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The “top ten”: 18th century…
December 14, 2009 by TimHughes · 9 Comments
Continuing with our “top ten events to be found in newspapers” for various periods of time, today we consider the 18th century.
What an event-filled one hundred years it was. As you can tell by the list my focal point is on the American Revolution, but there are other events or specific newspapers which made it into my top ten.
Again I offer apologies to our non-American friends as this list has a decidedly American bias, primarily because the vast majority of those who purchase from us are American.
Here we go, starting with number ten:
10) Death of George Washington, 1799 (Front page, preferably in a Virginia Gazette)
9) Hanging of Captain Kidd, 1701 (Just can’t resist a great pirate hanging, he being perhaps the most famous of all time)
8.) Any newspaper with the first installment of Paine’s “The Crisis” (“These are the times that try men’s souls…” has to be one of the more famous beginnings of all time)
7) Full text of the Stamp Act (Certainly a trigger event that would lead to the Revolution)
6) Boston Tea Party (In a Boston newspaper. An event every school kid knows about)
5) The Pennsylvania Journal, Nov. 1, 1765 “skull & crossbones” engraving (Replaced its normal masthead on this date: seen in most history books)
4) Battle of Lexington & Concord with mention of Paul Revere’s ride (The beginning of the Revolutionary War. I had one once with mention of Revere–exceedingly rare–great to have in a Boston area newspaper)
3) The Boston News-Letter, 1704 (Great to have issue #1 of America’s first successful newspaper, but any issue from 1704 would do)
2) The Pennsylvania Packet, Sept. 19, 1787 (First newspaper to print the Constitution, & done in broadside format. Need I say more?)
1) The Declaration of Independence, 1776 (Ideally the Pennsylvania Evening Post, July 6, 1776, but the Packet of July 8 would work too as it contains the Declaration entirely on the front page: better for display).
Top ten: 16th and 17th centuries…
December 7, 2009 by TimHughes · 3 Comments
As Guy introduced a few days ago, we will use the Mondays of December to consider the top ten events to be found in newspapers for various periods of time. In a few cases the desired “event” is actually a specific newspaper.
Today we consider the 16th & 17th centuries, which is a bit difficult as the mere existence of newspapers–or even their predecessors: newsbooks–is limited. And all would be European, as no American newspapers existed in this time period (only exception noted below). Nonetheless I’ve created what I consider to be the top ten historical events or newspapers collectors would love to add to their collections.
I do offer apologies to our non-American friends as this list, and those to follow, have a decidedly American bias, primarily because the vast majority of those who purchase from us are American. But there are a few European events noted.
Here we go, beginning with number ten and ending with the most desired event or newspaper:
10) Coronation of William & Mary, 1689 (after all, they were the king & queen of colonial residents as well. Almost like a very early Presidential “inauguration”)
9) King Philip’s War, 1675-6 (America’s first war)
8.) William Penn’s charter for land in the New World, & his settlement there, 1682 (an issue of the London Gazette includes: “…Mr. Penn bound for Pennsylvania with a great many Quakers to settle there…”)
7) Capture of Capt. Kidd near Boston, 1699 (who wouldn’t want a period report of this very famous pirate)
6) Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 (my one entry from the 16th century; available in period newsbooks)
4) The volume 1 number 1 issue of the Oxford Gazette, Nov. 16, 1665 (great to have the first issue of the world’s oldest continually published newspaper: become the London Gazette with issue #24)
3) Salem Witchcraft trials, 1692 (famous event, but try to find period reports of it!)
2) Settlement in the “New World” from 1607-1630 (from the very earliest period of European settlements in America, predating newspapers but newsbooks did exist)
1) Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, Boston, Sept. 25, 1690 (America’s first newspaper. To this date only one issue has surfaced. Could there be another?)