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John Pearsol Says: "Beer is Bad. Overwrought Victorian Fonts are Good."

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Above:  Billhead fonts used by John Pearsol. Plus a detail of his Express letterhead.

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Above:  Billheads printed by John Pearsol.

Oktoberfestlogo Beer. Ben Franklin drank it. Amish drink it. (But they're expected to stop drinking it when they join the church.)

Lancaster printer John Pearsol hated beer, and became one of Lancaster's most strident advocates for temperance. Even though he was fined and imprisoned by Lancaster's well-heeled beer drinkers.

John Pearsol demanded temperance, because his mother was murdered by an intoxicated William Hamilton in Marietta. (That's William Hamiton the weaver, not William Hamilton a founding father of the Intelligencer Journal.)

In 1825, at age seven, the orphaned John Pearsol began working as an apprentice for Hugh Maxwell's Lancaster Gazette, where he learned the printer's trade.

At age 25, John created a temperance / anti-alcohol newspaper, the Weekly Express. For 13 years, this temperance sheet was Lancaster's most strident anti-beer / anti-wine / anti-everything newspaper.

Lancaster businessmen did not approve of John Pearsol messing with their lager beer. They threatened him with "cowhiding." They fined him, they sued him for libel eight times, and they put him in prison for a time.

"So great, indeed, was the antipathy towards the temperance sheet, that some of the leading business men of Lancaster refused to have the name of the temperance editor [John Pearsol] stand as an imprint upon their business bills." (Alex. Harris)  (They would buy printing from him, but they didn't want to include his name on their billheads, identifying him as the printer.)

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed by the 1870s. Moderation was achieved, and John Pearsol was again printing his name on the billheads he printed, at least one the ones I show here. During this time, his business parter / co-publisher was J. M. Willis Geist, who created the New Era newspaper in 1877.

05:18 PM | Permalink

John Pearsol Prints in Colors:

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Fortunately for beer drinkers everywhere, John Pearsol didn't just print long and tedious temperance screeds.

He also printed "fine"and "handsome" cards in colors, as his trade card proudly proclaims, above.

 It was probably no coincidence that Pearsol chose a red rose for his business card.  Ever since the medieval War of the Roses, Lancaster's floral mascot has been the red rose, while York's has been the white rose.

Even today, our "Welcome to Lancaster" highway signs say "The Red Rose City."

01:24 PM | Permalink