This Month in History – October…

October 7, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

A continuation of our ongoing series: This Month in History – October Edition

Not to be repetitive, however, we are often asked how we find newspaper reports covering such a wide variety of topics. Part of the answer is simply longevity. We’ve been collecting and offering issues for a half-century, and time itself as helped us amass an extensive database of notable events. Customer requests, what we’ve learned in school, the news, historical books and movies, etc. have all contributed to the cause. However, our capacity for discovery exploded with the development of the internet. Thanks to an abundance of historical websites, we can now search by day, week, month, era, event, and more in our quest to “mine” our archives. One such resource (among many) is The History Place. Through this online database one can find events by the day, week, month, and year.

As each month approaches, we often access this (or a similar) resource to search for new/fresh topics to explore. In our most recent effort, we search for historic events, discovers, accomplishments, etc. which occurred in the month of August. Our results were found here: The History Place – Month of October.

If you take a few moments to scan their index of October events, perhaps you’ll see an overlap between some of those shown and our currently listed newspapers dated in October through time (see below). If you decide to explore, we hope you enjoy.

NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER

 

Announcing: Catalog #347 for October, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…

September 27, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

 

The October catalog (#347) is now available. Shown below are links to various segments of the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.

CATALOG #347 – This latest offering of authentic newspapers is comprised of over 300 new items, a selection which includes the following noteworthy issues: a great issue on Washington’s first inauguration, near final version of the Bill of Rights, a rare Royalist newspaper from New York, Clark’s letter to his brother on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, front page shows Lincoln being assassinated, a rare “camp” newspaper from the field of action, and more.

 

Helpful Links to the Catalog:
————–
DISCOUNTED ISSUES – What remains of last month’s discounted issues may be viewed at: Discount (select items at 50% off) 
————–
Thanks for collecting with us.

 

Sincerely,

 

Guy Heilenman & The Rare & Early Newspapers Team

570-326-1045

[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days

upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]

This Month in History – September…

September 26, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

“History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” (Timothy Hughes, 1975). Exploring events which have occurred in September as they appeared in rare & early newspapers are no exception. To view a selection of over 1000 such reports within the context of additional news of the day, go to:

NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER

 

We missed it – Nellie Bly edition…

September 20, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

No matter how hard our staff at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers tries not to, inevitably we occasionally miss gems buried within the collectible newspapers we offer. Dozens of issues of the New York Tribune left our premises with undiscovered (unsigned) articles by Karl Marx. A real heartbreak was missing one of the first (1st?) published articles by a journalist with the initials S.C. Unfortunately, we were unable to get in touch with the recipient of the newspaper, but we sure hope they discovered this precious, early work from Mark Twain. Today we are aware that many of the issues of The Village Voice which pass through our hands have a good chance of containing an ad for one of the very first appearances of an iconic musician or band. As they say, “it is what it is”. What is it? One of special pleasures of the hobby: discovering unidentified treasures within the pages of old, rare, and historic newspapers.

We’ve mentioned this before, so why bring it up now? IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Not too long ago a collector-friend mentioned they had an issue of The World (Pulitzer’s paper from New York) which contained a puzzle-game based on journalist Nellie Bly’s “Round the World” trip. The (New York) World followed her travels during her glorious excursion and printed the full-page puzzle soon after she returned home. The collector told us the date, and we immediately checked our database to see if we had a monthly volume of The World which spanned the date of the issue. We did. Next, we checked to see if our records revealed a previous sale for the issue? No! So, armed with great enthusiasm we headed off to the archives with anticipation. The volume was about 18 feet off the ground and buried under 5 other volumes (which is always a bit tricky when our feet are not firmly planted on the ground). Still within about 15 minutes from start to finish we were confronted by our worst-case scenario. The volume was present, but the issue was gone. It had very likely sold as a “birthday newspaper” (issues sold primarily to be used to give as gifts to recipients which highlight they day they were born). Bummer.

