Charles Cist, Philadelphia Printer
Boyd Childress
The German press in Pennsylvania, indeed with its Sowers and their large establishment, its bruderschaft of the Ephrata Monastery, its Armbruester, its Steiner, and a score more of intelligent printers, offers a phenomenon for reflection and study.1
Noted printing historian Lawrence Wroth thus introduced German printers in the state of Pennsylvania in his now classic The Colonial Printer. Among Wroth's "score more" was Charles Cist, who operated a printing business in Philadelphia from the early revolutionary period into the nineteenth century. While his printing output was modest when compared to contemporary Philadelphians Matthew Cary, Benjamin Franklin Bache, David Hall, or Francis Bailey, Cist printed both in English and German and was considerable factor in the history of printing in Philadelphia during his career. While the history of printing in the then-largest city in America has been well documented in various sources, there seems to be very little accurate biographical information on Cist and his printing. His entry in the Dictionary of American Biography 2 is both incomplete and inaccurate, and this brief sketch attempts to make use of additional primary material to supplement what we know about Cist and correct the DAB entry , which has found its way into other secondary biographical compilations, as well as scholarly historical research.
Charles Cist was born on 15 August 1738, in St. Petersburg, Russia.3 His education was extensive, including training in pharmacy and a medical degree from the University at Halle. With this background in the healing arts, Cist emigrated to the American colonies in 1769. Cist landed first in New York but settled immediately in Philadelphia. According to William McCulloch, who provided a significant addendum to Thomas' History of Printing in America "Cist tried many an earnest endeavor to discover the philosopher's stone" before he finally turned his attention to printing.4 Cist's name was a derivative of his given Russian name Carl Jacob Sigismund Thiel. With his new name, he first entered printing as a translator for the German printer Henry Miller.
In Philadelphia, he joined a sizable German community in a city of over 25,000, and after learning his new trade rapidly, Cist entered partnership with Melchior Steiner (or Styner), a native of Switzerland, in 1775. For the next six years, the firm printed fewer than fifty titles, but we do know from the records of the Pennsylvania colonial legislature that the two did considerable public printing. For example, Steiner and Cist were paid L 175 for "printing" in October 1777, the second year of their partnership. For the fall of 1780, the firm earned slightly less than L10,000 for public printing.5 The legislative council approved various payments for services provided on an inconsistent basis, and these payments present bills presented over an extended period of time. The last entry for Steiner and Cist came in December of 1782, over a year after the partnership dissolved. The firm also did considerable printing work for the Continental Congress. As early as 1776 they were paid $130 for providing paper and printing Congressional minutes-the paper was for loan office notes, and the minutes, yet unpublished, were bought by fellow-printer Robert Aiken. In 1777, Steiner and Cist were paid for printing 1,000 copies of a German-language revolutionary address to New Yorkers (Evans 15471). A unique episode in 1779 centered on an over payment for printing 1,300 copies of Observations on the American Revolution (Evans 16625), a propaganda document intended to support the colonial war effort. The journals of Congress record a payment of nearly $3,000 to Steiner and Cist in April, but a three-member committee was appointed the next month to investigate the possible over payment and the warrant was stopped. In June, the committee reported back to Congress and the account was settled for $971. A final example of Steiner and Cist's Congressional printing was a $200 payment in November of 1779.6 Nevertheless, the success of the firm of Steiner and Cist (or any printer, for that matter) cannot be measured by the record of its imprints. Indeed, printers such as Cist derived the majority of their income from peripheral or job printing, such as public printing and the sale of paper.
When Cist and Steiner first established their business, they were housed on Second Street near Arch Street, in the immediate proximity of most of the city's other printers. In late 1778, business had improved enough so they could move a block south on Second to the corner at Race Street.7 The most prominent (and profitable) of their imprints was Thomas Paine's The American Crisis (Evans 14953), printed in 1776 both in English and German (Evans 14963). The following year the firm printed the next three parts of Paine's political treatise. Steiner and Cist also printed an annual German language almanac beginning in 1779, a practice Cist continued until his death; Steiner likewise printed an almanac until 1797. Another printing staple was the newspaper , which the two published in partnership. Both Cist and Steiner published their own separate newspaper after the partnership dissolved. These were also German-language ventures.
