A ghost robs a bank…

October 30, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

And just in time for Halloween, a report from “The Observer” of London, January 1, 1797:

The unearthing of a President… yet another discovery!

October 28, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

The image  shows a portion of a full-page ad found buried in the back of the January 4, 1902 edition of Harper’s Weekly Illustrated.  One of the joys of collecting rare and early newspapers is the fun collectors have digging up hidden treasures.  A student at Arizona State University recently noticed that one of the contributors listed in an ad for encyclopedias was Woodrow Wilson, more than 10 years before he would be elected as the 28th President of the United States.  In case one did not already know, this ad also reveals that he was a Professor at Politics at Princeton.   I wonder if any other noteworthy individuals are named within this ad??? Additional close-up images can be found at:  Additional Images.  Feel free to add your finds.

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1987…

October 25, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Blondie, Kool & the Gang, Ambrosia…  Rubik’s Cube, Break Dancing, Transformers…  The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, Moonlighting… the 80’s!  Our walk through time now brings us to the 8o’s.   Our exploration of authentic newspaper pricing through time takes us back to Catalog 60. To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go here: Catalog 60

Old age is relative…

October 23, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Enjoy the following, which appeared in an 1857 newspaper:

The Traveler… coffins… do they really have an expiration?

October 21, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Take me out to the ballgame… It’s the reporting for Game Three of the World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs in the October 21, 1910 issue of The Allentown Morning Call in which it is reported, “The Combat to-day was a slaughter with the final score Philadelphia 12 – Cubs 5″. Just a Wikipedia tidbit of information — in Game 2, all nine Philadelphia players in the line-up got a hit, the first time in World Series history.

The reporting of Dr. Crippen’s murder trial is also on the front page as well. This was the first murderer caught via wireless communications.

An unrelated article caught my eye as I was quickly scanning through inside pages… “Three Years For Coffin”. It ends up being about a man with the last name of Coffin who was being sent to Leavenworth on counterfeiting charges. At a quick glance, it makes one wonder if there were was an expiration date on “coffins”.  I thought they were to last an eternity. 🙂

~The Traveler

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1993…

October 18, 2010 by · 2 Comments 

Forest Gump, Jerry Maguire, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana… the 90’s.  Our price-searching through time continues… all the way to “back in the day”… when everything was “aiight. Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at sample prices from 2006 and 2009.  Today we explore a half-dozen years earlier – 1993.  To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go here:  Catalog 90

Roosevelt to blame for the Pearl Harbor attack…

October 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

We often list on our website issues from the island of Guernsey during World War II when it was occupied by the Nazis.  As such all news is filtered through the German propaganda machine which offers interesting reading, as the reports are in English because the residents speak English.

Although many battles reports border on the absurd, particularly with historical hindsight, the front page report in the “Evening Press” dated December 8, 1941, one day after the Pearl Harbor attack, is one of the more outrageous (see the photo below).

Contest/drawing… humorous nuggets…

October 14, 2010 by · 1 Comment 

Over the years, while searching for key content within our newspaper archives, we inevitably have found articles, images, headlines, anecdotes, etc. which are quite humorous.  Many such snippets have appeared on the History’s Newsstand blog and may be viewed at:  http://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?tag=humor

What about you?  Have you found a little comic relief within your personal collection? If so, we would love for you to share your most humorous discovery (or discoveries) with the Rare Newspapers collecting community – and receive a reward for doing so.  There are several ways to participate:

1) post the text of your newspaper anecdote, article, headline, etc. directly on the blog as a comment to this post.

2) post a scan/photo of  your newspaper anecdote, article, headline, image,  etc. directly on the blog as a comment to this post.

3) send the text or photo of your entry to guy@rarenewspapers.com, and we will post it for you.

You may submit as many entries as you wish, through Thursday, October 31st.  Everyone who makes a submission will receive a coupon for 10% off a future website order at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers.  However, we will also have a random drawing for three winners whom will also receive $50 gift certificates for use at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers.  Why draw at random as opposed to selecting the most humorous?  What one may find to be funny, another may not.

Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1999…

October 11, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

A week ago we looked at authentic newspaper prices from 2006.  Today will go a little farther back in time… to 1999. To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go to:  Catalog 120

The Traveler… a hatchet and… a slap in the face…

October 9, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

This week I ventured off the date just a bit, but staying within the current week. I began reading through the October 3, 1810 issue of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy, or Worcester Gazette when a lengthy front page article entitled “An Island of Savage Cannibals” caught my eye. This was from The Fejee Islands, and after reading the article, I have decided that this would definitely not have been on my vacation agenda! For some reason, a part of ransom requested by these people was twelve hatchets??!!

Inside the issue was a small article entitled “Real Bravery” which read Little Algiers has declared war against France. The independent States of America dare not. Now, talk about a slap in the face…

~ The Traveler

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