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Condition and pricing…
October 10, 2011 by TimHughes · 3 Comments
Many collectors may wonder what the relationship is between the condition of a newspaper and its price. Obviously the condition of a newspaper is subjective, and some problems bother some collectors more than others. But for issues offered through our company here are my thoughts as to how I price our newspapers:
* “Natural” faults are less of a problem than human-created. By this I mean problems with foxing (a darkening of portions due to the natural aging of the chemicals in the paper or the environment in which the newspaper was stored), folds, and minor edge tears. Such disfigurements are to be expected with newspapers of a certain age, and if considerable do affect the price but less so than other disfigurements. Even water staining I would consider a natural fault and can be excused as something to be expected and a minor problem if not causing loss of readability.
* Human-created disfigurements would include old tape mends & stains, trimming at the margins such that letters or words are partially shaved (caused when the bindery cuts too close to the text), lengthy tears into text, holes, portions clipped, etc. Such problems are annoying & could have been avoided with better care and I tend to discount the price of a newspaper more liberally than newspapers with natural faults. How much? It depends on the degree of the problem, so subjectivity is very important. If a newspaper has a noteworthy report which is not affected by the damage, it would be discounted less than had the notable report been affected. A small 2 by 1 inch piece clipped from the back leaf would be discounted less than a 2 by 10 inch clipped issue. A disfigurement to an inside page might result in a minimal price adjustment if the issue is offered for the displayability of the front page.
* Irregular margins, caused when a newspaper is improperly removed from a bound volume, will result in lowered values if the irregularity causes loss of type. Most irregular margins involve only the blank spine & the price adjustment would be minimal.
* Some damaged issues are relegated to our damaged pile to be sold in lots of 100 or more at a discounted price. But rare or historic issues are offered individually & priced according to the damage. Many collectors are attracted to damaged, discounted newspapers as they provide an opportunity for rare or historic reports at a much lower cost.
* Particularly bothersome to me are issues which are close-trimmed. Had the worker doing the trimming at the bindery been more carefully such faults could easily be avoided.
* Less bothersome are wear problems with “never bound” newspapers. Such issues are in their natural state as provided to the subscriber or sold on the newsstand, and logically tend to be more worn than issues taken from bound volumes. Such natural wear, when minimal, adds a certain patina to the item and would not detract from its value. For serious collectors, never-bound issues are preferable to issues from bound volume, but tend to be considerably less common.
* Guillotined issues, which are mechanically cut cleanly at the spine to facilitate microfilming, is a minor disfigurement if ample spine margin remains. Depending on the issue we might rejoin the issue at the spine with glue, rejoin using archival tape, or simply keep the issue loose.
* Repairing issues can be controversial. Some believe in repairing tears and others prefer they be left as is. In general I tend to repair rather than not repair. My primary reason is to prevent further tearing which can occur when a leaf is turned, as a tear is a weak spot which often gets worse when handling. We use a very thin strip of archival tape which does not stain and is almost invisible if properly used. When an issue is extensively repaired mention is made in the description. A newspaper’s price may be affected when archivally repaired, depending on the extensiveness of such repairs.
How Sitting Bull got his name…
October 8, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
This interesting tidbit appeared in the “Pittsfield Sun“, Massachusetts, March 16, 1881 issue:
Newspaper publisher shows his bias…
October 1, 2011 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
This curious item appeared in “The Weekly Crescent City” newspaper from New Orleans, August 15, 1841. He goes to some length to show the value in paying for a subscription…
Few things change in politics…
September 24, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
It’s interesting how, in some aspects of life, few things change over hundreds of years. Complaints about politicians not focusing on substantive issues was a problem back in 1790, in just the second year of the American federal government, as this article from the July 3, 1790 “Pennsylvania Packet“ of Philadelphia, clearly shows…
Before he would become “infamous”…
September 17, 2011 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
Although the front page of “The New York Times” of Nov. 23, 1864 contains various reports on the Civil War as would be expected, the most intriguing item in this newspaper is an inconspicuous advertisement for a theatrical performance at the Winter Garden theater on page 7.
A one night performance was set for November 25 to benefit the Shakespeare Statue Fund. The performance featured the three Booth brothers, well known in the theatrical community: Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes. This was the only time that the Booth brothers would appear on stage together.
