Benjamin Harris (publisher)
Benjamin Harris (
Life
His career in London, as a publisher of
He moved to Boston in 1686 to start the London Coffee House, which provided both men and women (unusually at the time) access to foreign newspapers and books. After publishing The New-England Primer (c.1690) and Tulley’s Almanach, he set out to publish a newspaper (Mindich). Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick had three pages of text, with the fourth page left blank for others to write in pieces of news to hand around. It focused on local news, and included gossip; one item concerned King William's War and atrocities attributed to Native American forces allied to the British, current in September 1690.[2] Without a license, it was closed down after a single issue, Harris was jailed, and the next newspaper did not appear until 1704 when John Campbell's Boston News-Letter was the first American newspaper to last beyond the first issue.[3]
From 1690 to 1695, Harris continued to run his coffeehouse and publish books. He joined another partner, John Allen in partnership. In 1692, he received the official assignment to print The Acts and Laws of Massachusetts in 1692 (Mindich). Harris was also active in community service, supporting homeless shelters and orphanages.
He returned to London in 1695. He started a series of short-lived newspapers before publishing the London Post from 1699 to 1706. He sold his paper, books, and almanacs from his printing shop and store. The location and date of Harris's death are unknown. He was married with two sons.
See also
Sources
- Copeland, David A. (2000). Debating the issues in colonial newspapers : primary documents on events of the period. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-3133-09823.
- Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomas Gale. 2006.
- “Harris, Benjamin”, Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 27 Nov. 2006
- Mindich, David T.Z. “Harris, Benjamin”, American National Biography Online, Feb. 2000
- Mark Knights, ‘Harris, Benjamin (c.1647–1720)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
Notes
External links
- Mark Knights, ‘Harris, Benjamin (c.1647–1720)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 June 2007