Search
The Rare & Early Newspapers Hobby
Receive the Newsletter
Buy Historic Newspapers
When crises happen, publishers can be creative… Ben Franklin & the Stamp Act…
August 24, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Occasionally, a newspaper just doesn’t look like a newspaper. When crises happen, some newspaper publishers can be creative and angry, resulting in “newspapers” that are quite unusual. Here is one.
Looking very much like a broadside (although it is four pages), an issue we purchased many years ago is simply headed: “REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES”, having no date, no city of publication, and no issue number.
With some investigation, we learned that this is actually the November 14, 1765 issue of the famous “Pennsylvania Gazette” printed by Ben Franklin and David Hall. The hated Stamp Act took effect on Nov. 1, 1765. Therefore the paper was suspended and in its place a broadside entitled “No Stamped Paper to be had” was printed for Nov. 7, and this four page issue titled: “Remarkable Occurrences” was created for Nov. 14. The regular title and numbering were resumed with the Nov. 21 issue but without the imprint. No name of publisher appeared until the Feb. 6, 1766 issue printed by David Hall, as the partnership with Franklin had been dissolved.
Never, previously, have we ever handled either of these two issues.
The entire front page is taken up with Stamp Act content. Page 2 has content from Europe, and pages 3 and 4 have content with datelines from Boston, Newport, Philadelphia, and New York with again, much of the content related to the Stamp Act.
This is treasured as one of the more intriguing newspapers in our inventory, and is even more notable with its connection to the Stamp Act.
The reason I collect it: stunning graphics inside… Lincoln’s Funeral…
August 17, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We have handled many Lincoln assassination and funeral issues, and many can be graphic in terms of type size and drama of the column headlines. Most notably, the ‘Philadelphia Inquirer’ had several issues from April 17 to 25 with very nice graphic appeal.
But never have we seen inside pages so dramatically presented as with the ‘Cleveland Morning Leader’ issue of April 28, 1865. Although the front page is focused on the capture and death of John Wilkes Booth, as well as reports on the Lincoln funeral (all page 1 and 4 columns have wide, black mourning rules), pages 2 and 3 are consumed with broadside-like graphics, offering no text save for that found within the graphics. Page 2 appears much like a monument in memory of Lincoln, and page 3 has a black border surrounding short poems and portions of a “Speech of Abraham Lincoln” and a line from his “Emancipation Proclamation”.
When first encountered I noticed the ink bleed-through on page 1 and thought it was offsetting from the previous issue (not uncommon). But when I opened the newspaper I discovered something I had never seen the likes of before.
“Broken hearts cannot be photographed”… Matthew Brady…
June 26, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
War has always inflicted its pains and sorrows upon a nation. But the brutality and reality of war never fully struck home until the Civil War. It was different.
Many lives were lost in the French & Indian War, the Revolutionary War, and the 19th century events of the War of 1812 and Mexican War, but until the invention of photography, there was a certain amount of callousness to what war was really about.
The Civil War changed all that, and perhaps one person, Matthew Brady, did more to make that change than anyone.
The Civil War was the first war to be photographed. In 1862, famed photographer Mathew Brady exhibited a series of pictures taken by protégés Alexander Gardner and James Gibson immediately after the Battle of Antietam. Gardner and Gibson, two of the many photographers Brady hired to document the war, produced at least 95 images at Antietam. Their images were the first to show dead bodies on the field.
The October 20, 1862 issue of the “New York Times” contains one of the more moving articles on the horrors of war, brought home to the residents of New York through an exhibition of “Pictures of the Dead at Antietam” in Matthew Brady’s Manhattan Gallery.
The article is headed: “‘Brady’s Photographs” and it reports on the exhibition by comparing the brutality & reality of war, to the callousness of New York’s residents who read the daily papers but did not relate to the horrors they reported.
The article is extremely well-written, taking most of a column. The full text can be seen in the attached photos, however a few bits are worthy of noting here: “The living that throng Broadway care little perhaps for the dead at Antietam, but…they would jostle less carelessly down the great thoroughfare, saunter less at their ease, were a few dripping bodies, fresh from the field, laid along the payment…We see the list in the morning papers…but dismiss its recollection with the coffee. There is a confused mass of names, but they are all strangers…We recognize the battle-field as a reality, but it stands as a remote one…” with more.
