A History of Advertising from the Earliest Times.

by Henry Sampson

Like the two preceding, this is from Harper’s Weekly, the price for advertisements in the inner pages of which is said to be 1 dollar 50 cents per line, about five times as much as any of our highest priced papers, for the lines are by no means long for the money. The best customer Harper’s has, and at the price perhaps the best customer any paper ever had, is Professor Leonidas Hamilton, who puffs himself in the most extraordinary manner, being always well before his beloved public, and now and again having seven columns of closely printed matter in Harper’s, at the exorbitant price just mentioned. This lengthy advertisement is called “A Timely Warning, and the Reason Why,” and is constructed upon truly Yankee principles. It commences:—

HOW sublime, how beautiful the thought that the researches and developments of the Nineteenth Century have added fresh and glorious laurels to the great temple of fame and science! In every department and phase of progressive development the hand of the sage and philosopher is ever busy—ever ready to devise means for the amelioration of human woe and the prolongation of life.

Think you his an enviable position—an existence without stern obstacles and perplexing cares? Nay, far from it; for he plucks the lovely rose in peril of the thorn; he climbs to eminence and renown, and every step he gains is planted on a prostrate foe. He digs the gold and tries it; another and a bolder hand must strike the blow that stamps its worth and gives it currency as genuine.

It must be admitted by every rational mind that the man who contributes the most toward promoting the happiness and welfare of the human race, must of necessity be the most highly esteemed by his fellow-men; acting upon this principle, Prof. R. L. Hamilton, of New York, has, by patient investigation, and vast experience, solved the uncertain question in relation to the vexed and important subject of Liver Complaints and other chronic diseases.

After a long preamble of this kind the Professor describes the “Symptoms of Liver Complaints,” from which by an easy transition he comes to some “Important Facts,” informing his “dear reader” that he “has remedies that will strike at the root of them as by magic,” for “there is no such word as fail in his treatment.” After that, a couple of columns are devoted to enumerate the “Reasons why Dr Hamilton is successful.” One of these is—“Because he has investigated every remedy known to science, and, in addition, has new remedies, of the fields and forests of his own Discovery, and of the greatest possible efficacy and value.” He ends this part with the awful words, “The truth must be told if the heavens fall,” and a lot of testimonials are produced, each with a sensation heading, and relating the most wonderful effects produced by the Doctor’s medicines. Thus one has got “an old lung difficulty;” another has “gained twenty pounds in three months,”—not money unfortunately, but flesh. One of the most curious puffs arising out of these testimonials is the following:—

IS ALL THIS TRUE?

Mr. Samuel L. Furlong, of Muskegan, Mich., in a letter dated April 6, 1868, writes:

“I have cut out Seventeen of the testimonials that were in the New York Tribune, and sent them to the persons themselves, with letters of inquiry about them, and also about you, and every one stated that they were true, and recommending your remedies very highly; also giving a history of their cases, which was, indeed, very cheering to a poor man, with a sick wife and six small children to support.”

The inconsequence of the conclusion is quite refreshing. What benefit this distressed family could have derived from the perusal of the testimonials we will not presume to say. Thus by an easy climax of sensational headings and cures, we arrive at three final articles, respectively headed, “In his mercy he saves the afflicted!”—“Read, ye afflicted”—and “Appreciate it fully.” Then follows the “Conclusion” that it would be useless to cry “humbug,” for the above parties have volunteered to give their evidence for the benefit of the suffering and for no other purpose, and the whole ends with a friendly recommendation to “have no hesitancy in writing to the Doctor, and state to him your case in full, and he will deal honestly and promptly with you.”

Another very extensive dealer in advertisements, who also uses Harper’s columns considerably, is the proprietor of the Pain Paint. His works are humorous and entertaining, the following being a fair example:—