THE BROADENING OF CULTURE
Cramer’s business prospered. His was the only establishment in
Pittsburgh where the sale of books was the predominant feature. He
had long called it the “Pittsburgh Bookstore.”[285] Oliver Ormsby,
whose store was in the brick house on Water Street, at the westerly
side of Chancery Lane, sold “Dilworth’s and Webster’s Spelling books,
testaments, and Bibles in Dutch and English, primers, toy books, and
a variety of histories, novels, etc.”[286] William Christy[287] and
John Wrenshall[288] kept a few books, a special feature of the latter’s
business being the sale of Dr. Jonathan Edwards’s _Sermons_, but
compared with Cramer’s stock, the supply of books in other hands was
insignificant. Cramer was also practically the only publisher of books
in the borough. After he had been publishing for a few years, others
began the business, but their books were few in number and generally
unimportant in character. Cramer’s advertisements were sometimes
amusing. He sold his goods for money, or in trade, and in making the
announcement employed the axiomatic language of “Poor Richard.” This
was one of his naïve notices: “I hope the ladies and all good girls
and boys will not forget to fetch me all the clean linen and cotton
rags they possibly can. Save the smallest pieces and put them in a rag
bag; save them from the fire and the ash heap. It is both honorable and
profitable to save rags, for our country wants them.”[289]
He added new lines to his business. Articles which tended to elevate
and refine the standard of living were introduced. Wall papers had
been in use in the East to a limited extent since 1769, and were no
longer rare in good homes. In the West they were scarcely known until
Cramer advertised his “large stock of hanging or wall papers.”[290]
He sold stationery, writing paper, Italian and hot-pressed letter
paper, wafers, quills, camel-hair pencils, inkstands, sealing wax,
red and black ink powders. Card playing was one of the leading social
diversions and he had the best English and American playing cards.
Patent medicines were largely used and Cramer found it profitable to
supply the demand. He had books of instructions for the flute, the
violin, the piano-forte, and books of songs. His stock of English
dictionaries included those of Nathan Bailey, Dr. Samuel Johnson,
Thomas Sheridan, and John Walker. For the German population he had
books in the German language, which he often designated as “Dutch”
books. He sold German almanacs, German Bibles and testaments. Many
of the German churches, both in Pittsburgh and in the surrounding
settlements, had schools attached to their churches, where the German
language was taught in connection with English studies. For these
schools Cramer supplied the books. Ever since the cession of Louisiana
to the United States there had been a great increase in the students
of the French language among Americans, who intended either to engage
in commerce with the people of that territory, or expected to settle
there. The liberally advertised easy methods of learning French[291]
induced many persons to engage in its study. For these Cramer kept
French books. He also sold Greek and Latin schoolbooks, Greek and Latin
dictionaries, and Spanish grammars.
In the early years Cramer had no press of his own. A printing office
being located at either end of the block in which he was established,
he divided his work between them. The _Almanacs_ were printed by
John Israel, and the _Navigators_, by John Scull. Business increased
and he deemed it advisable to do his own printing, and on August 14,
1805, announced that he had “received a press, and a very handsome
assortment of new type, for the purpose of printing such literary and
ecclesiastical works as may be most in demand.”[292] His publications
now became more numerous and pretentious.
He was too active to limit his energies to his business. In 1803, he
became Secretary of the Mechanical Society, and thenceforth devoted
much attention to the office, which he held for several years. He was
not an active politician, but was warmly attached to the Republican
party, and moreover had the respect of the entire community. In 1811,
when a division took place in the Republican party in Allegheny County,
and two tickets were placed in the field, his standing was such, that
he was named as a member of the committee selected to bring about
harmony.[293] Like the modern successful business man, he had a desire
for the free life and clear skies of the country, and he engaged in
farming and sheep-raising. When he died he had on the plantation of
his brother-in-law, Josiah Clark, in Washington County, a flock of one
hundred and twenty-eight sheep.
In 1808, the partnership with John Spear began, and the firm became
known as Cramer & Spear. The establishment, however, continued to be
called “Zadok Cramer’s Bookstore”; sometimes it was advertised as
“Zadok Cramer’s Classical, Literary, and Law Bookstore.” In 1810,
William Eichbaum was taken into the firm. He had served a seven
years’ apprenticeship in bookbinding with Cramer, and with Cramer &
Spear, and was the son of William Eichbaum, the elder. It may be that
young Eichbaum was the “active youth of good morals and respectable
character, wanted to learn the bookbinding and stationery business,”
for whom Cramer had advertised on November 6, 1802.[294] The firm was
now Cramer, Spear & Eichbaum, and continued as such until 1818, the
year of the death of Elizabeth Cramer, the widow of Zadok Cramer, when
Eichbaum withdrew and the firm was again changed to Cramer & Spear.
