Career
Foreign others similarly named, see the John Aitken navigation page
Born in Dalkeith, Scotland around 1745. In October 1771, he arrived in Philadelphia via Rotterdam and became an indentured servant to goldsmith William Taylor for one-and-a-half years. By 1780, he had become a taxpaying property owner of Philadelphia, and had begun selling his services as a silversmith.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses two of his creations, a teaspoon and a creamer.
Music publishing
Aitken appears to have started his music publishing career in 1787, producing three works. Three Rondos for piano by William Brown was announced in the pages of the Pennsylvania Packet on January 23, 1787.
Aitken"s second project may have been Alexander Reinagle"s A Selection of the Most Favorite Scots Tunes. Reinagle was a fellow Scottish immigrant, arriving in Philadelphia in 1786.
He may have been influential in Aitken"s decision to use the "punch" engraving process for sheet music
Aitken was the first to do so in the United States. Although there is scholarly debate as to whether the work, which spans 136 pages, is representative of actual Catholic musical practice in post-revolutionary America, Reverend John Carroll approved its publication—his signature, along with those of three Philadelphian priests, appears in an approbation preceding the title page, which endorsed "an undertaking so conducive to the Decency and Solemnity of Religious Worship."
From 1787 to 1793, Aitken was the only publisher of sheet music in the United States, publishing at least 20 works, many of which were by Reinagle. Between 1793 and 1806, he only published two works: a collection entitled Scots Musical Museum (1797) and "The Goldsmith’s Rant" (1802).
The latter, a song that he composed, consisted of a single page of sheet music
An advertisement touting Aitken"s services as a goldsmith and jeweler appeared on the back of the page. In 1807, Aitken returned to regularly publishing music, opening a shop on North Second Street.
He expanded his publications to secular works, and he may have been the earliest American publisher of secular music He printed some 125 works from 1807 to 1811.
Although he ceased publishing music in 1811, he continued working in the printing trade until 1825.
After his death in 1831, he was buried in the cemetery of Christ Church.
