[New York City Liquor License]:

$850 · Offered by William Reese Company

CITY OF NEW-YORK...[blank] ESQ; MAYOR OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. TO THE SHERIFF, CONSTABLES, AND OTHER HER MAJESTYS OFFICERS WITHIN THE SAID CITY, GREETING. KNOW YE, THAT I HAVE LICENSED...[blank] OF ... An unrecorded printed blank form for a retail alcohol sales license in New York City, produced for the Mayor's office during the first two decades of New York printing. The final lines of the form date the printing to the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14), during which time William Bradford was the only working printer in New York.William Bradford (1663-1752) was the "pioneering printer of the English middle colonies" (DAB) - the first in both Pennsylvania and New York. He originally settled in Pennsylvania, where he began operating a printing press in 1685 and a bookstore in 1688. Various controversies led to significant legal hassles there, including the temporary seizure of his types and paper in 1692, and in 1693 Bradford answered a call to come to New York and print the acts of assembly and other official papers for the colonial council. No records have been found locating an alcohol license form printed in New York earlier than the present document. Not in Evans or Bristol. OCLC locates copies at the following institutions: the Library Company of Philadelphia, the John Carter Brown Library, Middle Tennessee State University, the New-York Historical Society, and the American Antiquarian Society.

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