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More than what meets the eye – categories on the RareNewspapers.com website…
August 28, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
As of now there are over 15,000 individual historic newspapers posted on the Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers website, with nearly 3 million more waiting in the wings. The ability to search for specific dates, words (or word phrases), eras, themes, issues within specific date ranges, etc. to find newspapers of interest using the website’s basic search and advanced search interface was discussed in a recent post. While both interfaces give the user quite a bit of control over what results are found, there are times when we all prefer things to be simplistic, and to this end, we have several icons (buttons) on the front page which point the explorer to a ten popular categories. However, there is much more available than meets the eye. Directly below “Popular Categories” and to the right is another button/icon, which when selected, provides access to an extensive list of pre-made search queries, arranged alphabetically. The images below illustrate how to access the list.
Now that you are aware this is present, feel free to go to www.RareNewspapers.com and check it out for yourself. Also, if you would like to suggest a topic you believe may be of interest to many, let me know at guy@rarenewspapers.com. I’ll be happy to consider adding it.
Still Learning…Womankind & Celibacy v. Matrimony
August 24, 2020 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
As Womankind is less serious, less political, than its contemporary publications it seems the perfect thing to pick up on a sunny morning when the deepest thoughts I want to have concern the temperature of my morning cup of coffee. In this frame of mind I turned pages until the following words caught my eye:
Nature has planted deep in the constitution of either sex an impulse toward one another. Around this impulse, which nature simply bestows as part of her economy of self preservation, we have thrown a great deal of 
romantic drapery and pretty sentiment; have buried it in thickness of roses and lilies; have drowned its voice in songs and nightingales and tinkle of lutes and mandolins; have called upon the stars to witness to its loftiness…in fact, we have deified ourselves and our natural desires into some sort of impossible creation quite unfit for this mundane sphere.
Well, this unexpected phrasing led me to further examine the article, which spills into most of a fourth column on page 6 of the January 1893 issue. The heading was even more startling, “Mrs. Frank Leslie Says Sensible Marriages Lead to Atrophy, Romantic Marriages to Murder and Suicide, Single Blessedness to Melancholy Madness.”
Collectors of newspapers will know the name “Frank Leslie“, many better than I do. As it turns out, this was indeed authored by the second wife of Frank Leslie, subsequent heir to his publishing enterprises. She was a noted feminist and suffragist, editor and author. According to Wikipedia, Miriam Squier received a business with $300,000 debt upon Leslie’s death, and turned it into a profitable enterprise.
Based on further commentary within the article that led me to this little discovery, I cannot imagine that Frank and Miriam knew great joy with one another. But whatever the level of bliss, the impact that they made on the world of publishing cannot be denied. In case you never have the opportunity to peruse this diatribe yourself, the following conclusion summarizes the whole:
Which then is better–or to put it a little more cynically, which is the lesser evil–the Scylla of matrimony or the Charybdis of single loneliness? And if one decides for matrimony, which is the blacker gulf–that of a marriage de convenance, which we have styled a sensible marriage, or that of a marriage of romance and delusion, sure to end in bitter disillusion? I do not pretend to answer. Like the sphinx, I only ask and wait for a reply.
The Village Voice & the Culture…
August 21, 2020 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
An informed, intentional approach to diet is good for me. Left to pursue my preferences mindlessly, I might subsist on kettle cooked potato chips, with an occasional pickle or a chocolate chip cookie. Each of those has its worthy place within a more comprehensive whole, as does the literature one reads. 
But variety is helpful — even to more thoughtfully discern likes and dislikes.
I turned from the early 1800’s to one of the most modern titles in our annals, The Village Voice. While the writing style is decidedly different, I was surprised to find enough similarities that I could discern the fingerprints of its antecedents in a random sampling of this publication from the 1980’s. Comparably, advertisements seem to take up close to one-fourth of the print space, although the subject matter differs widely. This Greenwich Village title has the expected focus on performing arts. Some of the movie names were familiar to me, as were a few of the bands who advertised upcoming events. It seems the Twilight Zone movie was not considered by Voice reviewers to be a cinematic success, despite the critical acclamation of its television forerunner. Cinema listings included Superman III, Return of the Jedi and The Survivors.
Distinctly anti-establishment in tone, the editorials tackle a range of hot topics, including the Catholic Church, West Bank occupation and the negative reaction to the musical movement of “serialism”. The writing is organized and thoughtful, exhibiting skill and professionalism. Most surprising to me is the piece by an investigative journalist whose three page report questions the qualifications of Reagan appointee William Clark.
Somehow, I hadn’t anticipated an intellectual discussion from The Village Voice, but having spent the time digging through, I am pleased to be proven wrong.
The August (2020) Newsletter from Rare & Early Newspapers…
August 17, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
Monthly Newsletter ~ Rare & Early Newspapers
Welcome to the August 2020 edition of our monthly newsletter. This month we’d like to bring your attention to the following:
An Expanded Set of Discounted Newspapers – 50% Off
Catalog 297 – New Items Added
Since Catalog 297 went to print we’ve added over 25 additional items. Some of the topics/issues include: Abraham Lincoln’s General Orders (1, 2, and 3), the conviction of Richard Ramirez (the “Night Stalker”) in a L.A. paper, an ad for a return trip on the Titanic, Horace Greeley on Mormons and Mormonism (and another re: Pike’s Peak), and more.
