William Parks, Public Printer of Maryland and Virginia

sylvania. It is generally believed, however, that Parks's paper mill was not
established until the year 1744.¹

Although late in the field, the Virginia press soon obtained a position of
importance among the typographical establishments of the colonies. Parks
was a neat printer and an intelligent man of affairs. In Maryland he had
been the first to establish a newspaper, and to print works of a literary
nature; in Virginia also, he was the pioneer journalist, and to his publica-
tion of works of belles lettres, he added those of history and general litera-
ture. Copies of his Williamsburg edition of Stith's History of Virginia,
published in 1747, are among the much sought after items of Americana;
Typographia, an ode on printing by J. Markland, which he published in
1730, would bring a great price as the first American contribution to its
subject if the single known copy of it should ever emerge into the auction
room from the shelves of the John Carter Brown Library. For his more
important works he chose an excellent quality of paper, and in general his
typographical execution was neat and dignified. His session laws of both
colonies present a good appearance, and his edition of the Laws of Virginia,
printed in the year 1733, contends for first place in typographical excellence
with two or three other well known works of the first half of the century.

Until his death in the year 1750, Parks continued to fill an important
place in the public life of Virginia. In the course of a voyage to England
undertaken in this year, he came down with a pleurisy and died after a
short illness. His body was carried to England and there buried. That his
labors after all had been unrewarded may be inferred from the fact that at
his death his assets were found to be slightly more than six thousand pounds,
while his liabilities were only a few pounds less than this amount.² There
was no printer of his day, however, Franklin alone excepted, whose service
to typography and letters in America presents a greater claim on the inter-
est and gratitude of posterity.

¹ Sec Weeks, L. H., History of Paper Manufacturing in the U. S., 1690-1916, N. Y. 1916, for an account of
the first Virginia paper mill, particularly the verses from the Virginia Gazette quoted there, in which praise of
the enterprise of Parks is united to a plea for rags to be used in the mill. Many will be amused at this jocular
admonition to men and maidens to contribute their worn linen to Mr. Parks's mill. This mill probably continued
in operation until Parks's death, for it was sold by his executors for £96, 3s. 9d.

² For information as to Parks in Virginia, consult the Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, [for the
years 1727-1758]. Richmond, 1909-1910; Thomas, History of Printing in America; William and Mary College
Quarterly, 7:10-12; Weeks, L. H, History of Paper Manufacturing in the U. S., 1690-1916. N. Y. 1916. See alto
his will and inventory and accounts in the Court House, York Town, Va. Copies of these are in the Maryland
Historical Society.

After this account of William Parks had been set and paged, and consequently when it was too late for an
extensive investigation, the author came upon a clue which may lead to the discovery of the origin and early life
of this interesting printer. In the Catalogue of an Exhibition of Books—Illustrative of the History 6? Progress of
Printing and Bookselling in England, 1477-1800, Held at Stationers' Hall, 25-29 June 19/2, by the International

[733