The First Printer of Philadelpia
William Bradford, and the Bradford name is one that has been in the printing trade for well over a hundred years. Born in England to William Bradford whom also was a printer he followed in his families footsteps. He apprenticed under a Quaker printer in London under Andrew Sowle. It was Sowle that would have Bradford move to the colonies and set up shop under William Penn.
In 1685 Bradford and his family arrived in Philadelphia. On his journey over he was already putting together his first publications Kalendarium Pennsilvaniese, an Almanac written by Samuel Atkins. The first printing was rushed and Bradford was forced to use different fonts and sizes when printing the booklet. The Almanac itself starts with a brief forward by Atkins telling the reader about the booklet. It is followed by a few paragraphs by Bradford himself to the people of Philadelphia telling of his trials of putting together the print itself. The third part of the booklet garnered a backlash from William Penn himself.
In the Chronology part of the book Atkins wrote "The beginning of the Government here by the Lord Penn" as you notice in the scanned page above, the words Lord Penn have been blacked out of the booklet all together. Bradford himself was ordered to appear before the Governors Council and issued to not print anymore of the Almanacs without a permit.
In 1962, Bradford and the Quakers would once again butt heads. Bradford started to print a strongly worded attack letter called An Appeal from the Twenty-eight Judges to the Spirit of the Truth by George Keith. This was in direct violation of Parliamentary Press Restriction Act of 1662. The act in a nutshell was put in effect by British law that would make the printing of treasonable and unlicensed books illegal. This law had been circumnavigated by the Quakers themselves for sometime by now and used only as a silence treatment for his printing against the Quakers themselves.
During the trial the printed letter was passed around to the jury (made up of Quakers) and would end up being destroyed by one of them. The trial wouldn't come to an outcome but between Pennsylvania and New York and agreement was made to have Bradford sent to New York to become the Royal Printer of New York.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, I was always taught how peaceful and respectful the Quakers were. After finding out that they tried to silence someone with a difference in thought. Go figure that it was a printer who would be the person to rebel against them. Bradford would go to lay at rest in the same graveyard as Alexander Hamilton, so he isn't to be forgotten for all the good he has done.
In 1685 Bradford and his family arrived in Philadelphia. On his journey over he was already putting together his first publications Kalendarium Pennsilvaniese, an Almanac written by Samuel Atkins. The first printing was rushed and Bradford was forced to use different fonts and sizes when printing the booklet. The Almanac itself starts with a brief forward by Atkins telling the reader about the booklet. It is followed by a few paragraphs by Bradford himself to the people of Philadelphia telling of his trials of putting together the print itself. The third part of the booklet garnered a backlash from William Penn himself.
In the Chronology part of the book Atkins wrote "The beginning of the Government here by the Lord Penn" as you notice in the scanned page above, the words Lord Penn have been blacked out of the booklet all together. Bradford himself was ordered to appear before the Governors Council and issued to not print anymore of the Almanacs without a permit.
In 1962, Bradford and the Quakers would once again butt heads. Bradford started to print a strongly worded attack letter called An Appeal from the Twenty-eight Judges to the Spirit of the Truth by George Keith. This was in direct violation of Parliamentary Press Restriction Act of 1662. The act in a nutshell was put in effect by British law that would make the printing of treasonable and unlicensed books illegal. This law had been circumnavigated by the Quakers themselves for sometime by now and used only as a silence treatment for his printing against the Quakers themselves.
During the trial the printed letter was passed around to the jury (made up of Quakers) and would end up being destroyed by one of them. The trial wouldn't come to an outcome but between Pennsylvania and New York and agreement was made to have Bradford sent to New York to become the Royal Printer of New York.
Growing up in Pennsylvania, I was always taught how peaceful and respectful the Quakers were. After finding out that they tried to silence someone with a difference in thought. Go figure that it was a printer who would be the person to rebel against them. Bradford would go to lay at rest in the same graveyard as Alexander Hamilton, so he isn't to be forgotten for all the good he has done.
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