Advertisement, a public notification. Announcements in the public journals known as advertisements appeared while journalism was in its infancy. The Acta Diurna of the Romans, the Gazzetta of the Venetians, and the affiehes of the French belong rather to the crude devices which led to the creation of journalism than to the history of advertising; while the stamping and bill-posting processes of ancient times, and the fence and rock decorations of to-day, sometimes considered in connection with advertising, are little else than ingenious sign-painting. The advertisement proper arose with periodical literature, and must be considered in connection with its development. The first regular newspaper, " The Certain Newes of this Present Week," published in England in 1622, did not contain any advertisements; but they appeared in something like a resemblance to the present form in 1652, in a paper called the "Mercurius Po-liticus." It needed but a short time to popularize the idea, and those notices which are still called "hue and cry advertisements" - for thieves and runaway apprentices - soon became prominent features in the papers. Books were the earliest articles advertised, and were followed by groceries - tea (or, as it was then called, "teha") being the first article of merchandise announced.

By 1088 England had added a sufficient number of newspapers to her meagre list to cause advertisements, especially those of popular amusements, to be eagerly looked for. The plague brought the first medical advertisements. Under William and Mary a gratuitous journal was started devoted solely to advertisements. It lived but two years. A similar enterprise a few years afterward succeeded. In 1700 advertising had become very general, and in 1710 we find Addison reviewing the advertisements of his time, "printed with little cuts and figures" - this being the first we hear of pictorial advertisements. In 1800 a crude system of classifying and arranging advertisements was adopted. The further progress of advertising up to the time when the enterprise of the United States pushed it onward may be followed out in the history of the London "Times," which was established in 1788. The "Times" did little to reduce advertising to a system, but it demonstrated its value to the public, and its importance in the economy of newspapers. In 1865 a single number is said to have contained 2,575 advertisements, and other numbers are cited containing still more. - The first printing press was brought to America in 1629. In 1704 the first regular newspaper, " The Boston News Letter," was established.

This was often without a single advertisement, and had been published 40 years before its circulation reached 300. It needed 15 years after the establishment of the first paper to add a second and third. With the increase of shipping interests newspapers appeared in larger numbers, and advertisements began to multiply. In 1725 the first newspaper in New York, the "Gazette," was commenced; and in 1728 Philadelphia founded the journal which at its 40th number passed into the hands of Benjamin Franklin. At this time the country contained but seven newspapers. In 1775 there were 34. Then came the war of independence, which put journalism back again; but after its close the country steadily advanced in periodical literature. In 1787 the first daily journal, the "Independent Gazette," was commenced in New York, and in the following year (the same in which the London " Times " was established) it contained 34 advertisements. It seems from these facts that England and America made advertising a serious business more nearly at the same time than is usually supposed. England had largely the advantage, however, in population and in developed resources. Some of the larger tradesmen in London soon learned that those who advertised most liberally received the most custom.

Competition among dealers created a large advertising business, which certain special advertisers carried so far as to astonish the world, until the growth of American advertising enterprise developed the fact that heavy advertising was not so much a bold as a strictly legitimate operation on the part of business men. Various food and medicinal preparations and many fancy articles were advertised in England until the yearly amounts paid the newspapers on account of a single article sometimes reached $100,000 to $150,000. Cuts became almost innumerable, and, with crests and monograms, appeared in every paper which would admit them. The advance of journalism in America can, up to a certain time, be best given in its statistics, it being understood that advertising fully kept pace with it and to a considerable extent made it possible. In 1794 the "Commercial Advertiser" was commenced in New York, and in 1801 the "Evening Post." Both journals had considerable influence and grew rapidly. The year 1810 found 32 papers in the state of Massachusetts, and 10 years afterward there were 690 in the United States. In 1830 there were 1,000, and in 1840, 1,401. The New York "Sun," founded in 1833, the "Herald," in 1835, and the "Tribune," in 1841, had introduced some new ideas, which not only enlarged the power and influence of journalism, but greatly popularized advertising.

Transient advertising was encouraged, it being discovered that a regular run of small advertisements, at fair rates, continued the year round, paid better than contracts for the same space devoted to long advertisements at low rates, and which lasted only during the business season. A variety in the classes of advertisements was also introduced, and is almost peculiar to American newspapers. For instance, the advertiser could insert, if he chose, amusing "reading" or "local" notices, in which matters interesting the public mind were ingeniously joined with the goods for sale. "Business Notices" and "Special Notices" are other varieties of early adoption, for which higher prices are obtained than for the ordinary advertisement. In 1860 the United States contained the surprising number of 5,253 newspapers. The art of advertising was growing into something like system. Expedients of all kinds were used. Odd and startling cuts were adopted in spite of the newspaper rule (not always enforced) of double prices for such figures; while the old-fashioned, simple style of advertising grew to very large proportions, and enabled almost every village in the country to have its newspaper. As the business became so extensive and the territory to be covered so large, advertising agencies became necessary.