The first newspaper in Kentucky…

April 5, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

The first newspaper ever published west of the Allegheny Mountains was established in Lexington, in 1787, by John Bradford. It was then called the “Kentucke Gazette“, but the final “e” of Kentucky was afterward changed to “y”, in consequence of the Virginia legislature requiring certain advertisements to be inserted in the “Kentucky Gazette“.

Go To: http://www.kentuckygazette.com/

This paper was born of the necessities of the times. The want of a government independent of Virginia was then universally felt, and the second convention that met in Danville, in 1785, to discuss that subject, resolved, “That to ensure unanimity in the opinion of the people respecting the propriety of separating the district of Kentucky from Virginia and forming a separate state government, and to give publicity to the proceedings of the convention, it is deemed essential to the interests of the country to have a printing press.”

John Bradford informed the committee that he would establish a paper if the convention would guarantee to him the public patronage. To this the convention acceded, and in 1786 Bradford sent to Philadelphia for the necessary materials. He had already received every encouragement from the citizens on Lexington, and at a meeting of the trustees in July, it was ordered “that the use of a public lot be granted to John Bradford free, on condition that he establish a printing press in Lexington; the lot to be free to him as long as the press is in town,”

At last, after many months on the route, the precious printing material arrived, and on August 18, 1787, appeared the first number of the first newspaper ever published in the then western wilderness. It was a quaint little brown thing, about the size of a half sheet of common letter paper, “subscription price 18 shillings per annum, advertisements of moderate length 3 shillings.” The first number is without a heading, and contains one advertisement, two short original articles, and the following apology from the editor:

“My customers will excuse this, my first publication, as I am much hurried to get an impression by the time appointed. A great part of the types fell into pi [disorder] in the carriage of them from Limestone (Maysville) to this office, and my partner, which is the only assistant I have, through an indisposition of the body, has been incapable of rendering the smallest assistance for ten days past.   JOHN BRADFORD.”
Source:  Much of the credit for this post goes to George W. Ranck’s  “History of Lexington, Kentucky…”

To laminate or not…

April 3, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Fellow collector Morris Brill asks, “What are your thoughts of laminating newspapers?”

In a word–or three–don’t do it. Lamination is a one-way process, by which a newspaper is permanently sealed between two large pieces of plastic, heated such that the two plastic sheets bind to one another. Newspapers laminated as such cannot be retrieved without considerable damage.

Collectors typically like to touch and feel their newspapers, and if kept in a protective folder, a Mylar bag or sleeve, or even if encapsulated (similar to lamination but the only permanent binding is at the edges, beyond the margins of the newspaper) this can be done. But if laminated a newspaper cannot be returned to its unprotected state.

Now, if a newspaper is very fragile, has more of a personal, family, or sentimental attachment and there is no concern for potential collector value, then lamination might be an alternative for permanent protection.

The Civil War…

April 1, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

Not too long ago we had a collector ask several questions regarding rare newspapers from the Civil War.  We thought others might be interested in the questions and responses as well.

Collector:
I recently obtained a New York Tribune issue from January 1, 1863 that had the evening edition for January 2 inside it, with the attachment remaining uncut on its superior border.Was this the way it was meant to be printed? Was this some error in printing? If this was meant to be this way, why isn’t the evening edition of the January 1 paper attached and not the January 2 edition? Is there any significance to the uncut superior border? How commonly did that happen with ordinary papers of the day?
Tim:
Yes, the N.Y. Tribune was meant to be printed that way. We’ve had hundreds of issues done that way, also done by the Phila. Inquirer and perhaps others.  I have a theory concocted from various sources years ago but no definitive explanation.

Most major city papers had a daily and bi-weekly edition, and some a tri-weekly edition. The cost of a newspaper from the pre-1890 era was no small expense, so the latter two were more affordable for many. I suspect the “Evening Edition” did not publish 7 days a week; perhaps 2 or 3, maybe 4 (?). If this was the case it was easy for them to fill in the balance of the issue with news from a day or two before as the type was already set and those who purchased it hadn’t read it. This was more clearly defined with the Phila. Inq. run we had because they had in the first column that it was the “tri-weekly” edition, and in the same issue was another masthead from the day before. The Tribune did not print such a notice, or at least I haven’t found it yet.

And such editions with 2 masthead are quite uncommon because libraries would have only subscribed to the regular daily edition, given their desire to document all news for every day, and 95% of early newspapers on the market came from some institution after microfilming. So the 2 masthead issues are typically only found as never-bound issues which have survived the years in attics, trunks, etc.

Collector:
While I understand that there is no “only one correct answer” to this question, in regard to Civil War-era newspaper collecting, which papers are the Holy Grail of collecting? Which are the rarest but most sought-after ones? Are there any that even you have never seen, any that even you have been searching for for years and have never found?
Tim:
I would say a Gettysburg Address issue in a Gettysburg newspaper would float pretty close to the top. Or even battle of Gettysburg issues from Gettysburg. All the good Lincoln assassination issues tend to turn up from time to time because they were commonly saved. The Gettys. Add. would not have been saved as it wasn’t anything special at the time. To this day we probably get more requests for both Gettysburg events than any other during the Civil War.

Collector:
Do you have a favorite title form the Civil War?
Tim:
I would say the Philadelphia Inquirer. I like that it had more graphics, many embellishments at the tops of ftpg. columns, and often used larger type in its headings.

Thanks for the member inquiry which led to these responses from Tim.  Feel free to send your questions, comments as well.

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