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Why does my newspaper look as if it came from a book?
April 30, 2009 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
This is a common question many newcomers ask upon their 1st encounter with a rare newspaper from nearly every era (Revolutionary War, Civil War, Old West, and even Birthday/Day-You-Were-Born issues, to name a few). Whether it is the rough left spine present from the issue being removed from a larger volume, or the consecutive numbering which results in only the first issue printed during the year to have a “page 1”, a novice’s immediate (and logical) reaction is that the issue must have come from a book and therefore must be a reprint. However, the truth is actually the opposite. Such signs are good indicators that the issue is likely authentic. To understand this, what is needed is a knowledge of how historic newspapers and magazines were handled up to as late as the 1960’s.
Many publishers of early newspapers started numbering their pages from 1 at the start the year and continued with the consecutive numbering throughout the year. This made it very easy to reference content. Examples of early well-known titles which did this are Harper’s Weekly, The War, Gentleman’s Magazine, Niles’ Register, and Leslie’s Illustrated, to name a few. Although this gave the newspapers a book effect, early readers would not have given this another thought. As far as the spine residue/disbinding evidence (which gives the appearance that the issue came from a book) is concerned, nearly every institution which held rare newspapers bound them together at the end of each year for protection & permanent storage in libraries. Almost all newspapers through the 1960’s were held in this manner. Your local library likely holds its early newspapers in this form. Two resources which may alleviate any concerns you might have related to this issue are the Library of Congress’ Newspaper Division & the American Antiquarian Society. HistoryBuff.com also provided additional information regarding this topic.
Great reference work for pre-1821 American newspapers…
April 27, 2009 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We are often asked about appropriate reference books for rare newspaper collectors, particularly when it comes to relative rarity of newspapers. When one encounters an early title not seen before, how can we judge how rare or common it might be?
Thankfully for all collectors, Clarance Brigham undertook an exhaustive 30 year project to record all know issues of every newspaper title printed in the United States prior to 1821. This effort, published by the American Antiquarian Society (Brigham was directory of the Society) back in 1947, is titled: “History & Bibliography of American Newspapers 1690-1820“, a two volume set with some 1500 pages in total.
This work lists all American newspapers from the noted timespan, by state, then by city, then by title. The true value of this work is the brief historical account of each title with the exact dates of changes of titles & names of publishers, followed by a checklist of all files located. This last piece is what reflect relative rarity. If a title has just one or two holdings in institutions, and only a few issues within these institutions, then it would be consider rare. If a title has 15 institutional holdings noted, and complete or near complete holdings within those institutions, the title might be considered common.
This set has been out of print for many years, including the more recent edition done in 1975, but they occasionally come up on eBay or web-based rare book sites such as abebooks.com. Prices tend to run from $200 to $400 for a set, but a lucky person might find it for much less. I believe we have a set of the 1947 edition priced at $265.
I would encourage any collector of pre-1821 newspapers to think about adding this work to their reference library. It contains a wealth of information and is a resource which I have used regularly for over 30 years.
Editorial policy (?) and the potential impact upon an issue’s collectibility…
April 11, 2009 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The following are a few thoughts by Morris Brill (guest contributor) concerning slight differences in the printing of the Declaration of Independence within the London Chronicle (dated August 17, 1776) vs. the printing within the Gentleman’s Magazine (dated August, 1776):
Recently on Ebay two different sellers offered a printing of the Declaration of Independence in the Gentleman’s Magazine. I also noted your offering of the Declaration within the London Chronicle.
I (Morris) noted, while reading the text of Gentleman’s Magazine, as photographed on Ebay, a particular sentence in which two words were missing and substituted with a line, i.e. ___________
The sentence is as follows:
“A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
In the Gentleman’s Magazine the words ” prince” and “tyrant” are deleted.
I find it interesting that although the Gentleman’s Magazine and the the London Chronicle are both British that one paper printed the words prince and tyrant, yet the other did not.
To me, the deletion of the two words certainly diminishes the historic value of the printing as it appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine, although I would not pass up the opportunity to own this paper. Perhaps it has to do with an opposing editorial policy, or the political persuasion of the two publishers.
Morris
Note: If anyone is aware of the formal policy which led to the deletion of certain words within the Gentleman’s Magazine, please share your insight with the rare newspaper community.
Numbering an issue….how was it done?
April 6, 2009 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The numbers noted at the top of the front page of a newspaper, typically at the far left and right of the dateline, may seem a bit confusing so I’ll try to explain what they mean.
Most newspapers had two sets of numbers: 1) the issue & volume numbers, and 2) the whole number.
The issue & volume number often appear such as “Vol. 5 num. 237” which means this is the 237th issue from the fifth year of the newspapers existence. Newspapers would assign a volume number to their publication which would increase by one on the anniversary of its beginning, so if a newspapers published it’s first issue on March 5, 1837, volume two would begin with the first publication after March 5, 1838. The issue number notes the issue from within that volume, meaning that issue “Vol. 5 num. 313” might be followed by issue “Vol. 6 num. 1” if the newspaper published 6 days a week (365 days less 52 Sundays = 313 published issues in the year).
