Messengers of empire : print and revolution in the Atlantic world / Francesco A. Morriello.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morriello, Francesco A., author.

Contributor:

Liverpool University Press, publisher.

Series:

Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment ; 2634-8047 2023:05.

Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment, 2634-8047 ; 2023:05

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication--Atlantic Ocean Region--History.

Communication.

Publishers and publishing--Caribbean Area--History.

Publishers and publishing.

Great Britain--Colonies--America--Administration--History.

Great Britain.

France--Colonies--America--Administration--History.

France.

Newspaper publishing--Europe--History--18th century.

Newspaper publishing.

Communication--Europe--History--18th century.

Great Britain--Colonies--Administration--History.

British colonies.

Colonies--Administration.

French colonies.

America.

Atlantic Ocean Region.

Caribbean Area.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xvii, 396 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Print and revolution in the Atlantic world

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press on behalf of Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford, [2023]

Summary:

"'Messengers of Empire: Print and Revolution in the Atlantic World' examines how news and information moved across the Atlantic world during the Age of Sail. It provides a ground-breaking look at how the French Revolutionary Wars impacted the development of communication channels, such as the creation of regular postal services in the Caribbean and increased reliance on local printers to produce print matter faster and more effectively. With the onset of war between the British Empire and French overseas empire, improved communications became a critical factor for military success, prompting developments on both sides. This included the surge in Caribbean printing operations, as well as the copper plating of packet boats to decrease the time it took for mail to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction. This book provides a unique inter-imperial comparison, revealing key differences and similarities between Britain and France in terms of how information circulation was crucial to the operation of empire. It consults a range of archival sources that have rarely, if ever, been used before, including correspondence dispatches, newspapers, almanacs, public notices, and even documents detailing secret society meetings. In doing so, this book reveals how imperial communication networks functioned at the ground level, as well as who were the gatekeepers of information in areas far removed from the colonial powers in Europe."-- Publisher description.

Contents:

Introduction: The interconnected Atlantic World

Interception, corruption, and revolution: the emergence and expansion of the British and French Caribbean postal system

Mail couriers in the revolutionary Caribbean

The founding, staffing, and operation of early modern Caribbean print shops

'Apply to the printer': colonial printers as nexuses of information

New World newspapers: the emergence and proliferation of the British and French Caribbean press in the 18th and early 19th-centuries

Restricting the flow of news: censorship and early newspaper reports of the Haitian Revolution (1791)

The colonial almanac: instruments of information in the Atlantic world

Iconography in early modern Caribbean print culture

Reading Salons, Enlightenment, and rum: the world of the early Caribbean book trade and its booksellers

Conclusion: communication networks across the Caribbean and wider Atlantic world.

Notes:

Includes bibliographic references (pages 367-388) and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781802077681

1802077685

OCLC:

1347020948