(EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINT) Gilbert Deblois at his shop opposit

Sale 2646 - Lot 159

Price Realized: $ 1,062

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINT.) Gilbert Deblois, at his shop opposite School-Street . . . imports from London, Bristol, Scotland and Holland. Letterpress broadside, 6 x 7 3/4 inches; moderate dampstaining and wear, repaired separations at folds, manuscript account for the sale of a boy's hat, stag pen knives, and knee buckles on verso. Boston, November 1771

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Gilbert DeBlois (1725–1791) was an affluent Boston merchant whose sympathies lay with the Crown; on Evacuation Day in 1776, he left Boston for London. This broadside advertises a wide variety of goods: textiles, "Gloves and Mitts of all kinds," handkerchiefs, writing paper, "Powder, Shot, Bar & Sheet Lead," "genteel China," musical instruments, and much more. The selection of "Choice Bohea, Souchong and Hyson Tea" might have gotten him into a bit of trouble in Boston just two years later.

One of 4 known broadside advertisements issued by Deblois from 1768 to 1788, all scarce; none have been traced at auction. ESTC records only 2 other copies of this version, both at the American Antiquarian Society. Bristol B3338.