Cramer had traveled extensively, first in pursuit of information for
his _Navigators_, and later in search of health. He went down the Ohio
in 1806. In 1810, he was in Kentucky.[295] When the _New Orleans_,
the first steamboat that ran on the Western rivers was being operated
between Natchez and New Orleans, he descended the Mississippi River in
it twice, from the former to the latter place. Much of the information
in regard to the _New Orleans_, its structure, cost, earnings, and
length of time required between river points, is to be found in the
_Navigators_.[296]
It would be impossible at this late day to compile a complete list
of Cramer’s publications, nor would it serve any useful purpose. He
published many schoolbooks, particularly for children in the primary
grades. His Pittsburgh and New England primers, and the United States
Spelling Book, were famous in their day. Ecclesiastical books were
in great demand, and Cramer met it. Catechisms were used as books of
primary instruction and were printed in many forms; there were _Larger
Catechisms_, _Shorter Catechisms_, the _Mother’s Catechism_, and the
_Child’s Catechism_. For the Germans he published in German, _The
Shorter Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther_. The religious books that came
from his press would form an endless list. Among those having a bearing
on the history of that time was, _The Marks of a Work of the Spirit,
together with Remarks Respecting the Present Astonishing Work of God,
and Revival of Religion in the Western Country_, by J. Hughes of West
Liberty.[297] “J. Hughes,” was the Rev. James Hughes, pastor of the
Presbyterian churches at Lower Buffalo in Washington County, and West
Liberty in the adjoining county of Ohio in Virginia, and one of the
trustees of the recently established Jefferson College, the pioneer
college of the West.
Cramer lived and flourished in an age when many of the publications
sent out in the name of religion contained the merest drivel, or
were elaborations of theories in regard to matters infinite held by
narrow-minded controversialists. The press was flooded with them.
There were publications bearing such depressing titles as _The Happy
Voyage Completed_, and _The Sure Anchor Cast_. Cramer realized that
in publishing works of this character he might be misunderstood. This
sentiment was evident in the advertisement of at least one of his
publications. On that occasion he prefaced his notice by stating: “_On
the recommendation of some pious friends_, we contemplate printing, _A
Token for children, Being an exact account of the Conversion, holy and
exemplary Lives and Joyful Deaths of several young children!_”[298]
The most pretentious of his works was religious in character, and was
published in 1807. It was _A Dictionary of the Holy Bible_ by the
Rev. John Brown of Haddington, in Scotland, of which two editions
were printed. It was a noteworthy achievement to be accomplished on
the frontier, hundreds of miles from the center of civilization.
Many difficulties had to be overcome, not the least of which was the
delay occasioned by the difficulty in procuring a regular supply
of paper.[299] The work was in two large octavo volumes, and was
illustrated with engraved pictures and maps that are still desired by
collectors. Heading the list of subscribers, was the name of President
Jefferson, of whom Cramer appears to have been an ardent admirer. In
1810, the firm published the _Select Remains of the Rev. John Brown_,
the author of the Dictionary.
Cramer’s publications covered a wide range. In 1808 _The Lawyer_,
by George Watterson, appeared, which was imbued with the current
prejudice against lawyers, and presented a sorry spectacle of the legal
profession. The same year, a map of Pittsburgh was published, which,
if in existence to-day, would be of great interest. One of his most
valuable contributions to the literature of travel, was _Sketches of a
Tour to the Western Country in 1807–1809_, by F. Cuming, published in
1810. It contained according to Reuben Gold Thwaites,[300] a “picture
of American life in the West at the beginning of the nineteenth century
that for clear-cut outlines and fidelity of presentation has the effect
of a series of photographic representations.” Another work of value
was _Views of Louisiana_, by Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, published
in 1814. Cramer had met Brackenridge in New Orleans, in December,
1811, while on one of his visits to that city, and arranged with him
there for the publication.[301] In 1813, _The Poetical Works of Oliver
Goldsmith_ were brought out.
