EARLY SEA-PRESSES BY HOWARD M. CHAPIN, F. R. HIST. S. ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀RINTING at sea is an every day occur rence now that all the big ocean-liners carry their own printing presses and print daily newspapers, menus, programs of various sorts, and notices. It was not so, however, in the romantic days of the old sailing ships, although occasionally a flagship or other important vessel carried a printing press. One of the earliest of these ocean-going printing presses was carried on board the Languedoc, one of the French ships of the line that made up the fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral, the Count d'Estaing. The Languedoc sailed from Toulon in April, 1778, crossed the Atlantic and touched at Boston where the "Déclaration adressée, au nom du Roi, à tous les anciens François de l'Amérique Septentrionale," was printed. It is dated "en Rade de Boston" 28 October 1778, bears the imprint "A Bord du Languedoc, de l'Imprimerie de F. P. Demauge, Imprimeur du Roi & de l'Escadre." The only known copy is in the New York Public Library and is shown opposite. L'Imprimerie Royale de l'Escadre, the official press of the French fleet, which, sailing under the command of 6 EARLY SEA-PRESSES Charles Louis d'Arsac de Ternay, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to aid the struggling American colonies in the Revolutionary War, was carried on board the Neptune. That eminent scholar Monsieur A. Jacques Parès, Archiviste de A BORD DU LANGUEDOC, M. DCC. LXXIX la Ville de Toulon, to whom I am indebted for much valuable information in regard to the printing presses of the three French fleets in American waters during the Revolution and who is at work on a general account of the French naval presses, has brought to my attention a work "Imprimé a bord du vaisseau amiral Le Neptune, Comt. Destouches” entitled “Etrennes Américaines ou Articles principaux du Calendrier pour l'année commune." This was doubtless printed while the Neptune was in American waters. After the fleet dropped anchor in Newport Harbor, the press was taken ashore and so became for a while an American continental press. Mr. Douglas C. McMurtrie considers that the type used in this press was undoubtedly from the foundry of Fournier le jeune. One of the most interesting productions of this press is the "Calendrier Français, Pour l'Année Commune 1781," or as it is more commonly called "the Calendrier Français." It was printed after December 15th, in the winter of 1780-1 and was soon forgotten, but a century later Edwin M. Stone, in 1884, in "Our French Allies" (p. 352) quotes from the Calendrier, and states that in 1854 there were said to be only two copies in existence. As Stone makes no mention of manuscript annotations it seems probable that he saw the copy which was formerly owned by Dr. King of Newport and which is now in the Shepley Library. Hammett refers briefly in his “Bibliography of Newport" to the "Calendrier pour l'année 1781," apparently following the binder's title of the King copy. The two copies of the Calendrier soon disappeared and historians sought in vain for years to locate a copy of this work. In 1913 a copy of the Calendrier was discovered and put up at auction. This copy, which was purchased by the Rhode Island Historical Society, has the title page containing the full title which was unknown to Stone and so was evidently not the copy he used. A second copy of the Calendrier was discovered in 1920 and was purchased by Col. George L. Shepley of Providence. This copy lacks the |