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Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection
Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection
Nathaniel Coverly
Courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection

Nathaniel Coverly

Broadside Printer, American, 1744 - 1816
Nathaniel Coverly Sr. (1744?–1816) and his son, Nathaniel Coverly Jr. (1775–1824), operated a multi-generational printing business in Massachusetts specializing in mass-market ephemeral materials. Rather than publishing newspapers, they produced affordable, high-volume broadside ballads, children's books, and topical pamphlets for ordinary citizens. During the Revolutionary War, the senior Coverly printed patriotic broadsides and political verses, including Elisha Rich’s 1775 poem on the Battle of Bunker Hill