July 23rd… Why collect Rare & Early Newspapers?

July 23, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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It has often been said (by Tim Hughes and other collectors of historical newspapers) that “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported”. When past events are studied through the eyes of those who experienced them first-hand, revisionism, “woke”-ism, and the politicizing of history is kept to a minimum. The breadth and depth of our understanding of the past is undoubtedly enhanced when we view past events through the lens of contemporaneous reporting. This is one of the great satisfactions those of us at Rare & Early Newspapers enjoy on a daily basis, and the driving force behind why more and more people are joining the ranks of those who collect newspapers.

While history certainly has its share of triumph and tragedy, success and failure, progress and regression, together they combine to form the tapestry of our shared human experience. Warts have been part of daily life since we made our all-to-quick exit from The Garden, but hopefully, as we study history in order to learn from the good and the bad, the knowledge we gain by observing the past will inform our actions of the present to help pave the way for a few less blemishes in the future. Our hope is that those who collect historic newspapers 100… 200… 500 years from now will find we were good stewards of our own current events.

It is with the above in mind we will occasionally post the list of newspapers we have for a specific day in history.

Today we explore:  July 23rd

 

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The Collectible Community, The Hobby
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Memorial and Independence Day’s behind us… Veteran’s Day before us…

July 19, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Days come and days go. Time ticks by ordinary days and extraordinary days … work days and holidays. Another President’s day comes and another one passes. Another anniversary … birthday … Christmas in the rear view mirror. Each holiday blending into the one before. If I’m going to be completely honest, this Memorial Day came and went without me giving it the amount of focus I normally do. Fortunately, as I was writing up some issues for a future catalog here at Rare Newspapers, I came across a moving poem with illustrations on the front page of a Nov. 11, 1921 CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE. This poem was 1st published on August 7, 1914 but, on this November day it was republished as they dedicated The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Below is the poem and above is a link to that issue so you can see the artwork as well. Perhaps everyday should be reverently approached as Memorial Day, with a grateful heart and compassion for the sacrifices made by others on our behalf.

Gold and green are the fields in peace.
Red are the fields in war.
Black are the fields when the canons cease.
And white forever more.

 

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18th Century Gentleman’s Magazines – So Much For So Little…

July 16, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Over 40 years ago we discovered one of the best titles of the 18th century for period news reporting. The title wasn’t even a newspaper but rather, “The Gentleman’s Magazine” from London.

Having begun in 1731, Gentleman’s Magazines ran uninterrupted for nearly 200 years publishing pages capturing news reports concerning America which could never be found in period American newspapers, and were rarely found in period British newspapers.

From its earliest years this popular title printed reports as varied as the creation of the colony of Georgia, William Penn laying out the city of Philadelphia, slave revolts, and reports of pirates operating in the Caribbean.

Issues have much on Ben Franklin & his work with electricity including the lightening rod & famous kite experiments as well as rarely published poems by the famed slave poet Phyllis Wheatley.

Death reports of the famous–and infamous–abound, from Mozart to Handel, from John Paul Jones to George Washington, Patrick Henry and Benedict Arnold… the list is awe inspiring.

Military events are abundant including much on the French & Indian War (with very early Colonel George Washington reports) & all the Revolutionary War battles from the Boston Massacre through the Treaty of Peace.

Keep in mind the American colonies were part of the global British Empire until 1776 so there was much interest in not only American events but notable world events which affected the broad scope of British interests.

Some of the best gems to be found are very inconspicuous reports such as the hanging of what would famously become known as the Liberty Bell. Under the heading: “America” and with a “Philadelphia, May 10” dateline from 1753 is a report reading: “Last week was raised and fixed, in the State-House Steeple, the great bell, weighing 2080 lb. cast here, with this inscription, ‘Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, to the inhabitants thereof.”

The full text of the hated Stamp Act is found within the pages of a Gentleman’s Magazine, and just one year later is found the formal repeal of the Stamp Act by King George III. Other Acts of Parliament harmful to colonial relations are reported as well.

