Zadok Cramer (1773–1813) was an author, publisher, printer, and bookseller in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
His book The Navigator was an influential guide for settlers and travelers on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the first half of the nineteenth century.
[5] Cramer's Almanac for 1803 included astronomical tables; selections from contemporary British authors; a "Receipt to Cure the Ague", a disease that was then common to the west and south of Pittsburgh; an "Advertisement to Farmers"; the full text of the Constitution of the United States; and lists of marriages and deaths, which in many cases are the only accurate records from this time.
It served a need for detailed information about the rivers and surrounding country to the west and south for the thousands of merchants and immigrants who passed through Pittsburgh in the early nineteenth century.
It also provided guidance for the preparation of the journey, such as advice about where to buy a river boat and what to watch for in its purchase.
Based on accounts from the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the 1808 edition of The Navigator also included descriptions of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers.
[14] The Navigator was often plagiarized by other authors, including Thaddeus Mason Harris in his Journal of a Tour (Boston, 1805); Thomas Ash, who published a travel book in London in 1808; Samuel Cumings with his Western Pilot (1825); and Lloyd's Steamboat Directory (1856).
He expanded his inventory to include stationery, playing cards, and patent medicines, and he was the first to offer wallpaper for sale in Pittsburgh.
His physician recommended that he travel to Havana, Cuba, to improve his health, but on the way he died in Pensacola, Florida, on August 1, 1813.
His business was continued by his widow and his partners, who attempted to carry out his most cherished plan, the publication of a magazine.
The first issue of The Western Gleaner or Repository for Arts, Sciences, and Literature, a monthly magazine of 64 pages, was published in December 1813.