On October 22, 1767, Henry Brevoort advertised his shop, the Frying-Pan, in the General Advertiser. Located down around Wall Street, the Frying-Pan sold a huge assortment of items “in the ironmongery way,” as the variety of household necessities and hardware supplies were commonly called back in the day.
Advertising Before Broadcasting
Without benefit of tv pitchmen or online catalogs, New Yorkers relied on well-placed, bare-bones ads to select their one-stop shopping destinations. Catchy slogans like “Come On Down!” or “Everything Must Go!” would likely have convinced potential shoppers less than an exhaustive list of a store’s inventory.
As a case in point, Brevoort’s antiquarian advertisement got down to brass tacks, literally.
Detailed Ad Copy
Brevoort's ad copy included everything but the kitchen sink, as they say. And it nearly induces a trance when read aloud today:
HENRY BREVOORT,
At the sign of the Frying-Pan, in Queen’s-street,/ between the Fly-Market and Burling’s Slip, has/ lately imported and will sell on the lowest terms,/ wholesale and retail;/
A neat and general assortment of ironmongery,/ viz, iron pots, kettles, skillets, dogs, and cart/ boxes, brass kettles, Dutch and English tea kettles,/ copper, brass, and iron chafing dishes, chamber and/ common bellows, brass and iron candlesticks, brass/ and steel snuffers and stands, Dutch and English/ chimney backs, sheet iron, hearth tiles, best blister’d/ and faggot steel, bar and sheet lead, frying pans,/ gridirons, saucepans and coffee pots, brass and iron-/ headed tongs and shovels, smoothing irons and/ warming pans, buck and bone table knives and forks,/ cuttoes and penknives, scissors and shears, brass and/ iron door locks, long and square brass nob’d [sic] latches,/ brass and iron spring bolts, stock locks, padlocks,/ chest locks and hinges, brass and iron H hinges,/ HL do [ditto], strap hinges, cross garnet dovetail and but [sic] do,/ hooks and hinges of many sizes, brads, tacks, clout/ and sharp trunk nails of all sizes, hob nails, 4d,/ 8d, 10d, 12d, 20d, and 24d nails, carpenters/ hammers, axes, augers, and gimblets, chissels, gou-/ges, rools [sic] and compasses, awl blades, tacks, pin-/cers, nippers, size sticks and shoe knives, files and/ shovels, ditching ditto; an assortment of pewter/ plates, platters and basons [sic], very best Scotch snuff,/ redwood, slates and pencils, round and side sweep-/ing brooms, hand brushes, cloth and shoe do, round/ and long rubbing ditto, hatters and buckle brushes,/ house-bells, springs and carriages, fine sailmakers[sic]/ sewing twine, with many other articles in the iron-/mongery way.
So, you didn’t find the magic mop or quick chopping wizard gizmo you were looking for? Well, Brevoort could probably have put the thing on order, if you wouldn’t mind waiting 200 years.
Sources:
- Colonial records of the New York Chamber of commerce, 1768-1784, 1867.
- The General Advertiser. October 22, 1767.
Eric K. Washington - Eric K. Washington is the author of Manhattanville: Old Heart of West Harlem and contributed to the recent MTA-licensed guide book, New ...
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