The reason I collected it: The State, 1892…

February 23, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

The odd, dramatic, and unusual have always been a draw for me, and when I encountered The State (dated Nov. 9, 1892) from Richmond, Virginia, I knew it had to be part of the private collection.
The entire front page is a celebration of the election of Grover Cleveland as President in 1892. It is done in a very dramatic fashion, featuring a huge engraving of a rooster (once the symbol of the Democratic party) that stretches from just below the dateline to the bottom of the front page. There are also insets of both Cleveland and Adlai Stevenson. Of curious interest is the lack of a headline or any text.
The condition is worn as was typical with newsprint of the era, and with various archival repairs, but wow, what a wonderful issue for display!

The reason I collected it: The Battery, 1848…

January 19, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

THE BATTERY, from Washington, D.C., was a campaign newspaper supporting Zachary Taylor for President and Millard Fillmore for Vice President.
In the era before radio, television, and the internet it was not uncommon for political parties to create short-lived newspapers to support their candidate and publicize their political platform. Such newspapers tended to be short-lived; once the election was over… so was the newspaper. However, some titles existed for some months afterward.
Shown below is a portion of the #16 issue dated Oct. 19, 1848, the title existing from July 6 through November 2, 1848, then printing just two more issues: Nov. 16, 1848 and Jan. 25, 1849, for a total of 20 issues.
Of special interest–and a prime reason for it qualifying for the private collection–is the great masthead engraving, which is essentially a political cartoon showing the heroic Taylor on his horse commanding: “A little More Grape! Captain Bragg” to be shot at Lewis Cass, his political rival.
This phrase was a famous one in Taylor’s military career, a command to then-Captain (later General in the Confederacy) Braxton Bragg to fire more grapeshot at the Mexicans during the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War.

A wonderfully rare title, a short-lived Presidential campaign newspaper, and a political cartoon for a masthead.

The reason I collected it: Dodge’s Literary Museum…

August 21, 2023 by · Leave a Comment 

Mastheads of newspapers through the centuries offer a very wide assortment of styles, sizes and decorativeness, with many being quite mundane. Only the “special” ones make it to the private collection, and “Dodge’s Literary Museum” is one.
Any newspapering which the masthead consumes one-third of the front page qualifies. This title’s masthead engraving consumes over half of the front page, very unusual as such. The content may be literary items with no “newsy” reports, but the front page is certainly worth of collecting, regardless of what is inside.21

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln… one the the very best…

January 18, 2013 by · Leave a Comment 

The April 22, 1865 issue of the National Police Gazette, New York, printed what many consider to be the best illustrated newspaper related to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Judge for yourself. Regardless of your final analysis, please enjoy the images from this incredible authentic newspaper compliments of Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers… History’s Newsstand… via Pinterest:

The Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln illustrated by the National Police Gazette… on Pinterest…

The first newspaper in Utah…

March 26, 2012 by · Leave a Comment 

The Mormons created a great migration to the West in 1847 as 2000 Mormons crossed the western plains seeking a location in which they could follow undisturbed the precepts of their religion. The first party reached the Salt Lake valley on July 24, 1847, and among the items they brought were implements, seeds, cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens, and a printing outfit purchased in Philadelphia.

At the time the area was owned by Mexico, but with the treaty of 1848 ending the Mexican ar ownership passed to the United States. With no steps taken by federal authorities to establish a system of government for it, the Mormons took matters into their own hands and in 1849 organized the “State of Deseret” (land of the honey bee) with Brigham Young as governor.

The very first issue of the “Deseret News” was printed on June 15, 1850 with Brigham Young noted as the publisher and Horace Whitney, who had printing experience at the Mormon town of Nauvoo, Illinois, listed as the printer. This newspaper continued for just over a year when it was suspended for 3 months due to lack of paper. It began as a weekly but four months later became a semi-monthly until 1854 when it again became a weekly. It eventually became a daily on Nov. 21, 1867.  A sample of a volume 1 issues may be found at:  Deseret News, August 17, 1850

It was in late 1858 when Kirk Anderson started the “Valley Tan” in Salt Lake City, lasting for just over a year. The “Mountaineer” was started on Aug. 27, 1859 and “Farmer’s Oracle” was a semi-monthly which began on May 22, 1863, both of which lasted for less than two years.  A military newspaper titled the “Union Vidette” began on Nov. 20, 1863, done by soldiers stationed at Camp Douglass, a military post near Salt Lake City.

First newspapers in North Dakota…

March 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

The Dakota Territory organized in 1861 encompassed both present-day North & South Dakota. It was in 1889 when statehood was gained that the Territory was split into North & South.

