“Historians of newspapers, printing, and theatre, as well as literary scholars and all those interested in eighteenth-century Canada, the British Atlantic, and British imperial history will find this work definitive in its specifics and suggestive in a variety of related contexts.” Ian K. Steele, Western University

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“A marvelous contribution to the cultural history of Canada, full of fascinating information and thoughtful reflection.” Elsbeth Heaman, McGill University

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“Imprinting Britain is a meticulous study of every extant English-language newspaper printed in eighteenth-century Quebec City and Halifax. But it is not only a study of texts or readers in isolation: this is a book about print as sociability, as well as print and sociability. As the detailed appendices demonstrate, those papers prove to be one of the few windows into colonial associative life, and readers are indebted to Eamon for cataloguing mentions of societies, coffeehouses, and plays performed in Halifax and Quebec City.” Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society

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“Imprinting Britain provides a unique view of the role of newspapers in two eighteenth-century North American towns, Halifax and Quebec City. In this micro-study of colonies with the same ruler but without the same ethnic roots, Michael Eamon scrupulously documents printer/reader interaction. Because serious engagement with the papers required time to read, think, and write letters to editors, the 'colonial print community' was clearly an elite cadre whose definition of 'sociability' was imposition of British behavioral norms. [The author also shows] how local printer/editors, often with no background in journalism, abetted or, less often, resisted this 'imprinting' and how their efforts related it to the sociability of clubs, theaters, and coffeehouses. An innovative study." H-Net

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"His study of the impact of newspapers presents an interesting, well-researched, and capably argued discussion of the important role played by the press in creating a common culture in North America, a part of the British Empire that was quite diverse and under stress as it split apart in the late seventeen hundreds." The New England Quarterly

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“Imprinting Britain offers historians of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British America an important new vantage point on colonial urban culture and its relationship to the published word. Imprinting Britain makes a significant contribution to our understanding of British North American culture and politics.” Canadian Historical Review

Michael Eamon is adjunct professor of history at Trent University and principal of Catharine Parr Traill College.

Figures xi
Preface xiii

Introduction: The English-Language Press and the Formation of a Colonial Print Community in British North America 3

PART ONE PRINT AS SOCIABILITY
1 Driving the Stage Coach: The Printers of Halifax and Quebec City 23
2 “Send me a Ton of Newspapers”: Readers and Reading Habits of the Colonial Print Community 46
3 “Directing Public Taste”: British Tradition, Social Control, and the Newspaper 67
4 Enlightened Print: Popular Science and Useful Knowledge in the Service of the Public 89

PART TWO PRINT AND SOCIABILITY
5 Making Private Public: Print and the Promotion of Associative Life 113
6 With the “approbation of a numerous and respectable audience”: Newspapers and the Public Acceptance of Theatre 139
7 The Coffeehouse Elite: Print and the Fashioning of “Genteel” British Tradition 164

Conclusion: The Colonial Print Community’s Imprint on British North America 187

Appendices
I A Selection of Societies and Clubs in Halifax and Quebec City, 1760-1800 195
II A Selection of Plays Performed at Halifax and Quebec City as Recorded in Newspapers and in Printers’ Records 201
III A Selection of Public Houses Identified as Coffeehouses in the Newspapers of Quebec City and Halifax, 1764-1800 206

Bibliography 209
Index 277