But to many the more mysterious number is the “whole number”. Essentially it indicates how many issues have been published since the founding of the paper, and can be a very large number if the paper has been in publication for many years.
Using the above example of “vol. 5 num. 313” the “whole number” of this issue would likely be 1565 (313 issues per year x 5 years = 1565). And the very next issue, noted as “vol. 6 num 1” would be whole number 1566.
The tricky thing is that when some newspapers were sold, reorganized, changed their name, or merged with another they might begin a “new series” and the volume/issue numbers would begin afresh, and the whole number may or may not start over with number 1, depending on the whim of the publisher. So these numbers cannot be depended upon to give an accurate reflection of how old the newspaper is, nor the number of issues that were printed since its inception. Niles’ National Register did this at least twice in its 40 years’ existence.
An institutional need…
January 19, 2009 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
One of our fellow collectors recently made the following inquiry seeking missing issues of an African-American newspaper from North Carolina. Not having any magical answers for him, I offer his request to all our customers in hopes someone might have a lead or suggestion. Feel free to respond through this blog.
African-American Newspaper–Durham, North Carolina
I’ve been casually interested in old newspapers and magazines for a number of years, and have regularly used them in my university classes (I recently retired as a professor of environmental policy at Duke, and often used them to document early conservation struggles.)
A few weeks ago, I got involved in a volunteer project at the historical collection of the Durham, NC county library, indexing microfilmed copies of a weekly African-American newspaper called the Carolina Times, published between 1927 and the present.
The content, especially in the 1930s and 1940s, is amazing. I had known a fair amount of Durham history, but was taken aback by the many specific injustices documented even here (supposedly one of the South’s most progressive cities) in the Jim Crow era. There is much original research still to be done, and the newspaper provides a vivid counterpoint to the local white media, which are also available.
Unfortunately, our microfilm lacks all issues between 1927 to 1937 and 1944-48. Also missing is the early version of the paper, the Durham Standard Advertiser, 1919-1927. Extensive searching reveals that no other library in the country has these issues, in any format (everyone has the same, incomplete, microfilm). I’ve used all my research skills to try to track them down, without success.
It would be a real contribution to both Durham history and African-American history to make this missing material available to scholars and others. Might you have any ideas? Private collectors? Archives that would not show up in the usual searches of libraries or internet troves. Peak circulation was 20,000 (in the 1940s) so it is not a completely obscure title. The paper’s offices burned in 1975, so the original archive was lost.
I can really recommend this kind of material to anyone interested in modern history. Any help with my own quest would be appreciated.
Contrasting pairs of historic newspapers: another way to collect…
November 11, 2008 by TimHughes · 2 Comments
The recent election, reflecting the great strides made socially & politically by the African-American community, brought to mind another opportunity in newspaper collecting not thought of by most. In preparing issues for a future Supplement the “Detroit Free Press” of June 12, 1963 struck me as a interesting
contrast to the election of just a few days prior. The headline proclaimed: “NEGROES ENROLL AT ‘BAMA”, noting the struggles African-Americans had just to enroll in universities across the country during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Zoom forward just 45 years and the headline of the “USA Today” read “America Makes History – OBAMA WINS” noting America’s first African-American president. (We have this pair listed on eBay. Click here to view.) I don’t believe it’s a stretch to say that in 1963 the thought of an African-American president in any person’s lifetime was considered a serious possibility, yet it happened, and indeed America did make history.
Carrying forward with this “contrasting pairs” idea, a fascinating collection of newspapers could be built around this theme. How about a December, 1903 issue report on the Wright brothers’ first flight alongside 
an issue of July 21, 1969 announcing man landing on the moon? How about an 1844 newspaper on the first successful telegraph transmission alongside an issue announcing the launching of the Telstar satellite, noting the achievements in distance communication? How about a 1920 newspaper reporting the ratification of the Suffrage Amendment giving women the right to vote, along side an issue just 64 years later reporting Geraldine Ferraro as the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party? Consider the contrast in perspectives of having both a Yankee and Confederate newspaper for the same Civil War date. The advantage that newspapers offer to this interesting theme is they offer physical evidence of achievements & accomplishments…one can display such headline issues side by side.
What other “contrasting pairs” do you believe would be intriguing additions to an historical newspaper collection, and why?
Thoughts on the most historic 19th century report…
October 21, 2008 by TimHughes · 7 Comments
A few weeks ago we had some interesting comments on what collectors thought was the most historic 20th century newspaper report. Let’s try the same with the 19th century. But given the tremendous diversity of events from 1801 thru 1900 I’m going to break the century into three parts: pre-Civil War; the Civil War; and post-Civil War. Let’s work our way backwards and discuss the post-Civil War era first.
