The following essay covers publishing careers of brothers Thomas and James Swords.

Important on the New York City publishing scene in the late 1700s and early 1800s were the Swords brothers, Thomas and James-printers, booksellers, book publishers, and publishers of seven periodicals. The most noteworthy of their magazines was the New-York Magazine; or, Literary Repository (1790-1797), one of the longest-lasting American magazines of the eighteenth century.

Thomas and James Swords were the two youngest of three sons of Thomas Swords and Mary Morell Swords of Albany, New York. There were also two daughters. Thomas Swords came from a town near Dublin, Ireland, and was the first of his family to come to this country. Unlike later Irish immigrants who came to America to escape poverty, the senior Swords came from a family of moderate means. He was granted a commission as ensign in the Fifty-fifth Regiment of Foot...