Historic documents are certainly not lacking, among them being the Articles of Confederation, the “Causes & Necessity for Taking Up Arms”, the Constitution of the United States (in 1787), and the most desired document of all, the Declaration of Independence.

At a time when an early period printing of the Declaration in an American newspaper will sell for a half a million dollars or more, the ability to purchase a 1776 magazine with a timely printing of the full text of the document for under $4000 is a rare opportunity for any collector.

An added bonus found in many issues of Gentleman’s Magazine is that while plates and maps can simply not be found in newspapers of the 18th century, this wonderful publication contains a wealth of these engravings and wood-cut prints.

Printed separately from the regular pages of the issue and tipped within, most of the maps fold out to be double the size of the issue, and they include some of the more desired maps one would want of the 18th century, including Philadelphia, the colonies (from 1755), Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, the Caribbean, St. Augustine, the entire western hemisphere and so much more. Many collectors choose to frame the maps separately from the issue as they are very decorative and are typically dated in an upper corner.

Plates include the Philadelphia State House (later to be known as Independence Hall), St. Philip’s Church in Charleston, the fort at Bunker’s Hill, Ben Franklin’s ‘Square of Squares’, the guillotine which beheaded Louis XVI and his wife, a slavery medal, and even a plate of the Garden of Eden. What I have just described only scratches the surface of the treasures these magazines hold.

The “Gentleman’s Magazine” is a little gem packed with all the history one would want to find from the 18th century. Each issue typically has about 40 pages, and measuring about 5 by 8 inches, they take up very little room in a collection.

Perhaps best of all, The Gentleman’s Magazine is an accessible title as our inventory contains thousands of issues, and at prices far below what would be found in comparable American & British newspapers of the same period.

There can be little excuse for holding back on buying the best events in American history if one is willing to add this famous & successful title to their collection. And there certainly will be a time when even this title will become quite scarce as others discover it as a treasure just begging to be collected.

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Filed under: Common Questions, Food for Thought, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, The 1700's
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Creativity with Consequences…

July 12, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Whereas hindsight is 20/20, or so they say, it is sometimes hard to reconcile this statement with our lack of propensity to learn from our mistakes. However, when Orson Wells picked up his morning paper the day after his incredibly creative radio broadcast of War of the Worlds had filled the airwaves, there is little doubt his hindsight had perfect vision. e realized he should have handled things differently. The reality  that this new medium of radio was powerfully persuasive and must be handled with a large degree of responsibility could not have been missed. While we may not know which paper he held in his hands when this truth struck him like a ton of bricks, the discovery of a GREENSBORO PATRIOT (NC) for October 31, 1938 recently brought this moment to our attention.

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Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries, The Collectible Community, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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Some Legacies Change the World…

July 5, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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We all leave our mark on this world to a greater or lesser extent. Most of us never know, this side of eternity, all the impacts we have made however, some legacies change the World in a way all can see and are without dispute… such is the case of Orville and Wilbur Wright. This summer I am once again headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my extended family for a time of rest and relaxation. We are scattered to the four corners of the wind and so this very large house gives the 25 – 35 of us an opportunity to reconnect each year. Inevitably, each trip includes a visit to the Orville and Wilbur Wright museum in Kitty Hawk. In light of my upcoming excursion, I took a quick look at issues we here at Rare Newspapers currently have in our archives describing the world changing legacy these 2 adventurers left for us. We have many issues to choose from however, one issue particularly caught my attention. Next day reports are always very desirable. In some cases, an event may not get the amount of recognition we feel it deserves until later, however, the December 18, 1903 issue of The San Francisco Chronicle reported the Wright Brothers 1st flight from December 17, 1903. In retrospect, we might think it should have been on the front page, however, the publisher may have had a difficult time imagining the extent to which the Wright Brothers Legacy would forever change our world.