One of the most important ventures of Cramer’s entire publishing
experience, the fruition of which he did not live to see, was _The
Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and Literature_. It
was a monthly magazine of sixty-four pages. The first number appeared
in December, 1813, four months after Cramer’s death. Compared with
magazines of the present time, it was not of the highest order of
literary merit. In its day, however, it ranked with the best magazines
published. The excellent literary taste of the editor also appears
from an incident which occurred during the early life of the magazine.
_The Pittsburgh Gazette_ published a communication from a disappointed
aspirant for literary fame, signing himself “Recluse,” whose poem in
fourteen stanzas entitled “The Two Roses,” had been declined by the
_Western Gleaner_. “Recluse” referred sarcastically to the “uncommonly
profound and very discerning editor of the _Western Gleaner_.”
That the editor of the _Western Gleaner_ was more “discerning” than the
editor of the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, which published “Recluse’s” effort,
along with his letter, is evident from a perusal of the poem. The first
stanza, which is also the best, reads:
“The sweetest rose that ever bloomed,
Was one that, with insidious sip,
Beneath Eliza’s smiles presumed,
To pilfer fragrance from her lip.”[302]
The same persistency which procured the publication of “The Two Roses”
in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_, enabled “Recluse” a few years later to
find a publisher for a volume of his poetry, in which “The Two Roses”
was one of the gems.[303]
In one of the numbers of the magazine Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge
contributed a poem, descriptive of his feelings on revisiting
Pittsburgh, called “On a Circuit at This Place.”
“What is there in this spot of earth
Repellant to all zest of mirth,
Heart-felt by me,
And which on being seen again,
The Hill, the River and the Plain
To sadden, all agree!”[304]
Cramer realized that books having a local interest would find a
ready sale. One of these was Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge’s _Modern
Chivalry_; another was his _Incidents of the Insurrection in Western
Pennsylvania_, which was an effort to vindicate himself for his course
in the Whisky Insurrection. Judge Addison’s impeachment in 1803, by
the Republican General Assembly, had created profound interest in
Pittsburgh. The account of the trial was immediately published in
Lancaster, then the capital of the State, and eagerly read. Another
book of local interest was Colonel James Smith’s _Captivity among
the Indians Westward of Fort Pitt in the Year 1755_, published at
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1799.
Although a Republican himself, Cramer’s mercantile instincts led him
to sell books written in opposition to that party. A little volume
of poems was of this class. David Bruce, a Scotchman living in the
adjacent village of Burgettstown, whom Cramer designated as “an
ingenious Scotch poet of Washington County,” had published in 1801,
in Washington, Pennsylvania, a book which, while mainly political in
character, had considerable merit. Bruce was a strong Federalist,
and his volume was dedicated to Judge Addison. To the Republicans,
Brackenridge, Gallatin, McKean, and other more or less local
celebrities, Bruce’s references were disparaging. To Brackenridge he
addressed the cynical lines:
“When Whisky-Boys sedition sang,
An’ anarchy strod owre the lan’
When Folly led Rebellion’s ban’
Sae fierce an’ doure,
Fo’ks said ye sleely lent a han’
To mak the stoure.”[305]
A book of the same character, but covering a wider range, and of a
higher literary tone, was _The Echo_. It had a local interest in that
it contained a number of clever satirical references to Judge Hugh
Henry Brackenridge. In the latter part of the eighteenth century,
Hartford was the literary center of Federalistic ideas. They were
promulgated by a group of young authors known as the “Hartford Wits.”
Included in the coterie was Richard Alsop, who was the principal writer
of _The Echo_. _The Echo_ had originally appeared serially, but in
1807, the parts were collected and published in a volume. The allusions
to Brackenridge indicated a keen sense of humor and considerable poetic
spirit. An article written by Brackenridge had appeared in 1792 in the
_National Gazette_ of Philadelphia, then recently established as the
organ of the Republicans, in which he urged savage reprisals against
the Indians, who were causing trouble west of Pittsburgh. To this
screed, _The Echo_ made the mocking reply:
“I grant my pardon to that dreaming clan,
Who think that Indians have the rights of man;
Who deem the dark skinn’d chiefs those miscreants base,
Have souls like ours, and are of human race;
And say the scheme so wise, so nobly plann’d.