Then: “Mr. Brady has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war. If he has not brought bodies and laid them in our dooryards and along the streets, he has done something very like it. At the door of his gallery hangs a little placard, ‘The Dead of Antietam’…There is one side of the picture that the sun did not catch…It is the background of widows and orphans, torn from the bosom of their natural protectors by the red remorseless hand of Battle, and thrown upon the fatherhood of God. Homes have been made desolate & the light of life in thousands of hearts has been quenched forever. All of this desolation imagination must paint–broken hearts cannot be photographed…” and much more.
In 50 years of selling early newspapers, this issue most powerfully brings home the grief, sorrows, tragedies, realities, and unanswered questions that war inflicts upon a nation. What a difference a photograph can make.
An intriguing irony of American history, only to be found in a newspaper…
June 1, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
There are times when we browse through a newspaper and, while looking for something else, come across an unexpected little gem of American history. And from what we are able to determine, this “little gem” has never been reported to this day.
The “Boston Daily Journal” of April 14, 1865 shares the date of the Lincoln assassination, he attending a performance
of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Page 3 of this newspaper has an advertisement for the Boston Theatre, noting: “This (Friday) Evening Benefit and Positively Last Night of EDWIN BOOTH who will appear as Sir Edward Mortimer…To-Morrow (Saturday Afternoon, Farewell Appearance of EDWIN BOOTH, Who will sustain his Great Character of Hamlet…”.
So what did we find? The very evening that famed actor Edwin Booth was performing in a Boston theater, his younger brother was assassinating the President in a theater less than 400 miles away.
This advertisement, logically, would only be found in a Boston newspaper.
This is similar to another of our blog posts, concerning Lincoln attending a Washington, D.C. stage performance of John Wilkes Booth in 1863, the irony being Lincoln’s assumed applause at the conclusion of the performance for the person who would assassinate him less than 2 years later.
Such tidbits of history are fascinating finds, and could only be discovered in newspapers of the day. So look carefully at the issues you purchase. Will you discover a historical gem that the world knew nothing about?
Pricing newspapers back in the 1970’s…
May 18, 2026 by TimHughes · 23 Comments
In conversations with people about how I started this business, a common question is, “How did you know how to prices newspapers back then?” Well, the short answer is, I didn’t.
This venture started as a hobby with no thought of it turning into a business. But when I started getting too many of a similar title or date, selling off the “unwanteds” became a more common occurrence. My simple thought was, if I had $3 for it, try to sell it for $5. If I did, the price stuck for future issues; if it didn’t, the price dropped to $4.
But this became trickier years later when I was buying for resale but didn’t have enough experience to know what to pay, nor what to price them at. Nor did anyone for that matter, as there were no price guides, nor sufficient auction records to offer a clue.
I was flying by the seat of my pants. If I thought an event was historic, say a major Civil War battle, I would pay the $5 price and increase it by 50% or so. If it sold, then the next time I inched it up a bit more. If it didn’t, I reduced the price a bit. Never knowing how high customers might go for an event, I might have “inched up” the price of an event 15 times over the coarse of 4 or 5 years until there was some resistance. I was careful to keep records of sales through the years–even in the pre-computer days–which was a tremendous assistance in assigning values to the myriad of historical events covering 300 years of history.
Did I sell some great material too cheaply in the early years? I sure did. Looking at some of my earlier catalogs I gladly pay five times the selling price of many items I sold. But it was part of the process. I remember once having a volume of a Las Vegas, New Mexico newspaper from 1881. There must have been 30 or 40 issues with a small “Reward” ad for the capture of Billy the Kid. I think I sold those issues for less than $20 each. After all, if I had 40 of them how rare could they be? Certainly I’ve learned through the years, and became smarter as well.
But we still encounter items which challenged us today. As we continue to find truly rare, almost unique issues it becomes difficult to assign values with no history or prior sales. But these are the fun challenges. As much as you may enjoy finding interesting items in our catalogs, I enjoy finding the unusual to offer.
“I have always gotten more joy from buying newspapers than selling them.”, Tim Hughes (2009).
