Timothy Hughes – sharing his passion for collecting historical newspapers…

October 10, 2022 by · Leave a Comment 

Tim Hughes has had multiple opportunities to speak about his love for Rare & Early Newspapers. Whether it has been in front of teenagers in Pennsylvania or adults in California, it is especially rewarding when he shares his hobby to those from his own town. He recently had the privilege to do so at the local historical society (Thomas T. Taber Museum) in Williamsport, PA, which was reported in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Please enjoy:

Today’s month and day through the eyes of Rare & Early Newspapers… 9/26 edition…

September 26, 2022 by · Leave a Comment 

Today I came across a previous post in which we showed the readers of the History’s Newsstand Blog how to use the Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers advanced search interface to explore available newspapers for any given day and month, which made me wonder which day on a calendar has had the most interesting news reports over time. Of course the answer would be quite subjective, but it did motivate me to run a search for today’s date:

September 26th

The results were more varied (and interesting) than I was expecting. Feel free to try a date which has special meaning to you to see what you might find. If you are not sure how to do this, go to: Exploring “This Day in History” through Rare & Early Newspapers

If you discover a date which you find to be pregnant with interesting news, feel free to let me know at guy@rarenewspapers.com. Thanks.

I’m New Here: January 23, 2020

January 24, 2020 by · Leave a Comment 

History’s Newsstand/ Rare & Early Newspapers has a well-deserved reputation for excellence and integrity; and procedures and processes are regularly evaluated to incorporate the highest quality systems available.  Our website is undergoing some upgrades, most of which will be indiscernible to the average collector/follower.  But in order to be certain things will indeed remain in order, I have been given the assignment to spend some time logging in and out and creating orders from an objective perspective.

As such, I have perused our web inventory – reading through descriptions and looking at photographs.  I have completed numerous purchases the budget of my reality would never allow.  And it has been great fun.

I learned two notable things.  The first is that our website is an amazing tool to navigate the extraordinary inventory here.  I searched date, title, topic, item number with successful outcomes.  But most interesting to me was the list available by clicking the orange oval button “View All Categories”.  This index of more than sixty topics, while not exhaustive, is a fabulous research resource.  For those who regularly meander through online topics and items of interest, I encourage the home page of Rare Newspapers as a springboard for many happy hours of informative browsing.

As a second point of interest, I tagged the strangest report I encountered in my wanderings.  It seems some of the earliest plastic surgery occurred in India and included rhinoplasty (although not identified as such).  Through three separate avenues I arrived at the same description from The Gentleman’s Magazine, published in London, October of 1794.

Included is a fascinating–and extremely early–account of what we would call plastic surgery, being a letter from the East Indies which notes in part: “…the following very curious, and, in Europe, I believe, unknown chirugical [archaic spelling of ‘surgery’] operation which has long been practiced in India with success; namely affixing a new nose on a man’s face…” followed by the various details. Accompanying this is a full page plate of it, with 5 images (see).

Ironically, all these features and items are available on our website in its current state.  I just hadn’t taken the time to look.

Have you?

Announcing: Catalog #258 – for May, 2017 – is now available…

May 4, 2017 by · Leave a Comment 

Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 258, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of more than 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:

• John Peter Zenger’s famous New York Weekly Journal dated 1734
• The famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline
• Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
• Rare “View of Boston” plate from 1787
• Washington proclaims an end to the Revolutionary War
• New Jersey’s first newspaper (from 1780)

To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 258

(This catalog link shown above will expire in approximately 30 days.)

Announcing: Catalog #257 – for April, 2017 – is now available…

March 31, 2017 by · Leave a Comment 

Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 257, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of more than 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes: a front page account of the Battle of Brandywine, a rare “camp” newspaper from 1861, The Constitution of the United States, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Benedict Arnold on the Battle of Quebec, an uncommon beardless print of Abraham Lincoln, and more. Key items which include the remaining items from the above may be viewed at: Noteworthy Catalog 257

Whereas the entire catalog is shown at Catalog 257, the following links are intended to aid in quickly finding items from the catalog based on era:

1500-1799 (full view OR quick-scan/compact view)
1800-1899 (full view OR quick-scan/compact” view)
1900-2015 (full view OR quick-scan/compact” view)

To view items from both the current and the previous catalog, go to: Combined Catalog

Note: The links shown above will expire in approximately 30 days.

Top 10 lists…

December 3, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Top 10 lists are always fun to consider.  Their strength is in their ability to generate thought, reflection, and opinion.  We all acknowledge that no two top ten lists are the same, and whereas going to experts in the field may add a certain level of credibility to a list, even an amateur/novice can bring food for thought to the discussion.  Everyone has an opinion, and each and every opinion has some some value.  In the end, the greatest benefit may well be in the journey traveled as we formulate and consider both our own views as well as the views of others.

It is with this in mind we plan to offer 4 top ten lists over the course of the next four Mondays.  The focus will be on giving thought to the top ten most historic newspapers from each of the following eras:  17th century and earlier (12/7/2009), 18th century (12/14/2009), 19th century (12/21/2009), and 20th century & beyond (12/28/2009).  In some cases we may choose a specific newspaper title (any date), realizing that having any issue of the title is of note.  In other instances we may focus on a specific title and date of a newspaper – these being the “holy grails” of the hobby.  Yet in other cases we’ll include a more general top ten entry, focusing on the event itself, acknowledging that finding any newspaper coverage of the event is noteworthy.

As we proceed through the month, we invite both reactions to our lists and the submission of your own “top tens”.

OnLine-SchoolIn an effort to help kick-start your walk into the past, we invite you to enjoy a recent post which appeared on OnLineSchool.net titled, “100 Great Moments in American History You Can Catch on YouTube”, by Amber Johnson:  (http://onlineschool.net/2009/11/18/100-great-moments-in-american-history-you-can-catch-on-youtube/).

Lincoln’s assassination in a Washington, D.C., newspaper…

October 26, 2009 by · 7 Comments 

Daily-Morning-Chronicle-LinOne of the (positive) frustrations we have always dealt with as a rare newspaper dealer is not being able to share some of the best material which comes our way. Not surprisingly very rare and very historic items have a waiting list of customers waiting for it to come into inventory and such newspapers are typically sold before they have the opportunity to be listed in a catalog. But here is where our blog is of value, allowing us an opportunity to share some nice material even though no longer available for purchase.

Holding true to the belief that newspapers from cities where historic events took place are the best to have, our recent sale of the “Daily Morning Chronicle” of April 15, 1865 from Washington, D.C. fits this description very well.  Although purchased by a member with a *“want list” for such material, the issue is too fascinating not to share with others, hence this link to the listing and photos.

Enjoy one of the best newspapers to have on Lincoln’s assassination.

* Note:  Although we manage a want list for key material, with thousands of such wants, the system is not perfect (i.e., we occasionally miss an item on someone’s want list and it ends up being purchased through a member or public offering).  We simply promise to do the best we can.  If you have key content of interest, feel free to be in touch.

Why does my newspaper look as if it came from a book?

April 30, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

volumegifThis 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.

disbinding_evidence_harpers1Many 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 SocietyHistoryBuff.com also provided additional information regarding this topic.