These works were quickly overshadowed by Drake's _History_, and from this time forward Gent's fortunes began to decline. He made an enemy of John White, the son of his old employer, with the result that White set up a press at York in 1725, and issued the first number of _The York Courant_, a weekly paper, but sold it and the business to Alexander Staples ten years later. Staples in turn was succeeded by Cæsar Ward and Richard Chandler--the first a bookseller in York, the second in London; but Chandler committed suicide in 1744, and left Ward to carry on the business alone. John Gilfillan was another printer at work in the city during this period. Thomas Gent lived to the age of eighty-seven, his death taking place on the 19th May 1778. In Newcastle, John White, the son of the York printer of that name, began printing in 1708. He started the _Newcastle Courant_, the first number of which appeared in 1711. In 1761 the firm became John White and Co., and in 1763 John White and T. Saint. White died in 1769, when he is said to have been the oldest printer in the kingdom. As has been noted, from 1725 to 1735 he had carried on a press at York in opposition to T. Gent. One or two other printers are found here for short periods, but little is known about them. Among other towns possessing presses early in this century were--Nottingham, 1711; Chester, 1711; Liverpool, 1712; and Birmingham, 1716. In America the number of printing presses increased but slowly during the first half of the eighteenth century. William Bradford in New York continued the only printer in that province for thirty years. He died on the 23rd May 1752, at the age of ninety-two. For fifty years he had been printer to the Government, and among the numerous books that came through his press were the Book of Common Prayer in quarto, in 1709, the only issue in America before the Revolution, a venture by which he is said to have lost heavily. He also printed a Mohawk Prayer-book in quarto; this was issued in 1715. On the 16th October 1725 he began to publish a weekly paper called _The New York Gazette_, and continued it until his retirement from business. In 1726 a German named John Peter Zenger set up as a printer in New York. He is chiefly remembered as the printer of the second New York newspaper, the _New York Weekly Journal_, the first number of which was wrongly dated October 5th, 1733, instead of November 5th. The paper involved the printer in several actions for libel, and led to some lively passages with William Bradford. He is believed to have died about 1746. Bradford was succeeded as printer to the Government by James Parker, one of his apprentices, who is described as a neat workman. He continued the _New York Gazette_, with the alternative title, _or Weekly Post Boy_. He also issued in 1767 an edition of the Psalms in metre, one of the earliest books printed from type cast in America.