To Benjamin Franklin from David Hall, 20 July 1761
From David Hall
Letterbook copy: American Philosophical Society
Philada. July 20. 1761.
Sir,
Your Favour I received relating to Scott and McMichael’s protested Bill,9 for which am obliged to you, and much approve of your Conduct in that Affair.
Bills, at present, are so very high, that I do not know what to do about remitting you; they ask now Seventy-seven and a Half; however, if I don’t hear quickly of your embarking for this Place, shall soon remit you more.
I think you should immediately order Caslon to cast the same Quantity of Brevier you sent over lately, and to do it with all Expedition.1 My Reason for it is, That our Advertisements, for a considerable Time past, have been very bulky, and often continued for a great While,2 which obliges us, many times, to distribute the standing Ones, in order to set up the new, which is a Loss; or else set many of them on Bourjois, which is also a very great Disadvantage.3 I am, Sir, Yours, &c.
David Hall
To Mr. Franklin.
Sent by the Philada. Packet, Capt. Budden.4
9. See above, pp. 301–2.
1. On Feb. 22, 1760, BF had paid William Caslon for a font of brevier type. It was shipped to Hall in the Beulah, Capt. James Gibbon, and arrived in Philadelphia about the first of June 1760. Hall acknowledged its receipt on July 2, 1760. See above, pp. 34 n, 179.
2. Issues of Pa. Gaz. for the first half of 1761 contain numerous long (“bulky”) advertisements for lotteries, book sales, the Pa. Land Co., and imported goods.
3. Bourgeois (9 point) type, being larger than brevier (8 point), was less economical of space.
4. Pa. Gaz., July 23, 1761, recorded the clearance of the Philadelphia Packet, Capt. Richard Budden.