Today almost everywhere we turn we are inundated with ads over television and radio, in film theatres, on billboards and our computers, and magazines and store fronts. We simply cannot escape the messages put out by individuals and businesses trying to get us to buy their products and services.
W. H. Pyne, Bill sticker
The situation was the same in Jane Austen’s day. When shoppers walked to a shopping area in a city the streets would be indundated with shop signs, hired walkers wearing advertising boards, and hawkers. Advertising merchants dealt in trades that are both familiar and unfamiliar to us today: silversmiths, coal dealers, shoemakers, scum boilers, boarding houses, brewers, tavern keepers, silk merchants, coffee houses, cabinet makers, bakers, mattress makers, curriers and dealers in grindery, warper, hair dressers, woollen drapers and dealers in trimmings, victuallers, livery stable keepers, grocers, music sellers, linen drapers, beer sellers, dealer in rags, tripeman, tobacconist – well, the list goes on.
This is a raucous street scene in London at night in which the shop signs hanging over the pedestrians seem almost ominous. (Notice the slop being poured out of the window!)
There were leaflets, handbills, posters on bricks walls and glass windows seemingly almost everywhere, and advertisements in newspapers … and of course the inevitable street criers.
The bell and cry of the muffin man
Bill stickers, or external paper hangers plastered blank walls, empty shops and wooden hoards and fences with advertisement bills. But these activities were taxed. And thus enterprising merchants turned to mobile advertising and paid people to wear sandwich boards and hand carry placards. – London Street Advertising
Walking billboards in the 18th century. The young boy is wearing a sandwich board!
Extensive improvements on the printing press meant that newspapers and printed products could be churned out swiftly and more efficiently than before. Bills and posters were printed speedily and cheaply. There were frequent misspelling of words, and if more than one color was used, a frequent misplaced overlay of one color over the other. Printed ads and posters were designed to promote an event or sale, and were meant to be discarded. Bills plastered on walls and fences would soon be covered over by newer announcements.
The apothecary's newspaper advertisement mentioned all the diseases he can cure
Newspapers and advertisers focused on products that appealed to a mass market. They generally targeted themselves to the middle and upper-middle classes. By the mid-eighteenth century, the variety of ads began to increase. Ladies’ fashions as well as silver, brass, and copper items became subjects of advertisements.” – Place an Advertisement
Shop bill from the frock shop. Image @The Works of William Hogarth, 1821
Trade cards were another way that merchants informed the public about their wares. These cards came with a combination of image and text, which provided information about the location, goods and services of an establishment or business. – Eighteenth Century Centre
Wm. Neate goldsmith & jeweller trading card. Image @Bodleian Library
More on the topic:
- History’s newstand blog
- Selling Consumption in the Eighteenth Century: Advertising and the Trade Card
- British Museum: Trade Cards
- The National Archives: Records of Sun Fire Office
- London Street Advertising
i was surprised by all the businesses i didn’t recognize. now i’m curious and will look them up. you didn’t mention that people also wrote on the walls with messages and names like today.
Excellent point, Janice. Graffiti has been around since time immemorial.
Translations of some fruity Pompeian graffiti, unsuitable for unmarried misses to read, are at:
http://www.homepagedaily.com/Pages/article6340-graffiti-from-pompei.aspx
ending:
‘(in the basilica): O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin. ‘
What a refreshing new topic. I didn’t realise that the ways of advertising were so modern in the day – and I was suprised to read that given how expensive paper was, leaflets etc were popular. Thanks for sharing.
It was something much less pleasant than ‘slops’ that was being thrown out of the window:
‘ . . 4.a. Refuse liquid of any kind; rinsings of tea, coffee, or other beverages; the dirty water, etc., of a household. Usu. pl.
1815 Scott Guy Mannering III. xiii. 247 He‥threw the slops‥into the sugar-dish instead of the slop-bason.
. . b. U.S. dial. and colloq. Kitchen refuse or swill fed to cattle or pigs. Usu. pl.
1805 R. Parkinson Tour Amer. i. 39 It was natural for me to inquire, what they kept their cows and horses on during the winter. They told me—their horses on blades, and their cows on slops.’ [OED]
However to spare your blushes I won’t go into details.
Chris – Oh, dear!
A new show should be developed, The Regency Mad Men. I am seeing more and more old fashioned handbills being used, and even guys with signs on street corners. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Before the First World War, London must have been just as full of advertising. My mother told me that as a kid she wondered what this Bill Stickers had done because almost every wall carried a sign threatening that “Bill Stickers wil be prosecuted”.
Christopher Hoare
I love Susan Kaye’s idea of a Regency Mad Men!
Fascinating post–I’ve wanted a letter press for years, and think the history of printing is a fascinating study in and of itself.
Wonderful stuff!
At least nowadays the ads are mostly things you see, and fewer people go around crying their wares. I think that would drive me nuts.
Was interested to see that the frock shop could provide bluecoat boys’ clothing. I’ve got a friend here who was a bluecoat boy (went to a school where the uniform looks like a more brightly coloured version of what the pilgrims wear in US Thanksgiving ads and cards); they still dress up that way. I’ve been meaning to do a post on it — maybe this is the spur I need!
(Where do I get permission to re-use that image? Or is it permissable to use it as long as I include the copyright notice?)
ME: I sent you the image via email. It’s from a public domain book. Vic
This was so interesting! I especially enjoyed the illustrations. Thank you for another fascinating post, Vic!
You’re welcome, Lauren!