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I’m New Here…Week Seven
March 29, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
- This week I decided to spend some of my hard-earned money on an old (& rare) publication. I’d already processed searches for sports figures and jazz singers and mobsters and indentured servants — so many interests that whizzed past me as I was busy with phone calls and emails and web orders. The only way I could think to appease my conscience about taking a pause to look around a little bit for myself was to become a customer. There is an entire collection —
shelves of bound volumes — of publications by women. I want to dig through and “see what’s what”, as my grandmother always said. But that would probably take more research time just orientating myself than I feel easy about spending. Still, that inclination narrowed the scope of this first quest a bit, and a search through notable dates in history led me to the NYC women’s suffrage march of 1912.
“THE REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION IN NEW YORK LAST WEEK WHEN 15,000 WOMEN OF ALL STATIONS IN LIFE MARCHED THROUGH THE STREETS OF THE METROPOLIS TO EXPRESS THEIR DEMAND FOR THE VOTE”. The headline itself seems shocked by the occurrence, with subsequent captions numbering the onlookers at 500,000. It’s a grand photo spread highlighting the oldest, the youngest, and crediting 619 men with “heroically joining their womenfolk upon the march.” This is the purchase for me.
The Women’s Suffrage movement is just one of the stories for justice and equality well documented through historic publications. Whether an account of invention, discovery, narrative or relationship, these papers are jam-packed with the details of the human experience. Sometimes there is an encouraging perspective of what we’ve learned and how we’ve grown. One hundred years after the push began, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote. But, this week I also found an eyewitness account of mob riots in Baltimore — including casualty listings — from 1812. Evidently, much remains to be learned.
My selection (Harper’s Weekly, May 11, 1912) was on the very top shelf, stacked tightly and bound into a volume with Titanic events and many illustrations of William Taft. I chose an issue with a damaged front cover since I am not very interested in then Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee “…whose proposed amendment to the Constitution will limit the President’s tenure of office to one term of six years.”
The cover price of 10 cents doesn’t hold, but since the average age-expectancy has drastically increased as well, it’s a modest expenditure. Taking it home with me, opening it up, and dawdling over the columns as much as I like, seems an indulgent treat. I might even ask the shipping department if they will package it for me…
Did you know? Elections and Inaugurations…
March 26, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
You may already know U.S. elections and inaugurations have always fascinated citizens of the United States – which is probably typical throughout the world, but Did You Know the reporting of these historic moments within newspapers has traditionally been quite extensive, with most issues containing multiple articles surrounding these events – often including the entire text of the winner’s election and inauguration speeches? Many of these are available through our regular website, RareNewspapers.com. We’ve arranged these in chronological order for readers/explorers to enjoy: Inaugurations and Elections
I’m New Here, Weeks Five & Six…
March 22, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
It’s a great day when you locate an issue that someone is wanting, particularly when they really want it. Usually the request begins with, “There’s probably no chance you have this title, but…” Because of our significant database I can now ascertain the general direction a new search will go, and have learned to further diminish expectations with words like, “Well, you are correct — that is a highly desirable date…” Occasionally, my computer will display little notes or other indicators that this is possibly something I (with assistance) can find. Without raising hopes I mention that it doesn’t look promising but there is something I want to double-check before I give a definitive “no”.
This morning’s call from one of our cheery customers delivered a query for a Harper’s Weekly from 1863. He was looking for Emancipation Proclamation content, although many collectors want that particular issue for the full page Winslow Homer print or the double-page Thomas Nast “The War in the Border States”. I reverently turned the pages to investigate the text in question, and found it free of foxing or damp stains or tears. And then I found something else.
Just beside the historical, monumental words, the Harper’s editor placed or approved a first installment of Wilkie Collins’ No Name. Although I have read his fifth book, I didn’t know that Collins was another contemporary of Dickens and Whitman. I didn’t even know that “Wilkie” was a man. And these little rabbit trails clamored for my attention and had me skimming the assertion by William Makepeace Thackeray on The Woman in White: that it had him “transfixed” – a book that I’d found lengthy and melodramatic upon personal encounter.
I particularly enjoy this multi-layered discovery aspect of collecting/perusing early newspapers, and I grin over the notes back from purchasers describing the bonus treasures. One that came this week included an exclamation over a Gentleman’s Magazine: “R is over the moon as we discovered a paragraph about an intercepted letter from Alexander Hamilton complaining about congress and money! It’s just stunning to read these things as contemporary accounts.”
So, feel free to join the conversation and comment about the amazing things you unexpectedly have in your collection that you never intended to purchase. My own W.C. search is ongoing, as all the commentary I can find is that Collins was serialized in Dicken’s “All The Year Round”, with nary a mention of the great Harper’s. Incidentally, if you are new to this world it might either interest or frustrate you to know the brand encompasses “Harper’s Weekly”,” Harper’s Monthly” (which is also sometimes called “Harper’s New Monthly”), and then the non-newspaper titles of “Harper’s Bazaar” and the various Harper’s books. The Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspaper inventory contains the first two titles and it is there I will be searching for Chapter Two.
At least, that is how it will begin.
Snapshot 1934… Adolf Hitler declares he will not go to war!
March 12, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The following snapshot comes from the Chicago Daily Tribune dated August 6, 1934, which features Adolf Hitler’s Declaration that “War Means Ruin…Will Fight Only If Attacked.” At least he got the 1st part right.
