[Illustration: (Nathaniel Ames' _An Astronomical Diary: or, An
Almanack for the Year of Our Lord Christ, 1757_ Printed by Daniel
Fowle, 1756.)]
The Boston printer Daniel Fowle felt himself unjustly punished by
the Massachusetts Assembly for supposedly printing an objectionable
pamphlet in 1754. He consequently removed to Portsmouth in New
Hampshire and started that Colony's first press in 1756.
The first New Hampshire book, preceded only by issues of _The
New-Hampshire Gazette_, was printed by Fowle in the same year. It
is Nathaniel Ames' _An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack for the
Year of Our Lord Christ, 1757_. The Library of Congress owns one of
four known copies of a singularly interesting later issue or state
of the edition, featuring on its next-to-last page a historical note
printed within an ornamental border: "_The first_ Printing Press
_set up in_ Portsmouth New Hampshire, _was on August_ 1756; _the_
Gazette _publish'd the 7th of October; and this_ Almanack _November
following_."
Almanacs written by Nathaniel Ames of Dedham, Mass., were bestsellers
in mid-18th century America. This almanack for the year 1757,
evidently reprinted from the Boston edition, is a somber one
reflecting recent set-backs in England's conflict with France. A verse
on the title page strikes the keynote:
MINORCA'S gone! OSWEGO too is lost!
Review the Cause: or BRITAIN pays the Cost:
These sad EVENTS have silenced my Muse ...
The rebound Library of Congress copy, which bears no marks of previous
ownership, is listed in the Library catalog of 1878 and presumably was
obtained not long before then.
At about the same time the Library acquired and similarly rebound two
other Daniel Fowle imprints of undetermined provenance, both of which
are dated 1756 but were published later than the almanac. There is
some question whether one of them, Jonathan Parsons' _Good News from
a Far Country_, was begun at Boston or at Portsmouth. In any event,
Fowle placed the following notice in the November 4, 1756, issue of
his _Gazette_: "Good News from a far country: in seven discourses by
Rev. Jonathan Parsons is soon to be published. Five of the sermons
have already been set up and lack of paper prevents completion until
a supply of paper arrives from London which is probable at an early
date." Not until April 1757 did Fowle advertise the book for sale.[25]
The other imprint dated 1756 is Samuel Langdon's _The Excellency of
the Word of God, in the Mouth of a Faithful Minister_,[26] a sermon
delivered on November 3 and also delayed in printing for lack of
suitable paper. Both books were probably completed in the early
months of 1757 but dated old style. There is a noticeable difference
between the paper on which they are printed and the crude paper of the
almanac, such as Fowle used for his newspaper.
[Footnote 25: See _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_,
1915, new series, vol. 25, p. 329.]
[Footnote 26: A Library of Congress stamp on this copy is dated 1876.]