Cist and Steiner dissolved their partnership in early 1781. McCulloch contends Steiner's laziness, negligence, and indifference led to their breakup. McCulloch also said Steiner had a drinking problem. While Cist remained in business under his name only, Steiner entered into another joint operation with Heinrich Kammerer, printing and selling books almost exclusively in German. While Steiner and Cist existed, it printed forty-seven separate titles; of these, fifteen (32 percent) were in German.8 Cist used this experience to launch the remainder of his successful printing career.
Cist moved his operation to Market Street when he and Steiner parted ways and stayed there until 1784, when he moved to the corner of Fourth and Arch Streets. In 1787, he was operating on Race Street, between Front and Second Streets. After 1791, he settled 104 Second Street near the corner of Race. These moves do not represent significant changes: these were addresses where several of the city's printers had shops. They do show Cist on the move for the best location for his business.
Cist married in 1781 and had two sons. Charles Cist, the elder, was an author and later, editor in Cincinnati, were he gained some literary notoriety. Another son Jacob, entered his father's printing business; worked in a shop his father established in the new Washington City after 1800; and finally settled in Wilkes-Barre as a postmaster, a position he held for most of the rest of his life. Jacob, an amateur naturalist, also got involved in a mining venture as his father had.
After the dissolution of his partnership with Steiner, Cist's book printing work increased. He printed Americanischer-Stadt und Land Calendar from 1782 until his death in 1805. His wife supervised the printing of the almanac in 1806. In 1806, the volume was published annually until 1860, a complete run of seventy-eight years. He seems to have been involved in publishing several German-language newspapers, although none on a regular basis. In 1786, he was one of several Philadelphians, including Matthew Cary, Thomas Sedden, William Spotswood, and James Trenchard, who sponsored the Colombian Magazine (Evans 21007), a short-lived effort.9 Cist also printed at least one issue of a newspaper in Washington in 1800. It, too, was a failure. Evidence attests to his reputation as a printer, as do the remarks of at least two contemporary printers. Isaiah Thomas notes, "Cist pursued it {printing} prudently, and acquired considerable property." McCulloch concludes, "Cist acquired property by marriage, and increased it by industry." In his printing history, Douglas McMurtrie makes occasional mention of Cist.10 But the highest praise of Cist's printing is from the federal Congress, noted Federalist Timothy Pickering, and prominent lexicographer Noah Webster. In the fall of 1785, Congress seriously considered Cist's proposal for printing the body's journals.
1. Lawrence C. Wroth, The Colonial Printer (Charlottesville: Dominion Books, 1964), pp. 261-62.
2. Reginald C. McGrave, "Cist, Charles," Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Scribners, 1930), II, 108.
3. "Cist," DAB.
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Boyd Childress (Librarian III, Auburn University Library , Auburn University , Ala. 36849-5606) is a History Bibliographer and Reference Librarian at Auburn University.
PBSA 85:1 (1991), pp. 72-81.
I have copied from the pages of this article and here are my additional notes to help fill in the blanks. When the article discusses Charles Cist's move to different locations in Philadelphia he was establishing friends and a network of business connections. For example, if this would help the scholarly community to know that Charles Cist eldest son Charles (Edward) Cist moved to Cincinnati and settled in College Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati. There is a family connection to the Cary family of College Hill. It is my connection that Matthew Cary had family and with the elder Cist moved to Cincinnati together. This was in part due to the printing connection in Philadelphia. The slogan "Go West Young Man" might have been a factor. The Cary sisters were prolific poets in Cincinnati.
Furthermore, the reference to Mr. Cist second son, Jacob, is only half his name. Lewis Jacob Cist was his full name. He also had one of the best autograph collections in the world at the time of his death. On reason why he held postmaster in Wilkes-Barre was to mail out autograph request, or some how get his target to respond to him, and he would be right there in the post office to collect his new autograph. The auction catalog of his collection is now a collector's item. An additional note, his brother Henry M. Cist, a well-documented Brigid er General of the Civil War and author of The Army of the Cumberland, painstakingly hand wrote the dollar amounts of each autograph that was sold. The auction took two days. His notes are in the bloggers private collection.
Finally, when the article talks about Mr. Cist getting married in 1781. He married Mary Weiss, the daughter of one of George Washington's commanders, General Jacob Weiss. This is his connection to getting printing contacts with the newly formed Continental Congress. On an upcoming blog, I can upload a Continental Congress dollar bill signed by Charles Cist.
Andrew C. Allen 6/20/13
513.638.7140
pewabic34@gmail.com
Andrew C. Allen 6/20/13
513.638.7140
pewabic34@gmail.com
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