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Earliest ad for a publication on an American crime?
Earliest ad for a publication on an American crime?
Item # 705720
June 02, 1673
THE LONDON GAZETTE, England, June 2, 1673 A very interesting issue as the bottom of the back page has an advertisement for the publishing of a pamphlet titled "Mr. Baxter Baptized in Blood..." with further details noting: "...containing a horrible murther [murder] committed by four Anabaptists upon the person of Mr. Josiah Baker near Boston in Neww England, the whoe matter, having been enquired into, and examined at the Council Bord, is found altogether false and fictitious."
But it was not fictitious.
This could well be the earliest advertisement for a crime-related publication of an American event, as the London Gazette was the first successful newspaper in England having begun just 8 years prior. There were essentially no American newspapers until 1704.
There is much online concerning this event. One account notes that in 1673 word reached England that the Rev. Josiah Baxter had been ruthlessly murdered in Boston. Baxter, an Anglican minister, had publicly debated a group of Baptists over their interpretations of the Bible. The Rev. Baxter had gotten the better of the argument, but his opponents would not let the dispute end there.
Four men followed Baxter to his home outside Boston. They tied up his wife and children and tortured Baxter in revenge. They literally stripped the skin from his scalp and body until he died.
Baxter’s brother Benjamin was so appalled by the murder that he published a pamphlet about the crime [the pamphlet advertised in this issue]. He aimed to keep his brother’s memory alive in London and warn about the treacherous nature of Baptists.
Complete as a single sheet issue, 6 1/2 by 11 inches, minor foxing, nice condition.
Complete as a single sheet issue, 6 1/2 by 11 inches, minor foxing, nice condition.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
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$190.00