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Swashbuckling Adventures…

June 28, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Hollywood has painted an image of life on the high seas during the 18th Century… sometimes covering noble captains like Master and Commander’s Jack Aubrey or scheming bandits like Pirates of the Caribbean’s Captain Jack Sparrow. Real life offers us more enthralling examples of both heroes and villains to study and newspapers of the era provide fabulous reading material to mine for these adventures.
In the late 1800’s

Captain James Cook “was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand… In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions. ” (Wikipedia).
On the darker side are stories of the notorious pirate, Captain Kidd, whom Wikipedia has the following to say … “ Acts of savagery on Kidd’s part were reported by escaped prisoners, who told stories of being hoisted up by the arms and “drubbed” (thrashed) with a drawn cutlass.” Whether you are looking for those in white hats or black, the news of the past offers intriguing characters to consider.

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Filed under: Death Reports, Noteworthy Issues, The 1600's, The 1700's
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Life’s Irony… Rachel Carson…

June 25, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Almost daily, as we read through issues here at the RareNewspapers Office, we are smacked in the face with the ironies of life.  Here is the latest one to grab my attention.  Rachel Carson, wildlife specialist and crusader, wrote a book in 1962 titled, “The Silent Spring”.  Her book decried the use of pesticides and rallied President Kennedy to initiate a special study by his Science Advisory Committee.  Ironically, Miss Carson died of cancer at the not so old age of 56.  The April 15, 1964 issue of THE SPRINGFIELD UNION has a front page obituary in tribute to her and her work (see photo).

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Apparently, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Started Long Ago…

June 21, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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While looking through issues for a future catalog, I came upon an odd headline: “A Female Soldier”. As you can imagine, this gave me pause as I was looking at an issue of THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE from June of 1750. The brief story told of Hannah Snell, a British woman who disguised herself as a man and became a soldier (see photo below). Clearly, a woman before her time.

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The June (2021) Newsletter from Rare & Early Newspapers…

June 18, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Monthly Newsletter ~ Rare & Early Newspapers

Welcome to the June, 2021 edition of our monthly newsletter. This month we’ve added nearly 150 items to our list of discounted issues (50% off), a slew of new items to our most recently released catalog, a host of new posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog, and more. Please enjoy.
Catalog 307 – Enjoy both the remaining items from the initial release of our latest catalog of historic newspapers along with a set of newly added items:
  • Newly Added Items (updated just today) – some of the noteworthy (newly added) issues include: Captain Wirz – “The ‘demon’ jailer of Andersonville Prison”, the Gunfight at the OK Corral, the Spindletop oil discovery, multiple issues of Puck (great color covers), private letters of Daniel Webster, Brown vs. Board of Education, Blacks to have rights of citizenship in New York (1785), Adolf Hitler opens the 1936 Summer Olympics, Rabbis reject Palestine as Jewish homeland (?), William Wilberforce and the slave trade, the plan for a colonial town in America (1770), and more.
Discounted Newspapers ~ 50% off – Nearly 150 additional items have been added to our set of discounted newspapers – priced (as shown at 50% off). Although offered at a discount, the set certainly includes some gems. Some of the topics/issues include: a print of the Wright Brothers’ airplane, “the counting of slaves” in 1863, uncovering “The Holocaust”, an evening with Thomas Edison, a review of “King Kong”, the deaths of Tommy Dorsey, Knute Rockne, Jonathan Swift, Grace Moore (the Tennessee Nightingale), and Al Capone, among others.
History’s Newsstand Blog – A sampling of recent posts include:

Thanks for collecting with us.

Sincerely,

Guy Heilenman & The Rare & Early Newspapers Team
RareNewspapers.com
570-326-1045

Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers . . .
           . . . History’s Newsstand
“…desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.” Hebrews 13:18b
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Happy Flag Day!

June 14, 2021 by · Leave a Comment 
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Happy Flag Day, compliments of Harper’s Weekly and your friends at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers… History’s Newsstand.

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