Isaiah Thomas's printing office became a meeting place for the numerous gatherings of founding patriots that, combined with his daring publications earned it the deserved reputation as "The Sedition Foundry".

(click image for enlargement)
The Sedition Foundry, oil painting by David Wells Roth, commissioned by The Union Oyster House in Bofton.

Between 1771 and 1775, when Isaiah Thomas operated his press from his home and office on Union Street, many radical revolutionaries met secretly there to draft their plans for liberty. Portrayed in a detail from the above painting; from left to right are Paul Revere, James Otis, and John Hancock as they proofread the daring November 14, 1771 issue.

 

Starring in the role of James Otis is Marcus A. McCorison.  He posed as Otis in the painting and was very helpful in aiding me in my research of Isaiah Thomas. 

In 1970 McCorison edited Isaiah Thomas’s ‘The History of Printing in America, the second edition, published by Imprint Society. www.americanantiquarian.org/marcus-mccorison-1926-2013.

He was later kind enough to give me one of the limited edition copies of a book he edited, The History of Printing in America, by Isaiah Thomas, which has in it a page from Isaiah Thomas's first edition of his book of the same title.

Designing the Painting.

To start out, before I could even begin planning out the painting, I first had to see what an 18th century printing studio and office was, how it functioned and what it looked like.

In September, 1996, I took a trip to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia to research and photograph an active, living 18th century printing office.  I met there a printer named Brett, who was a practicing expert in the “common style” printing press, the same model press used by Isaiah Thomas in the 1770’s.  This meeting helped me understand the intricate workings of publishing and printing a newspaper in the 18th century.  He later visited my studio in Sudbury, Massachusetts and actually posed for the painting.

 

To understand and see the equipment Isaiah Thomas was using in his printing office, I visited the American Antiacarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, where I learned that his press and equipment was stored and kept on display for the public. To aid in the painting, I took photos of the equipment.  The star of the painting besides Thomas himself would be Thomas’s press, which he called “The Old No. 1”, since it was his first press. 

It was there and then that I met Mr. McCorison.

 

The “Old No. 1”

was the name given to this press by Isaiah Thomas.  Built in England in 1742, this was the press he learned to print on as an apprentice.  Most important of all, this press served to stoke the flames of the American Revolution by printing The Massachusetts Spy and many other rebellious  publications.

Next, I tried to plan how the interior of the room with the printing office and how it would look.  This would entail an understanding of the physical location of the building, where Isaiah Thomas would have set up shop, to publish the Massachusetts Spy and his other publications. 

According to the legend, Thomas had his printing office set up in the building known today as the Union Oyster House. Therefore, since I was not commissioned to paint a fictional scene, I tried to imagine the room as it might have been set up and appeared in 1775.

To make the painting work and make any sense, I tried to understand the architecture of the day and visualize how the interior of a colonial building would look.  To see how they were built and appeared, I visited very early American houses in Ipswitch and Salem that were in the original design and had not updated. Using information I acquired from the book, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725, by Abbot Lowell Cummings, I learned how the interior would seem for a typical structure of that era.  For example, contrary to what I believed, I always imagined the ceiling beams would be stained dark.  This style was very decorative and looked to be an authentic “colonial” appearance.  What I learned, contrary to my beliefs and to my surprise, was that in the colonial era, walls and ceilings, including exposed beams would have all been whitewashed with lead white paint to conserve as much light as possible.  That made perfect sense since interior light was a rare commodity.  Only later, when there were more efficient ways to add light to a room, besides lanterns and candles, the light from the windows would have been a primary source to be reflected around.

I studied the room in the oyster house where it seemed logical that Thomas would have set up shop.  I had to consider that at the same time, as was common knowledge, he shared the space with the dry goods shop owned by Hopestill Capen, who also owned the entire building through marriage. 

What I learned later on after the completion of this painting, while researching for the painting Rebuking the Revolutionary Flames in Charlestown, surprised me and left me somewhat confused.

Had Isaiah Thomas actually been in that room, with his fully functioning publishing and printing office, I measured the room and drew floorplans to try to understand the layout for the painting. I imagined where the press would have been placed and how the room would have been furnished using the information from Colonial Williamsburg, and the equipment I found at the American Antiquarian Society.

Looking at the odd shape of the room with the angled front wall, it seemed cramped, but I tried to make sense of it. 

To populate the room with journeymen and workers, I had some friends pose for the various roles.

This is Brett, the printer from Colonial Williamsburg when he visited my studio to pose for the painting.

And here is Bart, my brother posing with a loaf of bread as if holding a couple of ink applicators.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, to put it all together, I sketched various perspectives, angles and views of the room.