William Bradford (May 20, 1663 – May 23, 1752) was an early American colonial printer and publisher in

British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

. Bradford is best known for establishing the first printing press in the Middle colonies of the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

, founding the first press in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1685 and the first press in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 1693. Bradford operated continuously printing establishments for sixty-two years, heading a family that would include printers and publishers for 140 years. He was also known for controversies regarding freedom of the press. Starting his printing career in London, Bradford emigrated to America in 1685. He established, with others, the first paper mill to appear in the Thirteen American Colonies. Throughout his career, Bradford printed and published thousands of titles. In addition to his print shops in the province of Pennsylvania, the province of New York, the province of New Jersey, he also had five different locations in New York City. Printing

almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

s, newspapers, books, pamphlets, broadsides, blank forms, paper money, legal documents, colonial laws, and religious material, Bradford was also the

public printer The director of the U.S. Government Publishing Office, formerly the public printer of the United States, is the head of the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO). Pursuant to , this officer is nominated by the president of the United Sta ...

for the

province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

and

province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial history of the United States, Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherla ...

Early life

William Bradford was born on May 20, 1663, to William and Ann Bradford in the village of

Barwell Barwell is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, with a population of 8,750 residents in 2001, increasing to 9,022 at the 2011 census. The name "Barwell" literally translates as "Stream of the Boar" and is said to originate from ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England. Bradford apprenticed outside the family to learn a trade, as was customary at the time. His trainer was Andrew Sowel (some sources spell Sowle or Sorole), the foremost Quaker printer in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, who printed in the Crooked Billet in Holloway Lane at

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

. Bradford started working for Sowel around 1680 and, by December 3, 1684, he had mastered the trade and was freed from his apprenticeship. Bradford married Sowel's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, on April 28, 1685. Sowel arranged for the two to join

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

in his new colony in North America with a letter of recommendation from

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 13 January 1691 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an English Dissenters, English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as t ...

, founder of the Quakers, to become the colonial printer.

Career

William and Elizabeth Bradford arrived in America sometime in November 1685 and settled at a location near where

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

was eventually laid out. Bradford then established Pennsylvania's first printing press, likely in the

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

or Burlington area. His first publication was an

, ''Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense'' compiled by Samuel Atkins, ''Student in the Mathamaticks and Astrology.'' Bradford advertised it as available to purchase ''near Philadelphia in '' on December 28, 1685. After an incident with his printing press, Bradford was told not to print anything unless it was approved by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly council. In 1688, he printed ''Temple of Wisdom,'' the first full-sized book released in the middle colonies. Bradford was living in Philadelphia by 1689 and had established a bookstore. He published a booklet in 1689 composed by Quaker missionary George Keith titled ''The Presbyterian and Independent Visible Churches in New England.'' Historian Isaiah Thomas owned a copy of the book that he claimed was the oldest known book printed in Philadelphia. According to book dealer historian William S. Reese, it is one of the first books printed in America. In that year Joseph Growdon, a member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly council, hired Bradford to print William Penn's original

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

for the province. The new Pennsylvania governor John Blackwell was outraged and reprimanded him. Bradford argued that he printed what he received. In reprimanding the publishing of the original charter, authorities attempted to deny the people of Pennsylvania knowledge of the rights and privileges afforded them under their laws. In 1690, Bradford, partnered with a newly arrived German paper maker,

William Rittenhouse William Rittenhouse (1644 – 1708) was an American papermaker and businessman. He served as an apprentice papermaker in the Netherlands and, after moving to the Pennsylvania Colony, established the first paper mill in the North American col ...

, and several merchants, and established the first

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

along a creek in Roxborough, Pennsylvania. He had sent his wife and two infant sons to England and was making preparations to follow, to become the replacement printer for Sowel who had died, with plans to take over his business there. It wasn't until he had moved to New York later did he have enough business to contract with the managing partners of the paper mill to get preferential terms on products. The mill was the only paper manufacturer in the

until 1710. It was followed by hundreds of paper mills constructed in the United States by 1832. In 1692, Bradford printed thirteen of Keith's writings, including ''An Appeal from the Twenty-Eight Judges to Spirit of Truth'', which the authorities construed as rebellious against the local government. Bradford was arrested, tried, and jailed for printing without a trade name imprint, a violation of the

Licensing of the Press Act 1662 The Licensing of the Press Act 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 33) was an act of the Parliament of England with the long title ''An Act for preventing the frequent Abuses in printing seditious treasonable and unlicensed Books and Pamphlets and for reg ...

. This was America's first trial regarding

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

. He later printed works without a printer's name or place of publication. One of note was the first book in New York City, "New-England Persecution Transmitted to Pennsylvania" authored by Keith and with some words in Hebrew type. Bradford was the governor's only printer in the province of New York for three decades until 1723. He began publishing their first newspaper, the ''New-York Gazette'' in 1725, which was published weekly.

Later life and death

Bradford remained as publisher of the New-York Gazette, printing it until he retired. In 1727, he took James Parker as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

for an eight-year term. In 1731, Bradford's first wife died and afterwards he married a widow named Smith. In 1734, his former apprentice,

John Peter Zenger John Peter Zenger (October 26, 1697 – July 28, 1746) was a German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed ''The New York Weekly Journal''. He was accused of Defamation, libel in 1734 by William Cosby, the royal governor of Pro ...

, was brought to court for

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

, but Bradford remained out of the case. Bradford is interred in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

where his tombstone still stands reading: Bradford Grave

Bradford family printing legacy

Bradford's wife Elizabeth gave birth to their first child,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

in 1686, who, along with his wife Cornelia Smith Bradford, were early American printers. Andrew published the first newspaper in colonial

. William Jr, the brother of Andrew, was a printer and seaman. Bradford's grandson, William Bradford became a well-known printer during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

for the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

. The Bradford Family Papers (1620–1906) are deposited at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

. Bradford established printing and publishing businesses that operated for 140 years from 1685 until 1825. He trained several apprentices that including

, James Parker, Henry DeForest, and his son

Andrew Bradford Andrew Bradford (1686 – November 24, 1742) was an Early American publishers and printers, early American printer in colonial Philadelphia. He published the first newspaper in Philadelphia, ''The American Weekly Mercury'', beginning in 1719, as w ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * *