Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-02-14
ADVERTISING.
THE FIRST TADyERTISEMENT-
PIT. BAREUM'H ADVICE.

The first newspaper in Europe WI
y published in London, May 90, 1922, an
h was called the Weekly News"
If did not contain any advertisements an
e very little news The first advertis,
n ment appeared in the thirteenth nun
ber ofanother weekly paper April 2n,
1 l647, and related to " A Book applaud
: ed by the Clergy of England, called tn
e Divine Right of Church Government.
: For number of years books were tn,
/ only articles advertised, but as the cir
s culatlon of the newspaper increased
4 other kinds of advertisements appeared
! The first commercial advertisement Ar
r peared in 'The Mercurius Poticus,
: September 30, 1858, and Gxtolled tn
; merits Of the new drink called b,
Chineans, toka, by other nations tay, o
tee.
Previous to, and after this time, i
was the custom Of the shopkeepers O
London to make their business know
viva voce. The proprietors would stan,
before their doors crying ont "Wha
dye ack, sir?What d yr lack madame"
and then 70 over the names of the arti
cles they had for sale. A writer Of tha
day says, that 50 generally was TIL!
practice followed, that frequently th'
city was "A Babel Of strange sounds"
Signs were also used to great extern
as advertising mediums, and bnildinp.
were ornamented with every conpeiv
able device.
Roar's heads, flying dragons, and
swan s were conspicuous emblcns, and
| II Ia, l.,,,.I that - Al, Il
Necessary that every mans place Of
business should he decorated with big
dashing, glittering sign.
As the capabilities of the printing
press were developed, shrewd men saw
IN II chance to universaliZe their sign
boards, and were quick to discern that
the newspaper offered an opportunity
not only to display their name and
number, but also Il full account Of their
stock and prices; they saw that they
could attract not only the attention of
those who passed 10y their store, but of
men and women in all places and at all
times.
In this way people began to make
their business known through the col
umns of the newspapers, and 1t contin-
u"d 10 increase in popularity until it is
now a recognized fact, that no one who
has anything that he wishes to sell, can
afford to do without the aid extended by
the newspapers. There is no other
method by which man is SO sure 10
build upa lucrative business than ,ju-
dicious advertising, and so well is this
fact understood at the present day that
some Of the largest establishments have
men whose sole duty il is toattend to the
advertisements
Some years ago there was Il clothing
house in Philadelphia that built up Il
large BUSINESS by means of po"tical ad-
vcrtisemcnts a man, who described
himself as "a Yankee from the State of
Maine, with willing hands and active
brain, was employed by this firm to |
weave incidents of every day occurrence
into verse, and although much Of this
poetry was Of the machine order, it
answered the purpose. People would |
read it, and rs il always concluded with |
a verse devoted to the business, it called |
the readers attention to the place, and |
the proprietor rcaped the harvest
There are another class of advertise
mentS sometimes used, that may prop
crly be called the mysterious, the object
ni which are to so excite the peoples
by means of what may be
termed Il deC0y, that when the real ad-
is published, it will be sure
10 he read. An instance Of this nature
recently occurred in nrighhoring city:
Fora number Of days in succession,
here appeared in the columns Of IA local
paper a singular shaped cut, that bore
some resemblance 10 an inverted UNI
'rrlla this was surrounded by the fol-
owing legend "Ma, what is it? 1t
tin' the Penn monument. When the
of the people was sufficiently i
lroused, the solution appeared, which
,roved to be an advertisement of a new
washing machine.
Such an advertisement would have its
fleet in this country, where curiosity is 5
me of the ruling traits, but it is qucs-
ion if it would have answered the pur- i
'ose in England, as it is said that "A
ougish jew at one time had "A sign pub :
icly displayed in London, in Hebrew
haracters, which read stolen goods t
eccived here" and that it remained for /
ONE time before the meaning was l
nown to the authorities. Such sign {
would not have been exposed to public $
lew many days in an American city, '
etorc some Yankees curiosity would u
ave been 80 greatly excited, that he 9
ould not have rested until he tranSla- Il
'd il, even if he had been compelled to .
'udy the Hebrew alphabet to accom- L
lish the end.
An extensive system of al lv,r isiur v