Boardman & Gray Pianos

I wrote extensively about the Albany piano industry just a little over a year ago at All Over Albany. For a time, our nickname could have been The Piano City. Here is an 1844 advertisement from the Albany City Guide from the biggest piano maker, Boardman & Gray. Love the old ad copy:

“The undersigned desire to say to all those who may wish to purchase Piano Fortes, that we are not only determined to sustain the high reputation which has been awarded to our Piano Fortes in years past, but by our united and personal attention to business, to continue making from time to time, such improvements in tone, action and general finish as will warrant the public in continuing their very liberal patronage as heretofore bestowed.”

That’s the kind of copy that presumes two things: an audience that’s educated, and an audience that has a lot of time on its hands. Nearly all advertising was like that then, heavy on the verbiage, subtly hyperbolic, gently pleading.

Except, of course, for Hoxsie.