Free FedEx or USPS Priority Delivery  —  All USA orders over $125  —  Browse our New Arrivals
Skip to main content
Login | Cart

Ian Brabner, Rare Americana, LLC

Ian Brabner, Rare Americana, LLC

Main Navigation

Toggle main navigation
  • Browse
    • Africa
      African American Writers
      African Methodist Episcopal
      African-American History
      African-American Slavery
      Alabama
      American Broadsides
      American Civil War
      American Enterprise
      American Law
      American Medicine
      American Presidents
      American Revolution
      American West
      Art & Graphics
      Boston
      California
      Chicago
      Children's Books
      Civil Rights
      Connecticut
      Fiction & Poetry
      Florida
      Food & Drink
      Georgia
      History of Education
      Illinois
      Kentucky
      Labor
      Maps
      Maryland
      Massachusetts
      Military
      Mississippi
      Music & Musicians
      Native Americans
      New Jersey
      New York City
      New York State
      North Carolina
      Ohio
      Pennsylvania
      Philadelphia
      Photography
      Printing History
      Quakers
      Reconstruction Era
      Religion in America
      Sermons or Orations
      Social Reform
      South Carolina
      Texas
      Theatre & Amusements
      Trade Catalogs
      Travel
      Virginia
      Washington DC
      Women's History & Women Writers
      World War I & II
      Browse All Categories
      Recent Acquisitions
  • Browse Mobile
    • Recent Acquisitions
    • Africa
    • African American Writers
    • African-American History
    • African-American Slavery
    • American Broadsides
    • American Civil War
    • American Enterprise
    • American Law
    • American Medicine
    • American Presidents
    • American Revolution
    • American South
    • American West
    • Art & Graphics
    • Boston
    • California
    • Chicago
    • Civil Rights
    • Connecticut
    • Fiction & Poetry
    • Florida
    • Food & Drink
    • History of Education
    • Hotels and Resorts
    • Investments and Schemes
    • Maps
    • Maritime & Naval
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Military
    • Music & Musicians
    • New Jersey
    • New York City
    • New York State
    • Ohio
    • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia
    • Photography
    • Reconstruction Era
    • Religion in America
    • Social Reform
    • South Carolina
    • Texas
    • Theatre & Amusements
    • Trade Catalogs
    • Travel
    • Varia
    • Virginia
    • Washington DC
    • Women's History & Women Writers
    • World War I & II
  • Catalogs
    • Catalogs & Lists
    • For Collectors
    • Recent Acquisitions
  • Sell to Us
  • About
  • Contact
Advanced Search
American Broadsides: History on a Sheet of Paper

American Broadsides: History on a Sheet of Paper

Getting the Message — Printed One-Sheets with a Purpose

American broadsides were prolific in the 18th century and 19th century. Printed from single sheets of paper, of various sizes, “broadsides” are what we call today a “poster”. Intense, visually interesting, or designed with clever graphics, broadsides were an important public means of spreading news, and information, within a community.

American broadsides fall under the broader category of ephemera — printed items created and intended only for temporary, fleeting use. These ephemeral artifacts documented the beliefs, activities, and concerns of a very specific time and place in American history. And then — more often than not — they get thrown into the garbage. Their purpose has been served.

American broadsides presented diverse subjects. They could be printed to broadcast a political manifesto, a religious sermon, a military declaration, the news of a great battle, or a Presidential proclamation.

A broadside might advertise a newly-arrived shipment of goods. Urban dwellers could learn of a new production for a play, or find out Barnum’s circus was coming in the Fall. Merchants and inventors used broadsides to sell their wares, or to attract investors. Printed cheaply and quickly, broadsides were in the reach of various social class structures in America.

 

American broadside advertising “Vale’s Improved Globe and Celestial Sphere…Manufactured at His Nautical and Mathematical Academy, 94 Roosevelt-Street New-York.”

By the 20th century, printing technologies in America had surged. The broadside as a primary channel of disseminating information, would be challenged by photography, radio, television. 

Unlike a book, a broadside’s authorship was often anonymous or obliquely suggested. An American Civil War broadside denouncing Copperheads.

The 18th and 19th century American broadside served as a public notice and announcement. Broadsides served as mass media in an age where the “worlds” of Americans were more circumscribed. Oftentimes, this meant living a life less connected, or slowly-connected, when compared to the lives of those of subsequent generations.

Nailed up at courthouses, public taverns, and post offices, American broadsides were also hung up in shop windows or handed out in the streets (hence the term handbill). Newsboys printed poetical broadside greetings and gave them to their customers with the expectation of a tip. Medical quarantine notices plastered on a wall served as public warnings.

Printed on one side of a sheet of paper, American broadsides attracted attention by being large in size and by using large printing type and/or illustrations. In the 18th century, they were often crude affairs, perhaps illustrated with a simple cut with haphazard letterpress printing.

Printing technologies improved, especially in the second half of the nineteenth century. The broadside became larger still, more poster-like, and were often printed in color by lithography.

The historical American broadside conveyed its content by means of the printed word. A healthy number of broadsides have been fortunate to survive the passage of time. They are often a starting point for the modern-day American history scholar working to make sense of the events and concerns of the past.

Graphically, as visual Americana, American broadsides are emblematic of their times. Consider the plain printing of John Dunlap’s 1776 broadside first printing of the Declaration of Independence or the “wanted poster” for the conspirators who murdered Abraham Lincoln, or Uncle Sam’s I Want You poster. All three of these broadsides are iconic and significant to American history and culture.

An all-American cowboy rodeo broadside.

A 19th century American broadside with chromolithography.

Image detail: 1881–1882 Brooklyn broadside with caricature and humor to induce Brooklynites into viewing a performance at Hyde & Behman’s Theatre, near the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

To learn more about American broadsides, visit the Library of Congress’ website An American Time Capsule, Three Centuries of Broadsides and other printed Ephemera.

Info

  • Email:
  • Call (302) 998–2886
  • Ordering & Guarantee
  • About Ian Brabner

Browse

  • Buying & Selling Rare Books
  • Rare Book Catalogs
  • Short Lists
  • Recent Acquisitions

We Buy

  • 18th to 19th century rare books, pamphlets, manuscripts, handwritten diaries and letters, etc. Read more

Subscribe

Periodic updates for short lists, catalogs and news

Member: Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA),
International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB),
The Manuscript Society – Est. 1995

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility
  • Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10am–6pm, EST
  • © 2023 Ian Brabner, Rare Americana, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Site Map
  • Site by Bibliopolis

I'd like to be notified of new arrivals in the following categories.

Check all categories that are of interest to you.