For rooting out these serpents from the land,
To kill their squaws, their children yet unborn,
To burn their wigwams, and pull up their corn;
By sword and fire to purge the unhallow’d train,
And kindly send them to a world of pain,
Is vile, unjust, absurd:--as if our God
One single thought on Indians e’er bestow’d,
To them his care extends, or even knew,
Before Columbus told him where they grew.”[306]
On another occasion when Brackenridge was a candidate for Congress,
he published in the _Aurora_ an appeal to the electors of his
Congressional District in which he animadverted harshly on the
educational accomplishments of General John Woods, his Federalist
opponent. This presented another opportunity for the clever writers of
_The Echo_ to burlesque a leading Republican. _The Echo_ gibed:
“But, to return to Woods,--to speak my mind,
His education was of narrow kind;
Nor has he since to learning much applied,
But smil’d with calm contempt on pedant pride.
His mental powers, howe’er, superior shine,
His genius glows with energy divine.
But when with mine in competition plac’d.
How low his powers, his genius sinks debas’d,
Has not my genius shone with peerless ray,
And o’er Ohio pour’d the blaze of day?
Have not my writings spread abroad my name,
And bards consign’d me to immortal fame?
Then shall John Woods with me presume to vie,
The brightest star that decks the western sky?”[307]
Cramer’s books covered the entire range of literary endeavor and among
them were a majority of the contemporary publications. The French
Revolutionary movement was well represented. A work coming under this
designation was the _Life and Campaigns of General Count Alexander
Suwarrow_, which was of interest also because Suwarrow’s title to fame
rested at least partly on the fact that he was the originator of the
high tasseled-boot, much worn both in military and civil circles after
the year 1800. There was a flood of Bonapartist literature. A book of
this class which had a local interest was the _Life of General Jean
Victor Moreau_. After being exiled from France on account of conspiring
against Napoleon, this officer had come to the United States in 1805,
and made a tour of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Having passed
through Pittsburgh, his name was well known there. Works of travel
were numerous. Conspicuous in biography were the lives of Washington,
Franklin, and Kotzebue, the German playwright and novelist, then at
the height of his career. There were histories of various European
countries, and William Winterbotham’s _History of the American United
States_. The _History of Women_, if at hand to-day, would be of
interest to that large body of women who are making such herculean
efforts to obtain greater rights for their sex. Among the notable books
of the day was Thomas Jefferson’s _Notes on the State of Virginia_. Two
editions had been published prior to Jefferson’s becoming President.
After the election in 1800, the work was republished in a large octavo
volume, for which Cramer was agent in Pittsburgh.[308] Another book
which attracted considerable attention was the _History of John Adams,
Esquire, late president of the United States_, by John Wood. It was a
rank Republican account of a most interesting period. It was printed
and ready for publication in December, 1801, but was suppressed at the
instigation of Aaron Burr, as being incorrect and libelous. The book
was finally published in 1802. A companion-piece to Wood’s book, was
the one by James Cheetham, which gave an account of the suppression.
It was entitled, _A Narrative of the Suppression by Col. Burr of the
History of the Administration of John Adams, by a Citizen of New York_.
Philosophy was not neglected. Representative of that science were
William Enfield’s _History of Philosophy_, William Smellie’s
_Philosophy of Natural History_, Francis Hutchinson’s _System of
Moral Philosophy_, and Count Volney’s _Law of Nature_. Books relating
to trades, included the _Miller and Millwright’s Guide_; the _Young
Carpenter’s Assistant_; the _New System of Gardening_; the _Dictionary
of Husbandry_; Washington’s _Letters to Arthur Young_; the _English
Gardener_; and _Elements of Architecture_. Freemasonry was described in
William Preston’s _Illustrations of Masonry_. Among books relating to
the professions, those pertaining to divinity were most numerous. The
Methodists had increased in numbers and were in better standing in the
community. John Wrenshall was addressed as the “Rev.” John Wrenshall,
and Cramer began to sell the _Memoirs of George Whitfield_, the famous
exponent of Methodism. Law books were a close second to those of
divinity. There were books on state, national, and international law.
In medicine there were books for family use, and books for physicians.
