waiting for your dope. They've been yapping at mc to rush it. Give 'em something to keep 'em quiet." Mournfully I repeated that there was no. news worth putting on" the wire, a hurried 'glance through my galleyproofs aud assignment-book confirming the annoying fact. . I The third call from the telegraph office showed my, friend indignant. I "They keep callin' for a story." lie reported. "Why don't you give 'em one? j Guess mebbe it's a dead night with them. I too. Surely you can cook up some- ] thing?" ' j Was such a challenge to be disre- j garded? It stuck at my pride as a writer. , \ "All right, all right!" I answered rashly. "Tell 'em there's four to five hundred coming.'* Restoring the receiver to its hook, I! sat back to review once more "the un- j promising situation, though I knew it to be a' sheer waste of time. Still the "Globe" wanted a story, and I wanted, to "make the space." Furthermore,! having said a story was coming, I had | burned my bridges; I should have to "fake" something. "Faking," of course, is never indulged in by reputable newspapermen, save as a last resort, but it seemed that I had no alternative. So I fed a sheet to the typewriter and cast, about for an idea. *• • Early that afternoon a steamer had come in from northern parts. "Not a a line of 'copy' in her" our water-front, scout had reported. • Very well, then, IJ would make some for her! For ten minutes the typewriter rattled noisily; then I pulled out the last sheet and read it, rather pleased with my essay in fiction. I A passenger by the just-arrived Amur, so the yarn -set forth, brought word from the Stikine country of a gruesome tragedy uncovered'by a couple of pro 3 -! pectors returning a fortnight before to Hazelton. They had been working along the base of a steep cliff overhanging a stream or slough breaking into the river when they hag stumbled oq th; s^eletog

nounced it, as lie started it on its eastward way. The "Globe's" unsuspicious sub-editor evidently thought the same, for he gave it a "three-bank head" and a first-page position.' That was outside my knowledge, how-; ever, until ten days later, when the story returned to mc as a clipping, with ] a letter from Stewart Lyon, the then I news-editor, and a secondary enclosure.! Misgivings possessed mc as I unfolded the letter and the clipping- dropped out. Tlie note was brief, and utterly i failed to justify the conclusion to which my. guilty con.-i ience had leaped. No suspicion of the bona fides of the story had entered iu'o anyone's calculation?. I yon was merely transmitting a letter from a l-ulv rp-ider. requesting my at- > t;Mit'o:i thereto and an early reply. I Fore' oiling spired ire once more as 1 ]>i -ked ii|i tin- ra' losure. The writer said she had mid the news (?) given in the Victoria di-patch enclosed, and would be deeply "ratefnl for any addi- I tional details, r'lie had a brother, a ■ pro.spe-tor. hist 1 card from at Ha_elton. I From there he had written of his intention to go into tlie district described. That had been two years and more ago. and the fami'y had sirjwn anxio'i*. Could it possibly be found 0 ,- t if the unhappy prospector whose skeleton h-.-.d bern buried might have been that m'ssin. brother And. if so, could a claim be, set up with any hope of success to a ] share in tlie "mine" of which the dead i man would seem to have been the I original- discoverer? I laid ont the papers before mc while ] r pondered the situation. Here, I re- j fleeted, was tho sort of mess a man can let himself in for by "faking!" It was in unforgivable thing, viewed from •very angle. Ethics, however, concerned mc just then rather less than possible ways and means of extricating myself from an embarrassing tangle for which 1 alone was to b'urhe. It woull never :lo to pd i': that 'he slo~y w s fi.t'eii. But what :>'i vr !>\c aid'en could 1 take? At 1 ii: t!i 1 come to a docl-ion. fl'e-e 'w s a roirp site represent ative at Mazeiicn of tlie various branches of provincial authority—Government agent, stipendiary magistrate, gold commissioner, :oroner, mining recorder, assessor, collector of so on. To this I addressed a letter, euclofijig