ABSTRACT
The United Kingdom has a long history of advertising regulation. Although the industry evolved with the development of the mass audience, it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that advertising first became widely available to the general public through newspapers, posters, and other printed forms. Between 1800 and midcentury, the volume of newspaper advertising insertions increased threefold. Newspapers were taxed through the Stamp Act of 1797; however, some illegal publications operated below the authorities’ radar, carrying some volume of advertisement that we cannot fully measure. Perhaps the most popular advertising used at this time was billposting (Nevett 1982, 20). Whatever the medium, there was a dearth of what we would term consumer goods advertising.