PS from Guy: Between the internet and the surge of AI, it has never been easier to find “hidden” content and comparable pricing. For collectors who live for the thrill of discovery and have an old newspaper in hand, try using this prompt: “What noteworthy historical coverage is featured in [Newspaper Title] published on [Date]?” You might be amazed by what you find. If you turn up something unique, please share your discovery with the Rare & Early Newspapers community!
This famous Confederate issue, with a contemporary explanation…
May 4, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Over the last 50 years we have sold many genuine issues of the famous “Vicksburg Daily Citizen” issue of July 2 (4), 1863. Its desirability is in the curious background of its creation. If you have received our catalogs through the years, you have likely read of at least one of our offerings, with the details as to how the July 2 issue was left on the press when the Confederates left town when the Yankee forces moved in. As the story goes, Yankee printers found the July 2 issue still on the press, changed the last paragraph to reflect the historic changes that had happened over the previous two days, and printed the paper.
We were not aware until recently that a contemporary issue of the “New York Times” told the story quite well. Page 2 of the August 5, 1863 issue has over a column headed: “The Fall of Vicksburgh” “Last Words of the Vicksburgh Citizen” “A Curious Relic of the Siege”.
The report begins: “When Grant took possession of Vicksburgh, a detachment of the Fifteenth Illinois cavalry visited the office of the ‘Daily Citizen”. They found the number intended for July 2 in type, and the paper all ready for printing, but circumstances had prevented its issue…the paper was very poor wall-paper. The matter was wholly editorial, with the exception of a column and a half of: “Yankee News from all Points” copied from the Memphis Bulletin, a paper which the Citizen says is ‘edited by a pink-nosed, slab-sided, toad-eating Yankee, who is a lineal descendant of Judas Iscariot…” with much more.
Further on, it explains how the last paragraph of the Vicksburg issue came to be: “The Illinois men who visited the office of the ‘Citizen’ thought that this admirable number ought not to be withheld from the subscribers. They set to work at once to print it off, but as it was now the Fourth of July and some changes had taken place since the original editor made up his sheets for the 2d, they brought up the news to date in the following postscript…” , which is the famous paragraph at the bottom of the page that begins: “Two days bring about great changes…”.
The Times article notes in conclusion: “…The copy from which we print the foregoing extracts was furnished to us by Col. Jas. Grant Wilson, of the Fifteenth Illinois cavalry, according to whose request, we have presented to the New York Historical Society.”
Although there are many issues in the realm of rare newspapers that are curious, unusual, or perhaps exceedingly historic in a very unusual way, rarely are collectors treated to a contemporary account of how they came to be. This is one.
“Printing In The Americas” – A reference book for your shelves…
March 2, 2026 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
There are very few reference books which are exclusive to newspapers, so some of the better ones are about printing in general, peppered with historical accounts of newspaper publishing as well.
One of my favorites is such a book, titled “Printing In The Americas” by John Clyde Oswald. Done by the Gregg Publishing Company in 1937 it unfortunately is out of print, however copies can be found on book dealer shelves across the country. With the broad scope of internet sites abebooks.com and alibris.com I suspect it would not be difficult to find a copy.
There are 91 chapters totaling over 560 pages but it can essentially be considered to have three parts. first: a general history of printing in colonial America which includes much on early newspapers; second: a state by state review of the their first printing efforts, most of which were newspapers rather than books or pamphlets; and third: printing history in other countries of the Western hemisphere including Canada, Central America, South America and the West Indies, typically not dealt with in most printing history efforts.
I find the Midwest and Western states to have the most intriguing histories, filled with stories of tragedy & hardship in trying to operate a printing establishment in the wilds of America. There were far more failures than successes. Early printers must certainly have come from hearty and optimistic stock.
While we do not have one to offer, this is a title I would suggest you pursue. Given its format it doesn’t have to be read cover to cover, but rather chapters of interest stand alone as little histories in just a few pages.
Displaying newspapers – Frame to see all four pages…
February 23, 2026 by TimHughes · 4 Comments
Many newspapers lend themselves nicely to framing and display, certainly those with either graphic appeal or a very historic report on the front page. Even better if an issue has both. But display can be problematic when the significant report is on the inside or back page.
