Printing was introduced into America at Mexico by the Viceroy Mendoza
in 1536. The first book printed was the _Escala espiritual de San Juan
Climaco_, of which no copy is known to exist; but the oldest American
book now extant is the _Manual de Adultos_, dated 1540, of which only
the last four leaves are to be found in the library of the Cathedral of
Toledo. The name of the earliest printer is a matter of question.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, is entitled to the distinction of having
the first printing-press in North America, which was under the charge
of Stephen Daye. For this press the colony was mainly indebted to
the Rev. Jesse Glover, a nonconformist minister possessed of a
considerable estate, who had left England to settle among his friends in
Massachusetts. Some gentlemen of Amsterdam also “gave towards furnishing
of a printing-press with letters, forty-nine pounds and something more.”
This was about 1638. The first book issued was the _Bay Psalm-Book_, in
1640.
The first book issued in the Middle Colonies was an Almanac, printed by
William Bradford in 1685, near Philadelphia. Bradford was brought out
from England in 1684 by William Penn. As the government of Pennsylvania
became very restrictive in regard to the press, Bradford in 1693
removed to New York, and was appointed printer to that colony, where
he established in 1725 the _New York Gazette_, the first newspaper
published there. He died May 23, 1752, after an active and useful life of
eighty-nine years.[5]
The first newspaper in America was the _Boston News Letter_, which was
first issued by John Campbell on Monday, April 24, 1704: it was regularly
published for nearly seventy-two years. The second was the _Boston
Gazette_, begun December 21, 1719. The third was the _American Weekly
Mercury_, issued in Philadelphia, by Andrew Bradford, on December 22,
1719. James Franklin, an elder brother of Benjamin, established the _New
England Courant_, August 17, 1721.
The oldest living paper of the United States is the _New Hampshire
Gazette_, published at Portsmouth, now (Oct. 7, 1892) one hundred and
thirty-six years old.
_The North American and United States Gazette_ leads the existing daily
press of this country in point of antiquity. It is the successor of the
_Pennsylvania Packet_, (begun in 1771 and becoming a daily paper in
1784,) and is still the chief commercial journal of Philadelphia.
The first paper-mill in America was established near Germantown, Pa., in
1690, by William Rittenhouse.[6]