The Printing Presses of William Lyon Mackenzie, Prior to 1837

NOTES AND DOCUMENTS THE PRINTINGPRESSES OFWILLIAM LYONMACKENZIE, PRIOR TO 1837 HISyear being the centennial ofthe Rebellions of1837 there is a revival of interest in all matters relating to Mackenzie. His prominence in the politicalfieldisapt to obscurethe fact that he was one of the leading printers of his day and did much, in spiteof manydifficulties, to improvethe techniqueof printingin Upper Canada. A brief accountof someof the presses usedby Mackenziemay not be out of place. Mackenzie issued the first number of the Colonial advocate on May 18, 1824. The date line gave the place of publicationas Queenston2 The firsttwonumbers weresmallsixteen-page papers. In the first Mackenzieannounced that he wasprinting ninehundredcopiesbut did not tell what presshe wasusing. The earliest informationrega• rdingthiswasgivenin thefourthnumber,printed on June 10, when Mackenzie wrote: "For twelve weeksfrom the commencement, the Advocate presswork is executedby contract, after which,it will be printedby the proprietorin thisvillage." The phrase"in thisvillage" impliedthat the Colonialadvocate was not then being printed in Queenston. On July 29, 1824(issue number9) Mackenziereportedthat an electiontour and the arrangementswhichhehadmadeforthe transfer of the officeof his paperhad delayedthe paperfortwoweeks. He statedthat he anticipatedonly oneother delay, after number ten, by whichtime hehopedto haveassistance whichwouldenable him to publishthe paperwithout interruption. That the paper wasquite irregularlyprintedat thistime isshownby the noteon August5: "our readerswill perceivethat a part of this paperwas printed a week after its date." On August 23, Mackenzie signedan agreementwith Hiram Leavenworth, who was describedas a printer of Rochester,New York, althoughhedoesnot appearto havehada press in Rochester but in Waterloo, New York, where he published the Waterloo gazette. • Leavenworth agreedto carry on a printing business in Queenston for Mackenzie,for sixmonths,and to bring his"estab- 'I am indebtedto Mr. W. S. Wallacefor permission to usethe file of the Colonial advocate preserved in the Universityof TorontoLibrary. 2FrederickFollett History of thepressof western New York (Rochester,1847),69. 414 Norr. s AN•) DOCVMr. Nrs 415 lishment of Press,types, and printing materials from Rochesterto Queenston". Leavenworth also agreed to provide a substitute shouldhe be preventedby illnessfrom continuinghis work? This agreement was evidently carried out, for in the Colonial advocateof August 26 Mackenzie announced that his printing materials and presshad arrived at Queenstonand that in a few dayshe would be ready to executeorders. Leavenworthcouldnot have returned to Rochester, or Waterloo, packed up his equipment , and returned to QueenstonbetweenAugust 23 and 26. But as the issueof the Colonial advocate dated August 26 contained newsas late as the thirty-first, Leavenworth probably had ample time. Less than two years later Mackenzie stated that Leavenworth had for some time been foreman in the Colonial advocate office. 4 Mackenzie did not usehis new pressuntil he printed number 15 (dated September30 on the front pageand October 7 on the inside). On the secondpage he wrote: "We believe this Advocate to be as rare a curiosity as any newspaperthat ever was printed in the world. The firstsidewasprinted in theAmericanRepublick, and this in the Colonial Dominions of King George 4th. We do not know that any one newspaper other than this number, has beenprinted in two different countries,sincethe art of type-setting was first invented. Our friends may rest assuredthat both sides of the Advocate will from henceforthbe printed on this side[of]the Niagara." As the outsidepagesof this issuewere almost identical with the outsidepagesof all issues from numberthree on, it isclear that all were printed in the United States. As the first twelve numberswereprinted by contract,it is probablethat the first two, although of a different format, were also printed there.5 *Niagara Historical Society,no. 30 (Welland, 1917), 45-7. *Colonialadvocate, Feb. 16, 1826. SMr. Louis Blake Duff, of Welland, has suppliedthe following information with referenceto the place where the Colonialadvocate was printed, in the United States. The first newspaperin Lewiston was the Niagara democrat,establishedby Barremus Fergusonin 1821. The year followingit movedto Lockport,and the namechanged to the Lockportobservatory. The second'paperat Lewiston was the Lewistonsentinel, foundedin 1823,by JamesO. Daily. It, too, wasmovedto Lockporton beingpurchasedby Oliver Grace. Printing beganin Buffalo in 1815. It was clearly in one of thesethree centresthat the Colonialadvocate was produced. Mr. Duff comparedthe Colonialadvocate of June 10, 1824 (vol. I, no. 4), in his possession, with the Lewiston sentinel,of April 18...