Belles-lettres and poetry formed an important department. Predominant
in belles-lettres were the writings of Addison, Steele, and Pope in the
_Spectator_, and its successors, the _Guardian_, and the _Tattler_;
Dr. Johnson, in his “Rambler”; and _Salmagundi_, when it appeared in
1807. _Junius’s Letters_; the works of Lawrence Sterne; the Posthumous
Works of Jonathan Swift; and Peter Pindar’s Satires were other books
in this department. In the selection of plays, those of Kotzebue
were prominent. The English plays were represented by George Colman,
the younger’s, _The Poor Gentleman_, a comedy produced in Covent
Garden in 1801, and by Thomas Morton’s, _Speed the Plough_, produced
in 1798. Because of its authorship, _The Battle of Bunker Hill_, by
Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge, had a local interest. In the realm
of poetry, were the poems of John Pomfret, Robert Burns, Dr. Thomas
Brown, Alexander Pope, John Milton, Thomas Moore, Allan Ramsay, and
Robert Southey. In this class was Thomas Campbell’s _The Pleasures of
Hope_; James Beattie’s _The Minstrel_; Samuel Rogers’s _Pleasures of
Memory_; William Cowper’s _Beauties of Cowper_, and _The Task_; Joel
Barlow’s _The Vision of Columbus_; Robert Bloomfield’s, _The Farmer’s
Boy_, and _A Song_; James Thomson’s _Seasons_. _Zaida_, by Kotzebue;
_Charlotte Temple_, by Mrs. Susanna Rowson, and _Don Quixote_ were
popular romances. In colonial days, and in the early days of the
republic, little stitched pamphlets, called chapbooks, because largely
circulated by itinerant vendors, or chapmen, were much in vogue. Books
in this form for children had a large circulation, and Cramer carried
an interesting list.
Cramer’s upright nature often led him to express opinions that were
contrary to the views obtaining in publications of his firm. Cuming in
his _Tour of the Western Country_, in the reference to Pittsburgh had
written: “Amusements are also a good deal attended to, particularly the
annual horse races.” On this observation Cramer commented in a note:
“We are sorry to have to acknowledge that _horse racing_ contrary to
the express law of the State, has been more or less practiced within
the vicinity of this place for a few years back; but we are pleased
with the prospect of having it totally abolished by the influence of
its evident impropriety, danger, and wickedness, operating on the
minds of the more thoughtful and judicious.”[309] That Cramer was not
alone in condemning the horse races is apparent from a communication
which had appeared in the _Pittsburgh Gazette_ six years earlier.[310]
This writer designated the races as “a fruitful seminary of vice.” He
declared that the “schools and shops are shut up or deserted, and the
youth of both sexes run to harm, folly, and debauchery.... The money,
too, which ought to be expended in the honest maintenance of families
and the payment of debts is squandered on sharpers, gamblers and
sutlers.”
If some fact or custom was referred to, which Cramer considered morally
wrong, or which might disparage Pittsburgh in the eyes of the world
at large, he spoke out vigorously in opposition. In the _Navigator_
for 1811,[311] the statement was made that there were “two or three
whisky distilleries in the town.” This was immediately followed in the
text by a disapproval of distilleries, and a quaint homily on the evils
of intemperance. “We cannot say anything in praise of these,” Cramer
wrote. “Whisky as a medicine is good, that is, to take it only when the
system requires it and no more than is sufficient to perform the part
of a gentle stimulant; but to drink it as is now universally practiced,
is destructive of health, strength, morals, religion, and honesty; and
is a serious national calamity, in which man sinks in the estimation of
himself, and becomes an abhorrence in the eyes of God.”
Cramer’s career was short. He had never been robust, and close
attention to business had undermined his constitution; consumption
developed. He attempted in vain to obtain relief in southern travel,
and died on August 1, 1813, just before reaching his fortieth year, at
Pensacola, Florida, while on the way to Havana, the journey having been
recommended by his physician. In Pensacola his remains were buried and
there they lie in an unmarked grave. To the last he was planning new
business projects, and preserved his cheerfulness to the end. Not once
was he known to be fretful or ill-natured. He left his widow and one
child, a daughter, Susan. The firm was continued for many years, first
by the widow, in conjunction with John Spear, and after her death on
May 5, 1818, by the daughter. The affairs of the partnership were not
wound up until July 6, 1835.
In early life the daughter married Dr. J. B. Cochran in Pittsburgh.
Becoming a widow, she removed to Beaver, Pennsylvania, with her three
children. Her children were Zadok Cramer Cochran, James Spear Cochran,
and Mary Cochran. After their mother’s death in 1854, the children
removed to Coatesville, Pennsylvania. From Coatesville they went to
Freeport, Illinois. Here the two sons engaged in teaching and conducted
an academy. James later took up the study of the law, and was admitted
to the Bar. Drifting into politics he was elected to the State Senate.
The two brothers are both dead, but the sister is still living, being
the wife of Joseph Emmert, of Freeport, Illinois.
REFERENCES