Search
The Rare & Early Newspapers Hobby
Receive the Newsletter
Buy Historic Newspapers
A truth… a story… a myth… a discovery – What to do with a 1666 London Gazette?
September 28, 2026 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Collectors seek out “rare & early” newspapers for a host of reasons. Some use them as primary source material for research. Others collect them to grasp the contemporary response to an historical event, while others use them to chronical a non-revisionist view of an era. Framing them for display is quite common – whether it be to set a mood, or, as is quite common with museums, to aid in telling the story regarding a display of unique items. Yet another group loves to obtain them to enhance their primary collectible (ex. those who collect early sewing machines finding newspapers with matching advertisements, patents, or early commentary on various stages of development). The possibilities are almost endless.
The topic at hand was recently revived when a collector, who had just purchased a London Gazette dated August 9, 1666 containing a brief report on the week’s mortality bill from the Great Plague (shown below), informed us of his purpose in collecting the newspaper – which we found fascinating… and which eventually led to a discovery.
A Purpose – He purchased to use as inspiration for an event-tethered short story (historical fiction?). If you have a little time, I’m sure he would not mind if you took a gander: THE KING’S BAKER
A Discovery – After reading his story I decided to dig a little deeper into the 1665-6 London Plague and was drawn in by an article posted by the London Museum titled: THREE MYTHS ABOUT THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON
A MYTH – I don’t want to give anything away, but suffice to say, I need to go back to a lot of people and correct what I once thought was true. Yikes!
A Truth – For those who like to pine for the past, during the week prior to the above newspaper’s distribution in 1666, 42 people in London alone were known to have died from the bubonic plague. Life was not easy; but death often was.
1st Man in Space… No Controversy Here…
September 25, 2026 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
Astronauts in space may be controversial in the USA, however, even conspiracy theorists don’t argue about Yuri Gagarin. On April 13, 1961, the Soviet newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda captured that undeniable triumph on its front page. A large, heroic photograph of the 27-year-old cosmonaut dominated the layout, his confident smile and flight suit projecting the image of a new Soviet hero. The previous day, April 12, Gagarin had become the first human to travel into outer space, completing a single orbit aboard Vostok 1 in just 108 minutes. The paper’s bold headlin
es and celebratory tone reflected pure national pride. Gagarin’s flight was presented not merely as a scientific milestone but as definitive proof of socialist superiority in the unfolding Space Race. While American efforts still lagged—Alan Shepard’s suborbital hop would not occur until May 5… the Soviet press framed the achievement as an irreversible lead. Readers saw Gagarin’s face as the face of progress, youth, and the future. Komsomolskaya Pravda, the official organ of the Communist Youth League, specialized in reaching a younger audience. Its coverage blended technical details of the mission with accessible, uplifting language designed to inspire. The large portrait on the front page served a dual purpose: it humanized the extraordinary feat and turned Gagarin into an instant icon. Ordinary citizens could look at that image and feel connected to the cosmos. This April 13 edition remains a vivid historical artifact. It shows how the Soviet Union communicated victory in real time, using bold photography and confident prose to shape public memory. Gagarin’s flight marked a genuine first for humanity, and this issue of Komsomolskaya Pravda preserved the excitement of that moment for its readers… and for history.
The Slow Death of a President… The Doctor Whose Name Became a Punchline…
September 21, 2026 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
On July 2, 1881, President James A. Garfield was shot twice at a Washington, D.C. train station by Charles Guiteau. One bullet grazed his arm; the other lodged in his back. Neither wound was immediately fatal, and the president would linger for 80 agonizing days. Ultimately, what killed him was not the assassin’s marksmanship, but the “care” that followed.
The man who seized control of the case was Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss (whose first name was act
ually “Doctor”). Summoned to the scene, Bliss immediately took charge, sidelined other physicians, and restricted access to the president. He was convinced the bullet sat on the right side of Garfield’s body near the liver. It did not. A post-mortem examination revealed it lodged safely on the left side, embedded near the pancreas without harming any vital organs. Bliss, however, never accepted he was wrong.