Of course little did anyone know that less than five months later John Wilkes Booth would become one the more infamous names in American history with his assassination of Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
It is always fascinating to find mentions of notables in American history before they would become famous—or infamous.
Where is Polypotamia today?
September 12, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “Maryland Gazette” of April 30, 1784 includes a small yet fascinating report from Congress that ten new states cut out of the Western Territory had bee created, but none of the states are as we know them today.
Through the information provided by QalaBist.com we learn that the state of Sylvania was proposed to include much of present-day Minnesota, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and some of northern Wisconsin. The State of Michigania was proposed to include most of Wisconsin, but nothing of Michigan. The State of Chersonesus (the Greek word for peninsula) was proposed to include most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The State of Assenispia (named after the Assenisipi River, also known as the Rock River.) was proposed to include the northern part of modern-day Indiana. The State of Metropotamia was proposed to include southern Michigan and parts of northern Ohio and Illinois. The State of Illinoia was proposed to include most of Illinois. The State of Saratoga was proposed to include most of Indiana. The State of Washington was proposed to include most of Ohio. The State of Polypotamia was proposed to include most of western Kentucky. The State of Pelisipia was proposed to include most of eastern Kentucky.
A fascinating piece of American history not known by most.
Actual headlines…
September 10, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
We offer thanks to fellow collector Morris Brill for some of the following headlines which appeared in recent newspapers:
“Iraqi Head Seeks Arms”
“Cold Wave Linked To Temperatures”
“Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge”
“Many Antiques At Senior Citizens’ Sale”
“Lack of Brains Hinders Research””
“Prisoners Escape After Execution”
“No Cause of Death Determined Fro Beheading Victim”
“Teacher Dies; Board Accepts His Resignation”
“Experts Are Sure The Dow Will Either Rise Or Decline”
“Lucky Man Sees Friend Die”
“Voluntary Workers Strike For Higher Pay”
The Civil War… September 7, 1861…
September 7, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
This week we continue with the new format for our reflection upon the Civil War events of 150 years ago… as seen through the eyes of the original readers of the Harper’s Weekly issue printed for September 7, 1861. As mentioned in a previous post, Dr. James Robertson did a weekly review for the reprint edition of the “Harper’s Weekly” which provides much insight into the events of the day and scholarly commentary on both the illustrations and reporting in the newspaper.
The Virginia Tech website provides the credentials of Dr. James Roberson:
“One of the most distinguished names in Civil War history, Dr. Robertson was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission and worked with Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson in marking the war’s 100th anniversary. Today his Civil War Era course at Virginia Tech, which attracts 300 students per semester, is the largest of its kind in the nation.
The Danville, Va., native is the author or editor of more than 20 books that include such award-winning studies as “Civil War! America Becomes One Nation”, “General A.P. Hill”, and “Soldiers Blue and Gray”. His massive biography of Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson won eight national awards and was used as the base for the Ted Turner/Warner Bros. mega-movie, “Gods and Generals”. Robertson was chief historical consultant for the film.”
Dr. James Roberson’s commentary:
Escape from the zoo…
September 5, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “New York Herald” of Nov. 9, 1874 had a very lengthy article reporting an “Awful Calamity” “The Wild Animals Broken Loose from the Central Park” with many other one column headlines. This full page article–with considerable detail–reports that all the animals had escaped their cages & were roaming free in the park, leaving dozens of people “…mutilated, trampled, and injured…” not to mention killed.
The problem was it never happened. At the very end the writer admits it’s a completely made up version of what might happen if conditions in the zoo aren’t improved. But how many people read all the way to the end of this very lengthy article? Apparently not many considering the panic which gripped New Yorkers that day. The entire city fell into a frenzy before finding out that it was all a hoax. (credit “Ephemeral New York”)
This much abbreviated report in this post was taken from the “New York World” issue of Jan. 13, 1888. See the hyperlink for the lengthier, original report found in the “Herald” of 1874.
A fascinating hoax issue which resulted in real-life panic:
Another cure for baldness…
September 3, 2011 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
This advertisement for “Graham’s Glass Vacuum Cap” appeared in the Oct. 7, 1905 issue of “Scientific American“. It proclaims: “See Your Hair Grow”. The instructions say that: “…when you have caused a good, healthy, red glow in the scalp…” it will cause hair to grow. I would think a red, glowing scalp would be a sign of other problems…