Cuddy & Hughes
Why did the Appeal feel the need to editorialize about this?

Perhaps it was just a throwaway line - the latest in an endless parade of such lines trolled out by newspapers and magazines, at the Emperor's expense, to fill out a given edition's finalcolumn inches.

But, perhaps it also was offered for a more specific purpose: as a preemptive disclaimer against the appearance of any conflict of interest, given that the printer of the paper and the printer ofthe bonds were one and the same: the firm of John Cuddy (c.1844-1914) and Edward C. Hughes (c.1848-1912), operating professionally as Cuddy & Hughes.

In fact, Cuddy & Hughes and the Pacific Appeal occupied the same building - at 511 Sansome Street, on the southwest corner of Sansome and Merchant.

In his biography San Francisco Lithographer: African American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014), the historian Robert J. Chandler surveys the San Francisco printingscene between 1865 and 1880 and asks [emphasis added]:

Here's a Cuddy & Hughes imperial note that Emperor Norton signed and sold on 29 August 1874:

Bond of The Imperial Government of Norton I, made by Cuddy & Hughes and signed by Emperor Norton on 29 August 1874. Source: Jewish Museum of the American West.

The line along the bottom edge - "CUDDY & HUGHES, Printers to His Majesty Norton I, 511 Sansome Street, S.F." - goes right to Chandler's point. Whatever might have been the personalsympathies of John Cuddy or Edward Hughes towards the Emperor, these notes were first and foremost - for them - advertisements for the firm. Within one small sheet, they were able to convey thequality of their paper; their design and typographical sensibilities / capabilities; and the quality of their printing.

C.A. Murdock & Co.
it appears that all the imperial notes signed from January 1878 until the Emperor's death in January 1880 - as well as what Kagin called an "unissued remainder" note from 1880 - weredesigned and printed by the firm of C.A. Murdock & Co., headed by Charles A. Murdock (1841-1928).

Emperor Norton liked the Unitarians - and one of the Emperor's favorite ministers was Horatio Stebbins, who succeeded Thomas Starr King at the First Unitarian Church.

Murdock - a staunch Unitarian - was a member of this church; and it seems that this is where he and the Emperor befriended one another.

Murdock's notes are distinguished by the absence of any promotional copy for his own business - which may say any number of things about Murdock, probably all of them good.

Here's a Murdock note signed and sold by Emperor Norton on 20 November 1879.

Bond of The Imperial Government of Norton I, made by Charles A. Murdock & Co. and signed by Emperor Norton on 20 November 1879. Collection of the Wells Fargo History Museum / San Francisco.Source: Groove Central LA

Charles Murdock was a keen and sensitive observer of his world. And he lived a deeply engaged and distinguished civic and professional life in San Francisco and Northern California - a life thatprovided him with a front-row seat to the early development of his adopted city and region, and that brought him in touch with many of its most notable writers and public figures, including BretHarte, Mark Twain, John Muir and Joaquin Miller.

So it was that, in 1921, at the behest of friends, Murdock published a late-in-life memoir, which he modestly titled A Backward Glance at Eighty.

Here's Murdock's charming recollection of his relationship with the Emperor [emphasis mine]:

To read the complete article, see:
Notes on His Majesty's Printers (www.emperorsbridge.org/blog/2017/5/2/notes-on-his-majestys-printers)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ARTICLE PROFILES "THE EMPEROR OF THESE UNITED STATES" (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n40a27.html)
EMPEROR NORTON'S PROCLAMATION AND SEAL (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n18a22.html)
EMPEROR NORTON FILMS NOW ON INTERNET ARCHIVE (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a09.html)