Worse than his misdiagnosis was his method of treatment. Though Joseph Lister’s antiseptic techniques were gaining traction in Europe and among progressive American physicians, Bliss effectively rejected them. He repeatedly probed Garfield’s wound with unwashed fingers and unsterilized instruments, transforming a minor entry wound into a massive, pus-filled infection channel. He subjected the president to painful examinations without anesthesia, fed him rectally with concoctions of beef bouillon and egg yolks, and heavy-dosed him with quinine and morphine. Garfield lost nearly 100 pounds as his body broke out in systemic abscesses. On September 19, he succumbed to sepsis and a ruptured splenic artery.
At his trial, Guiteau famously—and with grim accuracy—claimed: “I deny the killing, if your Honor please. We admit the shooting.” He argued that while he had merely shot the president, the doctors had killed him. The public record increasingly backed that assertion.
Critics fiercely condemned Bliss’s arrogance and stubborn refusal to adopt modern medicine. A popular 19th-century jab soon circulated with particular sting: “Ignorance is Bliss.”
The phrase itself was far older, coined by English poet Thomas Gray in 1742 (“Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise”). But after Garfield’s death, the old line took on a bitter new life. Bliss’s name and vanity turned a classic poetic observation into a sharp medical epitaph. The pun stuck in popular retellings, granting an 18th-century idiom an extra layer of tragic dark humor no poet ever intended.
Garfield’s wound was easily survivable by modern standards—and likely survivable even by the best medical practices of 1881. Instead, he received confident ignorance dressed as expertise.
September 2026 Newsletter – Rare & Early Newspapers…
September 18, 2026 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
|
|
Did it All Start with a Laugh?… Political Cartoons Across Time…
September 14, 2026 by Laura Heilenman · 1 Comment
Which of us doesn’t love a good laugh, especially when we need a healthy way to relieve a bit of the built-up pressure? The presence of political cartoons can sometimes take the sting out of the craziness of reality. While still popular today in print and digital form, political cartoons have been with us for centuries. Originally, they were not printed in newspapers but sold as individual prints, such as William Hogarth’s “An Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme” (1721), a satirical engraving which critiques the financial speculation, corruption, and public credulity that fueled the South Sea Bubble of 1720–21. Eventually, these satirical statements on society made their way into the newspapers of the day and across the ocean to the New World. Benjamin Franklin’s famous “Join, or Die,” appearing in the Pennsylvania Gazette, helped spur the colonies toward Revolution. Decades later, Thomas Nast’s work in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper and Harper’s Weekly aided Lincoln’s reelection and helped define the modern two-party system by popularizing both the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey. Eventually, these artistic gems ventured into color, impacting audiences at a whole new level. Today we are inundated with political satire, some of which is comparable to the talent of the 1700s and 1800s and much of which falls well short. Regardless, our culture would be less rich without this creative way to help us laugh our way through more stressful times.
The Jamestown Charter… The Start of Something Great…
September 11, 2026 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
In the pages of Mercurius Politicus… London, 27 May 1652, readers encountered one of the most consequential documents of early colonial America. This rare newsbook, edited by the chameleon-like Marchamont Needham in service of the Commonwealth, carried the full text of the Treaty of Jamestown. Virginia’s royalist governor, Sir William Berkeley, had clung to the Stuart cause even after Charles I’s execution in 1649. Parliament responded with an embargo and, in the autumn of 1651, a fleet of fifteen ships. Commissioners summoned Berkeley and the House of Burgesses. On the 12th of March 1652, the colony surrendered at James City. The twelve articles were remarkably generous: full indemnity for past resistance, confirmation of all existing land grants and boundaries, freedom of trade (defying Parliament’s Navigation Acts), and limited religious continuity. The governor, council, and burgesses signed for Virginia; the parliamentary commissioners signed for England. Earlier treaties with Native nations—Hartford in 1638 and the 1646 Virginia agreement—exist, yet this appears to be the first formal political settlement between an English colony and the home government ever printed in a periodical. Surviving records of the era are sparse; the Mercurius Politicus printing therefore stands as a primary window onto a pivotal, largely peaceful transfer of power. The Treaty of Jamestown preserved property rights, granted amnesty, and allowed Virginia to continue under new masters with minimal disruption. In a single newsbook we glimpse both the reach of the English Civil Wars across the Atlantic and the pragmatic realism that shaped early American self-government.