But it was during the Civil War, in 1864 when two solders issued at Fort Union (present-day North Dakota) a newspaper called the “Frontier Scout” Only a few numbers were printed at Fort Union. A bit later it reappeared with a “Fort Rice, D.T.” imprint and a date of June 15, 1865, noted as “vol. 1, No. 1”. It is not known to have continued after 1865.

It was not until July of 1873 when the first permanent newspaper appeared in the Territory, located at the capital of Bismarck and titled the “Tribune“. It started as a weekly but 8 years later became a daily, which it remains to this day. It boasts that it has never missed an issue, although because of a winter blizzard it was forced to reduce its size & one number was printed on wallpaper.

Not long thereafter the second newspaper in North Dakota began, titled the “Express“, printed at Fargo on Jan. 1, 1874. The third newspaper, and in yet a third city, was the “Plaindealer” which published at Grand Forks in 1874 as well.

Death of Blackbeard, the pirate…

January 18, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Pirates have fascinated many through the years, both the historian and the average man on the street, evidenced by the large number of successful movies with a pirate theme. Witness the recent success of the three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies starring Johnny Depp.

Blackbeard remains one of the more interesting characters from the golden age of piracy, primarily 1680 thru 1720. The report of his death was provided with some detail on the front page of “The London Gazette” issue of April 25, 1719. Enjoy the photos.

Blackbeard_death

One of the best we have seen…

January 16, 2010 by · 2 Comments 

Wright_Brothers_NYHNewspaper reports on this first successful flight of the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903 can be difficult to find as perhaps half of the newspapers in print at the time reported it, and those that did often relegated the report to an inside page and just one or two paragraphs. The report can be missed even if one is looking for it.

But “The New York Herald” in its December 19 edition had one of the better reports I have seen. Not only is it at the top of the front page with a three column heading: “Wright Brothers Experimenting with Flying Machine” and yet another one column stack of heads including: “Gale No Bar To Flying Machine” “Orville and Wilbur Wright’s ‘Flyer’ Sailed Against a Twenty-One Mile Wind” “Traveled Three Miles” with more, but it also includes two photos.

This is a nice front page worth sharing.

Videos regarding the hobby… Private Collections…

May 30, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Collecting rare and historic newspapers is a hobby with a personal flair.  Although an individual may begin collecting random issues covering a wide variety of topics, eventually they typically settle on a specific area of interest.  Perhaps it will be one of the war eras, the Old West era, or issues with Presidential signatures, acts, or addresses.  One might derive pleasure from collecting Civil War battle prints or issues with decorative mastheads.  Others may like to collect issues from each decade of the last few centuries or issues from each President’s administration.  Yet another way to collect newspapers is to use them as a companion collectible for another area of collecting interest – images of sewing machines, inventions, railroading, early flight, dentistry, slave ads, from the year of each coin’s release within one’s collection, with a box score for each major baseball card held, etc.  We’ve even known a number of collectors who have spent years focusing on a particular era (perhaps Civil War), who then migrate with a focus through time (perhaps moving on to the Revolutionary War and then Colonial eras).  The possibilities are endless. In the end, one thing is for certain, like an heirloom violin, no two collections are exactly the same.  Feel free to either share your areas of interest by commenting to this post or send us your collecting story (see more details below).

Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers continues to maintain and add to their own private/personal collection.  The focus has been on one-of-a-kind/rare titles and major historic events.  Even what one considers to be historic is somewhat subjective. Below is a video which was done a number of years ago which features Tim showing some of the Private Collection.  Please enjoy!

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If you would like to share your story of how you became interested in collecting rare and/or historic newspapers, e-mail it to guy@rarenewspapers.com and place “My Story” in the subject field. Although not necessary, feel free to include an image. Please do not include your e-mail address or a personal website as part of the text of your story. We will post collector stories every few weeks and will send you a notice when your story appears. Thank you for your contribution to the community.

The first newspaper printed in Hawaii…

March 5, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

As was typical with the first newspaper publishing efforts in states and territories, the very first newspaper in Hawaii didn’t have great success. The SANDWICH ISLAND GAZETTE, published its first issue on July 30, 1836 and only lasted until 1839. Shortly after its demise came the SANDWICH ISLAND MIRROR & COMMERCIAL GAZETTE which lasted for less than a year. Although bearing a different name and issued monthly instead of weekly, it was essentially a continuation of the GAZETTE.

Early printing in the Hawaiian Islands were by missionaries, and the SANDWICH ISLAND GAZETTE was no exception. Some of the content has religious overtones, however there is much secular reporting and advertisements as well.

We are pleased to share with out collectors our July 8, 1837 issue of the SANDWICH ISLAND GAZETTE, the volume 1, number 50 issue. Newspapers from Hawaii in the 1830’s are virtually unheard of in the collector market today.

Enjoy.

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