Search
History of Newspapers Video (see more)
Email Subscription
Sign up to receive our latest blog updates!Buy Historic Newspapers
The Next Must-Read Book for Newspaper Collectors
September 14, 2009 by admin 
Email This Post
| 
Print This Post
Mott, Emery, Thomas, Tebbel and Brigham are household authors on the bookshelves of most newspaper collectors, but another name needs to be added to the list. Eric Burns.
Burns is the author of Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism.
Most of us have read — on more than one occasion — about the history of Public Occurrences, The Boston News-Letter, Zenger’s New York Weekly Journal and Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette. But how often do we get to read these stories and many distinct others from a book published in the 21st century?
Perhaps what thrilled me the most about this book was its style. To me, Burns was masterful at marrying the story-telling flair of David McCullough with the newspaper history acumen of Mott, Emery and others. More so, I enjoyed learning several fun facts and exciting stories about many of the newspaper titles I see for sale at rarenewspapers.com or even hold in my own collection.
The Boston Gazette, according to Burns’ C-SPAN presentation on his book, is the most influential newspaper this country has ever known. He says the Gazette got us into the Revolutionary War, sped up the course of the war and may have even determined the outcome of the war. A good chunk of Infamous Scribblers is dedicated to supporting this thesis.
“Almost certainly the war would not have ended with an American victory in a period of seven years — from first shot to signed treaty — had not the newspapers constantly reminded the colonists of the cause they shared, thereby inspiring the valor of soldiers, and the patience and support of civilians,” Burns said.
He points out that newspapers were the only form of media at the time and served as the great unifier of our nation during a time when America “needed unity as much as we needed ammunition.”
Here are a few fascinating excerpts from Infamous Scribblers:
On a printer’s disincentive to publish a newspaper: “Despite a New World population of more than 300,000 by 1700, there were not enough customers of newspapers — too few English speakers in America, too few towns and villages that were too widely scattered to allow for news to be gathered efficiently and a paper to be distributed economically.”
On a newspaper’s role in the Revolutionary War: “It was Franklin, though, who most succinctly and accurately assessed the role of the media in the days leading up to the war. It was he, astute as ever, who pointed out that the press not only can ‘strike while the iron is hot,’ but it can ‘heat it by continually striking.'”
On Sam Adams: “The least ethical newsman of the entire colonial era, if not the entire history of American journalism.”
On 18th century journalism: “As a rule, newspaper publishers of the time did not chase after interviews or hustle to the scenes of events with their juices flowing and pen fingers twitching. For the most part, they were denizens of the print shop, preferring that the news be spoken in their ears or slipped under their doors — that it be delivered to them, in other words, as spices were delivered to the grocer or bolts of clothes to the tailor.”
On reporting and publishing during the Revolutionary War: “The Revolutionary War was not an easy one to cover. For one thing, once the fighting started there was more news than ever but no more shipments of ink or type or spare parts for the presses coming into American ports. There were no more shipments of paper either, and, as for the quantities still available or smuggled into the colonies from a friend in the motherland or a trader in another European nation, there were higher priorities for it than journalism.”
On an unlikely spy embedded as a printer: “Jemmy Rivington’s Tory newspaper, the Royal Gazette, was extremely critical of George Washington. However, Rivington was also a spy who passed along secrets of the British navy to colonial leaders. On one occasion, Rivington helped break a British code that almost surely saved American lives during one of the war’s earlier battles.”
On printing business diversification: “Colonial printers did not just publish newspapers… they continued to publish documents for agencies of government and various other materials such as sermons, speeches, and contracts, for private clients… they turned out pamphlets, Sunday supplements of a sort, commentaries on the news of the day…”
On the importance of 18th century newspapers: “Perhaps the importance of the press to the outcome of the war can be exaggerated, but not easily and not by much. It was newspapers that kept the colonies informed of the progress of the fighting in a way that letters and patterers could not have done, and in the process united the colonies in a way that was beyond the ability of the jerry-built wartime government.”
This post was authored by Todd Andrlik, a collector of rare and historic newspapers that you can follow at toddand.com and raglinen.com. Todd recently launched the Historic Newspapers Network for the newspaper collecting community.
If you liked this post, you may also enjoy...
- Media Transformation…
- Introducing: RareNewspapers.com – The Revolutionary War…
- Additional kudos for, “Reporting the Revolutionary War”…
- In the beginning…
- Why does my newspaper look as if it came from a book?
