A West Coast collector amasses a large collection…

September 17, 2015 by  
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Richard Robinson was a long-time collector of historic newspapers, having begun at the age of 10 in the mid-1940’s & continuing  to add to his collection until his passing earlier this year. He was one of a small number of serious Blog-9-17-2015-Richard-Robinsonnewspaper collectors from that era.

Having grown up in Beverly Hills, California, it is not surprising that a majority of his issues were from the Los Angeles area. Fortunately both the “Herald Express” and the “Examiner” typically used large, “screaming” headlines desired by collectors today. Although he had some issues from the 18th and 19th centuries, the lion’s share of his collection was made up with those from the era in which lived. How great it would have been to add to a collection reports on the end of World War II and later by simply paying the 10 cent price at the newsstand!

This front page article in the Feb. 26, 1952 issue of the “Beverly Hills Bulletin shows him as a 12 year old student when his collection included some 1000 newspapers. At the time of his passing the number had to have grown to 50,000 or more.

In a correspondence with him many years ago I recall him stating that he never paid more than $5 for any newspaper in his collection. Many were simply given to him. He noted as one of his prize editions the famous “Chicago  Daily Tribune” with the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, which the Tribune offered to buy back from him for $25. He refused.

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