Labor Day. . . End of Summer, Hurricanes Ramp Up…
September 7, 2026 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
Labor Day once marked the final lazy days of summer. . . the last stretch before school began. These days, many kids head back weeks earlier and while family picnics and yard games still happen, the holiday loses a little of its shine when it no longer feels like summer’s true close. September’s arrival often brings more than just last of those firefly filled evenings. Although Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1, my family never bothered with travel insurance for our Outer Banks vacations unless our trip began in September. Risky? Maybe. . . especially given how destructive East Coast storms can be. Those hoping for a relaxed Labor Day in 1935 faced far worse. The powerful Labor Day Hurricane devastated the Florida Keys, killing hundreds (many of them World War I veterans working on a highway project). On its front page, the September 4, 1935, New York Times reported the Morgan liner Dixie stranded on a reef with more than 350 people aboard, rescue ships blocked by heavy seas, while the captain radioed that all remained well. We can only speculate that family picnics were put on hold; it was truly, all hands-on deck.
Who’s Who in Newspapers? Larry Walters edition (1982)…
September 4, 2026 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
If you’re a fan of quirky American folklore, you might recognize the name “Lawn Chair Larry.” Yet few realize the sheer audacity – and immediate, nationwide intrigue that surrounded the moment 33-year-old Larry Walters actually took off into the Southern California sky.
On July 2, 1982, Walters tied 42 helium-filled weather balloons to an ordinary aluminum lawn chair in the backyard of his girlfriend, Carol Van Deusen, in San Pedro. Armed with a pellet gun, a CB radio, a camera, and a parachute, his plan was simple: float lazily across San Pedro toward the Mojave Desert. Instead, when his tether line unexpectedly snapped, Walters shot skyward like a rocket, losing his glasses in the process and soaring to an astonishing 16,000 feet! Freezing in the high-altitude air, he startled commercial airliner pilots who radioed in shock to report a man sitting in a lawn chair in controlled airspace. To descend, Walters systematically popped several balloons with his pellet gun, eventually landing tangled in power lines in a Long Beach neighborhood – unharmed, but briefly causing a local blackout.
His story came to light quite by accident during a search through our archives for something completely unrelated. Our gaze was immediately drawn to the front page of the Los Angeles Times from July 3, 1982, which featured a remarkable photograph of a man taking flight from the comfort of a lawn chair.
If you are fascinated by eccentric dreamers who take “seat-of-the-pants” ambition to literal new heights, spending a little time reading contemporary accounts of Larry Walters’ flight is pure joy. It serves as an amusing, incredible reminder of human ingenuity, boundless determination, and the unpredictable nature of backyard aviation.
Below is a photo from the front page of the Los Angeles Times our friend was seeking, complete with the bold headlines “Seat-of-the-Pants Pilot Goes Aloft in Lawn Chair” and the iconic snapshot showing Walters airborne over San Pedro.
Catalog 370 (for September, 2026) is now available!
September 1, 2026 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
September’s catalog (#370) is now available. This latest offering of authentic newspapers is comprised of over 300 new items, a selection which includes the following noteworthy issues: the earliest printed Treaty of Jamestown?, one of two “protest” issues of the ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’, a newsbook report re: the inauguration of Oliver Cromwell, the famed Old West newspaper ‘Tombstone Epitaph’, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, the Declaration of Independence, and more. To view the entire catalog, go to:
Catalog #370 (for September, 2026)
– – – – – – – – –
We know a piece like the Treaty of Jamestown isn’t an everyday acquisition; however, the 1652 newsbook is so special we couldn’t resist bringing it to center stage. We invite you to take a look and enjoy a truly one-of-a-kind piece of history.
– – – – – – – – –
What remains of last month’s discounted issues may be viewed at:
Discount (select items at 50% off)
Recent posts on the History’s Newsstand Blog may be accessed at:
Our most recent video:
A Nation at its Birth – Shaping the Future (Fight for a Nation – E2)
|