Albion Press A press similar to this Albion was acquired by Samuel Bangs for the state government of Coahuila y c. 1829 Tejas (Coahuila and Texas) circa 1829. Over the next Richard Whittaker Cope (British, died 1827), inventor two decades, it was used to print official government Harrild & Sons, London, manufacturer materials. It is unclear whether Samuel Bangs, who Cast-iron had begun importing presses into Mexico and Texas in the mid–1820s, printed on this press or whether The , a press similar in design to he simply orchestrated the sale. In either case, it was the Gutenberg Press, was developed in London in the likely similar to the press on which he printed the early 1820s by Richard Whittaker Cope. It is thought Gazeta Constitucional de Coahuiltejas (Constitutional that Cope chose the name “Albion,” a lyrical term Gazette of Coahuiltejas) from 1829–1830. poets had used to describe England, in response to the recent arrival of the with Some sources suggest that this press remained in its American eagle ornaments. This version of the use by the government of Coahuila until about 1880, Albion, manufactured by Harrild & Sons of London, when it was acquired by private printers/family was known as a portable overland press. Unlike business. It then remained in a plant until most cast-iron hand presses of the time, which were 1976, when it was acquired from Ricardo Cano bulky, heavy, and unsuited to moving by wagon or Robles y Castillo of Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. stage, the Albion could be broken down into six parts for comparatively easy transport over long distances in the United States and Mexico.

Gift of Vernon P. Hearn 1992.024.01 Tornel Decree [stated “All foreigners who may land in any port of the republic or who enter it armed and for the purpose of attacking our territory shall be treated and punished as pirates.”]

January 11, 1836 Cuidad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer

This reprint of the original December 30, 1835 de- cree stipulates that all foreigners in Texas who bear arms should be treated as pirates and shot. Santa Anna solicited and was granted the decree from the Mexican Congress for the purpose of deterring U.S. aid to revolutionary efforts in Texas. It is by this decree that Santa Anna enacted the massacre of James Fannin and his troops at Goliad. Samuel Bangs printed this broadside while he was a gov- ernment printer in Ciudad Victoria.

Gift of Virgil Wall 1993.028.01 Government of Texas $50 Treasury Note

1838 Republic of Texas and ink

The Printing Museum Collection 1998.117.01

Republic of Texas $20 Treasury Note

1840 Republic of Texas Paper and ink

The Printing Museum Collection 1982.049.02

Republic of Texas $10 Treasury Note

1846 Republic of Texas Paper and ink

The Printing Museum Collection 1982.049.04 Republic of Texas Indenture [document with account of lots sold at auction by the Galveston City Company].

February 10, 1840 Galveston, Texas Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer

Printed by Samuel Bangs and signed by Gail Borden, the first official printer for the Republic of Texas, this document is considered a of “Rosetta Stone” for identifying Bangs’ work during this time. A least 18 different are identifiable here, demon- strating the variety of type available to Bangs’ by this point. This map, from Lota M. Spell’s The item conveys lots in Pioneer Printer: Samuel Bangs Galveston sold at auction in Mexico and Texas, shows the approximate area and location by the Galveston City of lands granted to Bangs by the Company, and is signed Mexican government. The small- by directors James Love, er parcels in central Texas were Levi Jones, Samuel lost to a dishonest lawyer who Bangs authorized to administer May Williams and Peter to his titles. Bangs had intended J. Menard. to facilitate the settlement of 250 families on the large tract next It is a grim irony that to the Rio Grande river. After the Revolution, the government of Bangs was unable to re- the Republic of Texas invalidated cover any of the land his and other extent empresario granted to him after it was contracts. swindled from him by a Lota M. Spell, Pioneer Printer: Samuel Bangs lawyer named Thomas in Mexico and Texas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963) Jefferson Chambers (1802–1865) who he had engaged to attend to his titles while he attended to his work in Mexico.

One might hope that he did not feel the sting of the loss of his lands when he set the type to produce documents of this sort.