Five Interesting Items on eBay
Catalog 297
History’s Newsstand
Newly Discovered Items
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See what’s happening on our social sites
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Snapshot 1969… Gaylord Perry and The Man on the Moon…
August 13, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Every collector has seen this famous headline from 1969, or one of the thousands like it which appeared on every newspaper at the time: “MEN WALK ON THE MOON” (see DAILY NEWS, New York City, July 21, 1969). But an interesting quirk in coincidental history is inconspicuously buried inside, perhaps only of interest to baseball fans–and every collector of historic newspapers.
The story is best told by Major League Baseball in their piece titled: “The Story of Gaylord Perry, the Moon Landing, and a Most Unlikely Home Run”.
An excerpt reads: “…One day during the ’64 season, Dark [manager of the S. F. Giants] and San Francisco Examiner reporter Harry Jupiter looked on as Perry smacked some home runs during batting practice. Jupiter told Dark that Perry looked pretty good with a bat in his hands and remarked that the pitcher might even hit a home run one of these days. Dark’s response set in motion one of the weirdest coincidences in baseball history: “Mark my words,” he said, “a man will land on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run.”
Jump ahead five years to July 20, 1969. Perry, now 30 and clearly established as one of the best arms in the game, was scheduled to start against the rival Dodgers. But there was something else happening that afternoon: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were about to become the first men to set foot on the moon. You can probably see where this is going.
At 1:17 p.m. PT, Apollo 11 landed. Some 238,900 miles away at Candlestick Park, Perry stepped to the plate in the top of the third inning — and, wouldn’t you know it, he hit the first home run of his Major League career. As the righty told MLB.com back in 2009:
“Well, about the top of the third, over the loudspeaker, they were telling everybody to stand and give a moment of silent thanks for the astronauts who landed on the moon. And I’d say 30 minutes later, Claude Osteen grooved me a fastball, and I hit it out of the park.”
Alas, by 1969 Dark had moved on to managing the Cleveland Indians, denying him the chance to say, “Hey, technically speaking, we did put a man on the moon before you hit a home run.”
A fascinating piece of history, verified with both reports in this issue of the Daily News.
Gentleman’s Magazine & Insanity…
August 10, 2020 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
Living in a time of health concerns brought on by a previously unknown viral threat brings me a heightened awareness of the historical mysteries recorded in these ledgers from the past. Advertisements give a clue to the extensive maladies that troubled mankind hundreds of years ago, many of which remain challenges even today. Liver ailments, gout, yellowed eyes, rashes, sleeplessness, and obesity are just a few things for which patented tonics and trusted treatments abound. Based on a sampling of papers such as Leslie’s Illustrated, Harper’s Weekly and any of the Wild West titles in 
the vast Rare & Early Newspapers collection, there is no doubt left that disease is a plague of the human condition.
Nothing, however, seems to baffle and burden society as a whole, and physicians in particular, as diseases of the mind. And The Gentleman’s Magazine that I pulled out from October of 1808 describes the tension brought about by the ignorance in a field so relevant to our existence.
In particular, the writer addresses Mr. Urban on the unfairness of the societal and ecclesiastical condemnation of suicide, without considering the mitigating circumstances of mental illness.
In consequence of an unusual conflux of suicidal cases occurring nearly together a few months ago, the feelings of Humanity appeared to be much outraged; many calumnious and violent opinions, mingled with false censure, were inserted in our daily prints; the conduct of Juries was the subject of much unqualified condemnation; and al almost entire ignorance of the true state of the awful cases brought under their cognizance, laid the foundation of much unmerited reproach.
His pointed statement halfway through the piece provides an explanation for suicide with the following question and answer: “Why does it appear that Suicide is more general than formerly? The answer is at hand: Insanity is an increasing disease. A few of the bulky catalogue of human ailments have evidently decreased; unfortunately, this is not of the number.”
There’s so much more in this article that speaks to the same subject today. While I don’t know concerning the correlation between the two, I do applaud the perspective towards those who suffer in this way. It was a lofty goal then and is, in my humble opinion, still.
It is an absolutely demonstrable fact, that in nine cases out of twelve of self-destruction which our daily papers record, the previous situation of the subject is known, and the fatal crisis might be prevented were this knowledge acted upon with firmness, promptitude, and that just method which honour, humanity, and justice demand.
The RareNewspapers.com website – how to search for historic newspapers…
August 7, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Whether seeking to make a purchase, perform research, or just desiring to take a walk back through time through the eyes of those who lived through the events we now call history, many have taken advantage of the basic search functions on the RareNewspapers.com website to sift through tens of thousands of collectible newspapers which span the 1600’s to the early 21st century. To this end, using the basic search functions on the homepage to search by keyword, date (m/d/yyyy), key phrase, a 6-digit catalog number, date range, or by the title of a newspaper all can be done quite easily. Even searching within the search results or limiting a search to a certain era by using the pull-down menu to the far right of the screen are intuitive – and are used frequently by explorers (see the first image below). However, few realize the small print under the search button is actually a hyperlink which takes the user to a significantly more advanced searching interface where one can also explore by era, only a day of a month (to find issues through time for a specific day of the year), within a specific century or price range, an exact phrase, a list of key terms (called “comma list”), and more. One of my favorite tools is the ability to eliminate issues which contain specific words from within search results. All of these capabilities and more are shown in the 2nd image below.
So, now that you know how to search at an advanced level, feel free to take some time to discover why we say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” If you’re intrigued, why not start your exploration today at: RareNewspapers.com
Announcing: Catalog #297 (for August, 2020) is now available…
August 3, 2020 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 297 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 297 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.