The Marketplace.
The interior of the combined store, workshop, and mail room was a mix of paper and people with the aroma of cloth, sweat, mixed with the crispness of drying ink. There were broadsides posted to one side of the door, books on three shelves atop the dark walnut countertop with closed whitewashed cupboards below. As he let the door close behind them, Matthias saw that a youth of some 14 years or so was working behind the main counter. To his right were various pamphlets, almanacs, bottles of ink, and various types of quills, pens, and such.
“Good day,” Matthias greeted the younger man. “I need a few things if I could be so forward. A dozen sheets folio size of very fine paper for maps for the Board of Property of the Upper Susquehanna and one of its tributaries.”
He glanced down and saw that there was a copy of the Pennsylvania Gazette at the ready. He glanced at it, and a few things caught his eye. “Also, should inquire if I might purchase this newspaper, as well as place an advertisement in your next. I need to share some personal items with a few people associated with the families I visited in that region. “
He smiled as he said the last statement. News is what the printers needed, and he had some information on the new lands that might come available from the Governor’s office, as well as general information on the situation to the North. But, what he did not want to make too obvious was the fact that he also had brought back letters for a few individuals from their families. No post was paid to him, but officials tended to get a bit frustrated when the King’s tax was not paid.
He looked back down and noted that a few estate sales were to take place, as well as a couple of auctions at the London Coffee House of real properties, as well as higher valued estate items. What also caught his eye was the closure of the business of Cruckshank and Collins, another printer who tended to carry books and items of both a secular and occasionally metaphysical nature.