The Printing Museum Collection* 2010.000.08 Public Ledger with “Glorious Confirmation of Santa Anna’s Capture by Houston”

Monday, May 23, 1836 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Swain, Abell & Simmons, publisher

The Printing Museum Collection 1998.012.01 Newark Daily Advertiser [with reprint of a letter from Sam Houston to James Fannin about the Fall of the Alamo]

Tuesday, April 12, 1836 Newark, New Jersey George Bush & Co., publisher

The eclectic assortment of articles, reprints of cor- respondence and editorials, and the text of recently passed legislation on this page of the Newark Dai- ly Advertiser is typical of newspapers of the time. Among the sundry of notices and local election results, a letter from Sam Houston to James Fannin telling of the fall of the Alamo is reprinted. By the time readers of the New Jersey paper would have seen the letter, Fannin and his troops would have been executed in the Goliad Massacre. Following Houston’s letter is an appeal to Americans for support of the Texas Revolution from Richard Ellis, President of the Convention of 1836 where the Texas Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Loan from Jim Guinn L1982.043.01 Ley De Colonización [Law Of Colonization]

1828 Leona Vicario [Saltillo], Coahuila, Mexico Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer

The Ley de Colonización (Law of Colonization) of Texas that was passed in March 1825 opened the Mexican territory to colonization by Anglo- Americans. Among its many requirements were that colonists must be Roman Catholic, own no slaves, and that taxes be sent to Mexico City. The rules set forth in the Ley de Colonización, their subsequent enforcement by the Mexican Army, and the colonists’ indisposition toward compliance set the stage for the eventual Texas Revolution.

This copy of the Law is one of only two known to exist. It was printed by Jose Manuel (Samuel) Bangs, while he was a captive of the Mexican gov- ernment at Monterrey. His release a year later was contingent upon his converting to Roman Ca- tholicism and becoming a Mexican citizen, hence his use of the name Jose Manuel. He was the first printer in Texas, indeed the first printer west of the Mississippi, after arriving to Galveston in February 1814 with Francisco Xavier Mina’s ill-fated expedition.

The Printing Museum Collection 1982.005.01 Gazeta Constitucional De Coahuiltejas [Constitutional Gazette of Coahuiltejas], the First Newspaper of Texas

November 18, 1829 Leona Vicario [Saltillo], Coahuila, Mexico Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer

In 1825, Decree No. 12 of the Constituent Congress of Mexico authorized the printing of an official gov- ernment periodical. On September 3, 1829, Samuel Bangs began printing the first of forty-one weekly 4 page issues of what would become Texas’ first newspaper; the final issue was printed on June 10, 1830. It contained official government decrees and orders, news from Coahuila and Texas, local town ordinances, and a minimum of editorial content. He printed 200 copies of each issue, with 80 going to the state. As was often the case at the time for printers, Bangs was responsible and held liable for the content of the paper. At least once, Bangs became the object of a libel suit for the government- approved content he printed.

The Printing Museum Collection 1982.031.01 Decree by Gómez de la Cortina [with Mexican president giving instruction on how the capture and imprisonment of General Santa Anna is to be observed; to be continued until he is freed].

May 20, 1836

The Printing Museum Collection 1993.026.01 Aviso [Report of the meeting of the Junta Electoral at which Juan Baptista Valdez and Felipe de la Garza were elected to the Spanish Cortes (Parliament)]

October 2, 1820 Monterrey, Mexico Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer

Close examination of this broadside reveals a mix- ture of italic and roman letters throughout the text, a common characteristic of Samuel Bangs’ early printing. Because of difficulties in acquiring type, Bangs would rely on his ingenuity to create the effects he wanted, even creating his own printer’s ornaments from nails or horseshoes. The size of the paper also illustrates another technical limitation on Bangs’ work. His paper, sometimes transported by pack animal, was meant for writing rather than printing. Larger broadsides would require him to glue sheets together using paste of his own manufacture. The Aviso, which announces the election of two men, Juan Baptista Valdez and Felipe de la Garza, to the Spanish Cortes (or Parliament), is one of the earliest surviving pieces printed by Bangs.

Gift of Donald and Nancy Piercy 1993.040.01