Saint Patrick’s Day in 1842 – Conspiracy Theories Abound…
March 11, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
In less than a week we will be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day – a holiday which brings a bit of cheer to both Irish and n0n-Irish alike. We recently discovered rather interesting related coverage in a Daily National Intelligencer, dated March 23, 1842. The front page reports that the President and Vice-President of the United States were invited to Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington, D.C., but both declined to attend. Their stated, but rather bland reason for respectfully and graciously declining their invitation was that there were too many pressing affairs on behalf of the public good to which they needed to commit their time and effort. However, historians now speculate they may have tempered their true feelings – theories which may or may not be true, but are certainly a bit more intoxicating than “we’re simply too busy” (see below). Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
I’m New Here…Week Four (!)
March 8, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
I had begun to think that interest in my little contribution to this blog was waning enough that I would be able to slip right past the post in which I had promised to elucidate my multiple disasters.
Most of the veteran collectors ask for Guy, and yesterday I had to answer that Guy was not available, could I possibly be of any help? Just before I completed a phone call with Mr. W., he asked me (in the classic gentlemanly manner of many from the southwestern states) for a preview. Of my calamities.
And so, with a nod toward Arizona, I am sitting down to recount a few of my more unfortunate escapades. I have called the same person with the same information twice, and neglected ever calling an important other. Through the first ten days I went fuzzy every time I needed to pull a title and date because I couldn’t even begin to locate the identifiers amidst all the fancy, scrolly banner headings. But many such moments were never known to any of the rare newspaper community because the group of people here at Timothy Hughes is absolutely splendid, and they countered most of them before anyone even noticed. I sent the skylift up to the shelf under the roofline, lowered it, maneuvered the 20’ row and parked. I was back at my desk before someone casually reminded me that the unwieldy volume had to be returned to the same location. Friday I answered the phone, forgot the business name, and then just began to laugh — because what else could I do? It’s hard to be new, but it’s downright ironic in a place so full of old things. Surely the papers yield evidence that I am not, by far, alone in my muddles.
Still, the most colossal so far — including my omission of eBay tracking numbers, which potentially plummeted our heretofore stellar ratings — was the rare paper that I sold to two different people. In case you were wondering, there was only one. We didn’t have a second issue anywhere in the roughly 12,000 searchable square feet. I don’t know enough to help with the hunt, but everyone capable tried any space or collection that could possibly contain this gem. And, remarkably, they looked at me with something akin to regret when each location had been exhausted. Somehow, to their chagrin, they had not saved me from my own folly.
Mercifully, the fellow that I had previously introduced to the paper (I used the word “stunning” as I described it to him) was very gracious when I called. But in all sincerity, while I seldom make the same error too many times, I am working to meld all this newness into the well-oiled machine that is Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers …without excessive further ado.
So, if Guy isn’t available, one of these days I really will be able to help.
Announcing: Catalog #280 (for March, 2019) is now available…
March 4, 2019 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 280 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 280 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
(The catalog links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days, upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.)
I’m New Here…Week Three
March 1, 2019 by Stephanie Williams · 2 Comments
These last few days have been highlighted by fascinating rare newspaper excursions that touched on Johnny Appleseed and hot air balloons and genealogy searches and gold ink newspaper editions and even “mourning rules” (a post-worthy ramble in itself). As this week closes, I find myself musing on all things literary.
I recall my first encounter with Walt Whitman’s poetry as being somewhat controversial. Compiling an anthology for a sixth grade project I stumbled across “Song of Myself” and laboriously copied it out onto its own page — carefully fitting text to margins and indents that defined, despite lackluster rhyme or rhythm scheme. Abruptly, I was the focus of adults pontificating on the perils of the modern age and the coming doom symbolized by artists throwing off established norms and strictures. In college, I was perplexed to find that Whitman wrote his grieving “Lilacs” four months after the eloquently detailed sixteen hundred mile funeral procession for Abraham Lincoln. From all the squawking, I had assumed the poet lived in my time, or my parents’ time — not contemporaneously with the sixteenth president. I’m keen on Frost and Dickinson and Oliver and all the greats, but Whitman broke the lingering nursery rhyme cadence of Robert Louis Stevenson with a clear voice of plain-speaking, beauty filled, heartwrenching truth. And so, with ten minutes of unscheduled time this week, I delved into the directories of perhaps the largest Civil War newspaper collection in the world, to see what we might have within our archives. Three years after Lincoln’s assassination, the popular New York Herald was the first to publish the words “…to all cut off before their time, Possess’d by some great spirit of fire Quenched by an early death.” It is signed in block type, “WALT WHITMAN”. And, yesterday, I held it in my very own 21st century hands, looking at this poem irreverently sandwiched between complaints against Kansas senators and the connection of the Minneapolis/Montreal railroad. In 1888 Walt Whitman’s words were taken at face value, distinct from any of the acclamation or aspersion that would come with the passage of time. Reading them, this way, is a little bit like traveling back two hundred years to look at things from a completely different view. Many of you who call or email or write or browse online in search of particular subjects, dates and people are reaching for the insight from the immediate context of newsprint columns, to hear what was once merely words in print, chronicling the events of the day.
At any rate, no one can live by poetry alone, so next Friday I am honor bound to tell you of one or two colossal mistakes I have made, and balance this week’s ponderous tone with a humorous tale or two. Things around here are often funny and deep — a little bit like those old, modern poets.