The photos show one inventive display option for four page newspapers, which includes almost all from before the 1830’s. This “Pennsylvania Gazette” printed by Ben Franklin has his imprint at the bottom of page 4, and by opening the newspaper and matting both sides, all 4 pages are visible. The matted portion of the display is in the frame trim and hinged to the portion of which hangs on the wall, so by opening the frame all four pages are visible. A magnetic clasp keeps the frame closed while on the wall.
Give this a try for that special issue in your collection which otherwise would be difficult to display.
Perhaps the most experiential collectible?
February 20, 2026 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
My collecting gene kicked in at an early age. At some point when in elementary school I discovered that really old coins could be purchased—wow! I found owning a penny from 50 years before I was born intriguing and fascinating, even though others considered it nothing more than curious. They just didn’t get it.
I pursued the coin-collecting hobby for many years; heck, I still have many I purchased 60 years ago. But I must admit, collecting old coins is certainly not very experiential. There’s a date and a dead guy’s image on the front, and some curious symbol or building on the back. That’s about it. You can “experience” an old coin in about 3.5 seconds.
Some 50 years ago I discovered an old newspaper from 1827 at a flea market priced at $3. It was an epiphanal moment for my collecting passion. Here was something very old that could be enjoyed for more than 3.5 seconds. It was just a four-page newspaper but it must have taken at least 20 minutes to “experience” from beginning to end. News reports, advertisements, curious notes about travel, legal notices, criminal reports—all of it was so different from my experience I was living.
As I relegated my coin collection to a dresser drawer, I pursued more old newspapers from wherever I could find them. Each was a different experience from a different era. Not only were the news reports from the Civil War different from the Revolutionary War, & different from the 1920’s, but the advertisements, notices, and other quaint tidbits were much different as well.
At times I found inconspicuous, benign reports of no historical consequence to be more interesting than the news report which prompted the purchase. A benign listing of the West Point admissions for 1839 which included Ulysses S. Grant can be a fascinating find. After all, who cared about the name Ulysses S. Grant in 1839? Or what about discovering a small classified ad for “Lincoln and Herndon, Attorneys & Counsellors At Law” in an 1857 Illinois newspaper. Did I really care anymore about the report of political troubles in Kansas, the reason for which I purchased the newspaper?
And the capability of discovering intriguing reports—thanks to the internet–adds so much more dimension to early newspapers. It is common to read of fugitive slave reports which include the names of the slave & its owner, neither of which might mean anything to anyone. But a quick check on the internet for “Shadrach Minkins” unveils a fascinating and notable drama on the struggles & horrors of this runaway slave in 1850, greatly enriching the innocuous report by allowing the reader to experience a piece of American history that otherwise would have been easy to pass over.
This is what differentiates old newspapers from the rest of the collectible world. It is dramatically more experiential. What other collectible requires a half hour to fully experience? Stamps? Crocks? Matchbook covers? Furniture? Ink wells? Certainly not.
With an old newspaper, whether it be a $500 issue from the colonial era or an $8 newspaper from 1868, one gets far more than the report that prompted the purchase. Every early newspaper opens up an entire world of experiences just waiting to be discovered.
The reason I collected it: Atlanta Journal 2nd Extra, 1963…
February 9, 2026 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
In the rush to get an ‘extra” edition to the press and on the streets, mistakes can often be made. Such is the case with the “Second Extra” of the JFK assassination issue of The Atlanta Journal. This edition has a curious–if not macabre–combination of headline and photo.
As would be expected of an “Extra” of November 22, 1963, the large & bold headline proclaims: “KENNEDY KILLED”. So far so good. But immediately beneath it is a photo of a street sweeper pushing his trash cart containing a pair of trousers & boots protruding from the top, with the caption: “Sweeper Means What He Says” as if related to the assassination report.
One might excuse the editor, for I’m sure that in rushing this edition to the streets as quickly as possible the planned headline was removed and the Kennedy death report quickly inserted with little thought as to what else was scheduled above the fold that day. Indeed, the “Third Extra” has the same headline but a photo of the Kennedy motorcade immediately after the shooting.
This issue remains one of the more unique & interesting newspapers of the 20th century, earning its right into the private collection. It is also a great example to editors everywhere to be aware of headlines & photos which appear in close proximity.