There are many ways to approach “most historic”. My approach will be the most life-altering event with emphasis on “event”. One could argue that the second Industrial Revolution dramatically changed the world but it cannot be pinned down to a single date or event.
Several items come to mind: the first successful Atlantic cable in 1866 was a major step in causing the world to be much smaller–a trend which continues to this day; the completion of the transcontinental railroad in the United States was a major step in the westward expansion & settlement of the United States which changed the country in many ways; and then there is the Battle of Wounded Knee which was the last battle in the American Indian Wars and the official end of the Old West. Not to be omitted would be the invention of the automobile by gentlemen in Germany in 1889.
I’m going to go with the completion of the transcontinental railroad. In thinking of the multitude of events which played off this event and how it changed the fabric of America (pardon the ethnocentrism) I’ll vote for it as the most historic event of the 19th century post-Civil War era.
What are your thoughts?
Old news is good news for collectors…
October 8, 2008 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
David Chesanow recently posted an interview with Tim on his informative website americollector.com. With comments like “…newspapers, like books, extend into every collecting field…” and “Newspapers… are original historical evidence…”, David seems to get it right. The interview included such topics as:
- What newspapers do you (Tim) yourself collect specifically – by region, era, subject – or is the field your area and you just like the rarest, most historic items?
- What are the collecting areas within the hobby?
- What are some of the interesting collecting areas of some of your (Rare Newspapers) customers?
- What are the “Holy Grails” of newspaper collecting?
- Are newspapers ever forged? For example, aren’t there a lot of professionally done reprints in England?
- What have newspapers been made of over the years, and how perishable are they?
- Are the high-acid papers necessarily hard to preserve?
- When was the transition from rag content to high-acid paper in the U.S. and abroad?
- What’s the best way to store newspapers?
- Now that the Internet is killing printed papers, do you think the latter will become increasingly collectible?
To access the full text of the interview, go to “Old news is good news for collectors“. Thanks David for your fine contribution to the community and for your outstanding website!
Best of the 20th century?
September 17, 2008 by TimHughes · 9 Comments
As newspaper collectors we dream of “the event” we’d like to add to our collection. It’s the search for that issue–or issues–which make this a fascinating hobby. This is, after all, a very visual hobby. How displayable are stamps and coins? Huge headlines proclaiming a cataclysmic event or magnificent achievement lend themselves so well to display, much more so than an original document about the event.
The 20th century had a great wealth of interesting events. But what is the best? If you could only make one choice, what single headline of the 20th century would you most want to see in your collection?
I wrestle with how to approach this thought: most life-altering? most recognizable? most historic? most appealing for display? I believe the first Wright brothers’ flight is the most life-altering; “Dewey Defeats” Truman” as the most recognizable; and a great “Titanic Sinks” report as the most displayable. Some newspapers did much with the events of the gangster era, and certainly the “careers” of Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger and Al Capone are well known and significant reports would be attention-grabbers on any wall. On a more positive note there are some spectacular “V-E Day” and “V-J Day” issues celebrating the end of World War II. But limiting myself to just a single issue I would take “Titanic Sinks”. ….what’s your thought?
Welcome to the History’s Newsstand Blog!
September 17, 2008 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Welcome to the History’s Newsstand Blog published by Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers. The heart behind the blog is to provide an environment where the love and knowledge of the hobby will be advanced. Over the years many of our fellow collectors have requested such a forum where they can both present their thoughts regarding the collectible and solicit advice from Tim, all with an intention of increasing the awareness of this wonderful, yet relatively unknown collectible. Our hope is that through ongoing discussion focused on early newspapers, novices and experienced collectors alike will benefit from the dialog. We are honored and excited about the opportunity to help guide such discourse.
Future posts will cover topics related to noteworthy headlines, contemporary reporting of major historic events, the pricing & valuation of old newspapers, preservation & storage, what makes collecting rare newspapers different (and we believe more interesting) than other collectibles (finding golden nuggets, viewing history intimately through the eyes of those whom were there, etc.), the impact of historic newspapers on revisionist history, how to build a collection, and much more. There will also be an opportunity for our collector friends to share their experiences. It is a journey we will take together. Hopefully we will have fun, grow in knowledge, and develop a sense of community.
We welcome and encourage relevant comments and discussion, but fully expect participants to be respectful and considerate of the authors and our business. Since our core values are firmly planted upon the solid foundation of the Judeo-Christian ethic, we ask that all discussion be family friendly. We reserve the right to moderate, delete or edit comments that are vulgar, disrespectful, spam, clearly off topic, or that promote other services and products. Thank you for your understanding.
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Welcome again to the launch of the History’s Newsstand’s Blog – a home for those interested in fostering the breadth and depth of the rare newspapers hobby. Spread the word!
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