Comments
9 Responses to “The Next Must-Read Book for Newspaper Collectors”
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Based on Todd’s lively description, it sounds like a book I need to read. Although I collect newspapers (Civil War exclusively) and write for one, I didn’t know much about this era other than Zenger and Franklin. Bill
Thanks, Bill. Sorry to disappoint, but Infamous Scribblers focuses almost exclusively on the 18th century. However, it does make quick reference to the Civil War in that pseudonyms were common in American journalism until the Civil War when Union General Joseph Hooker insisted that journalists be held accountable and they use their true identities in bylines.
Anyway, thanks for the comment and I hope you’ll still read the book. Perhaps it will entice you to expand your collecting to 18th century newspapers?! 🙂
Todd
[…] Below is an excerpt from the blog post I guest authored for Timothy Hughes Rare Newspapers. It’s essentially a book review of Infamous Scribblers by Eric Burns. If you enjoy history and media, this one’s for you. […]
This book looks like a must-read for serious collectors of rare newspapers. I agree with Todd Andrlik that 18th century papers are the way to go. By the way, check out Todd’s excellent web site at http://raglinen.com/.
Thanks for the comment, Charles. To me, the no-headline journalism of the 18th century adds to the treasure hunting enjoyment of collecting rare newspapers. As Tim Hughes said in one of his videos, “you’re literally gold mining”.
Really enjoyed this post, Todd. As a collector of colonial newspapers and a tour guide in Boston I have the wonderful opportunity each day to walk by the locations where many of the early print shops once stood. These include the sites of James Franklin’s New England Courant and Edes and Gill’s Boston Gazette. I watched the entire one hour C- SPAN video attached to your post and learned a tremendous amount from Eric Burns presentation. I was particularly intrigued by his insight into Samuel Adams and how he shall we say stretched the truth a bit (made things up) in his submissions to the Boston Gazette in order to stir up further resentmant toward the British soldiers occupying Boston. It really expanded my view of Samuel Adams the organizer and Son of Liberty by showing how he leveraged journalism and used it as perhaps his strongest tool to aid the patriot cause. In today’s newspapers, we expect to see editorial comment (based on ones opinion) clearly defined as such and separate from stories based on fact. Eric Burns made me realize that much of the journalism in colonial Boston consisted of opinions or what one might call “spin” today combined with some elements of fact all designed to elicit a desired response from the reader. That response resulted in the American Revolution occuring as Eric Burns notes perhaps a lot sooner than it would have otherwise. I really look forward to reading Infamous Scribblers. Thanks for making me aware of this fascinating book!
Wow, Ben, great perspective! I love how you apply historic journalism to your Boston walking tours.
I have some documents that my mother sayswere authentic
from the revonlutionary war time
one is the promotin of James Gilmore in the british army dated and signed
by Wentworth dated 1764
th next is promotin James Gilmore in the british army signed and dated by Wentworth
also has seal
the last id promotion to the malitia of New Hampshire in 1785 sign by the president of New Hampshire M Weare it is also dated and has the state seal
i loooked up the name M Weare and he signed the decloration of independence
i would like to get these authenticated but i dont know of anybody in south Georgia that can do this
the paper looks dated and aged
and is cracked but not torn
and it also has signs of the ink being correct for the date
James Gilmore was a distant relitive of my mothers
the other signature is that of Joseph Pearson Dep Secretary
i hope you can tell me anything about these documents
thank you for your time
Yours Truely Bruce Minder
Hi from a visitor to your website from the other side of the Pond. You may be interested in a book called “America Goes to Press” by Lawrence Greene, which was published in 1936. It reprints articles from American newspapers starting with the American War of Independence and ending with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in June 1914, and includes more obscure items as well (the first execution by electricity, cleaning up the saloons of New York etc).. People interested in provincial English newspapers of the 17th and 18th centuries, try “Freshest Advices” by R M Wiles, published in 1965 by Ohio University Press. People interested in the history of the London “Times” (225 years old this year) could try “We Thundered Out” by Philip Howard, published in 1985 which includes reprints of some pages from late 18th century/early 19th century issues. I hope some of your visitors will be interested in finding these books and that they will whet their appetite for looking for the original newspapers on Timothy Hughes’ website!