“And now ready to be delivered to the subscribers”: Print-by-Subscription Networks and the Connecticut Gazette, 1755–1763

Abstract

Abstract:Print-by-subscription schemes proliferated in eighteenth-century British North America, but how exactly did they work? This article argues that authors and publishers relied upon networks of ministers, merchants, and printers and postmasters, as well as newspaper advertisements, to sell to readers in small-town New England during the Seven Years’ War. While print by subscription networks demonstrate the interconnectedness of the North American British colonies during the Seven Years’ War, the books themselves speak to the subjects that intrigued colonial readers. Ultimately, print by subscription helped to create a marketplace for American books.