Day, Benjamin Henry

Related Category: Journalism and Publishing: Biographies

1810–89, American journalist. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican and opened a printing office in New York City. Lack of work during a financial depression led him to begin publishing (1833) the New York Sun. The first edition consisted of four small pages; he wrote the paper and set the type without assistance. The price of the paper was 1¢; much less than other New York dailies at the time. The Sun was the first paper in the city to employ newsboys. By 1835, Day claimed a circulation of 19,360, the largest in the world, and in 1838 sold the Sun to his brother-in-law, Moses Yale Beach, for $40,000. In 1842, Day founded the monthly Brother Jonathan, which later became the first illustrated weekly in the United States.