One may wonder how we could we have missed something so large… and so precious. Actually, it was as easy as 1, 2, 3 (or if you prefer, a, b, c):

  1. (a) We had no idea such an item existed, so we weren’t looking for it.
  2. (b) The sale probably took place prior to the ramp-up of the internet, so we didn’t have the capacity to make even a generalized search for content.
  3. (c) We would have been reluctant to page through the issue looking for special items since many newspapers from this era are rather brittle – and the puzzle-game was on an inside page.

Does this upset us? Not really. This aspect is one of the traits which make this collectible so rewarding.

Note: You can read more about Nellie Bly here and find a free downloadable high-resolution digital print of the puzzle here.

Announcing: Catalog #346 for September, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…

August 30, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

 

The September catalog (#346) is now available. Shown below are links to various segments of the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.

CATALOG #346 – This latest offering of authentic newspapers is comprised of more than 300 new items, a selection which includes the following noteworthy issues: the Constitution of the United States in an American newspaper, a great issue on the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Lincoln’s famous Cooper Union speech, an American newspaper dated 1735, a wonderful political cartoon on the Revolutionary War, a 1666 newspaper with Great Fire of London content, and more.

 

Helpful Links to the Catalog:
————–
DISCOUNTED ISSUES – What remains of last month’s discounted issues may be viewed at: Discount (select items at 50% off) 
————–
Thanks for collecting with us.

 

Sincerely,

 

Guy Heilenman & The Rare & Early Newspapers Team

570-326-1045

[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days

upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]

This Month in History – August…

August 5, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

We often are asked how we find newspaper reports covering such a wide variety of topics. Part of the answer is simply longevity. We’ve been collecting and offering issues for a half-century, and time itself as helped us amass an extensive database of notable events. Customer requests, what we’ve learned in school, the news, historical books and movies, etc. have all contributed to the cause. However, our capacity for discovery exploded with the development of the internet. Thanks to an abundance of historical websites, we can now search by day, week, month, era, event, and more in our quest to “mine” our archives. One such resource (among many) is The History Place. Through this online database one can find events by the day, week, month, and year.

As each month approaches we often access this (or a similar) resource to search for new/fresh topics to explore. In our most recent effort, we search for historic events, discovers, accomplishments, etc. which occurred in the month of August. Our results were found here: The History Place – Month of August.

If you take a few moments to scan their index of August events, perhaps you’ll see an overlap between some of those shown and our currently listed newspapers dated in August through time (see below). If you decide to explore, we hope you enjoy.

NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN AUGUST

 

Announcing: Catalog #345 for August, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…

August 2, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

 

The August catalog (#345) is now available. Shown below are links to various segments of the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.

CATALOG #345 – This latest offering of authentic newspapers is comprised of more than 300 new items, a selection which includes the following noteworthy issues: “Virginia Gazette” from Williamsburg (1775), a very rare title – “The American Gazette” (1776), “The Pennsylvania Gazette” with Ben Franklin’s imprint, the historic “Funding Act” of 1790, the “Townshend Act” of 1767, Thomas Paine’s “American Crisis” essay, and more.

 

Helpful Links to the Catalog:
————–
DISCOUNTED ISSUES – What remains of last month’s discounted issues may be viewed at: Discount (select items at 50% off) 
————–
Thanks for collecting with us.

 

Sincerely,

 

Guy Heilenman & The Rare & Early Newspapers Team

570-326-1045

[The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days

upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.]

The reason I collected it: The Spirit of ’76…

July 29, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

I have always been intrigued by newspapers with unusual, huge, patriotic, or simply beautiful mastheads. They always make for very displayable items.

This issue from New York, dated September 3, 1835, certainly fits the patriotic category and was added to the private collection for that reason. It features a heraldic eagle with a 7 1/2 inch wingspan, a scroll reading “The Spirit of ’76” in its beak, the US. flag in its talons, and a small portrait of George Washington.
A quite rare title as this is the only issue we have located in our approx. half-century of collecting. It appears to have lasted for just one year, this being the volume 1, number 113 issue. I only wish we had hundreds more!

Deciding which newspapers to offer – Bond Hall Explosion edition…

July 26, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

We are often asked how we decide which newspapers from our archives to collect and/or offer to other collectors. The answer is quite involved. Is it rare, and if so, is it desirable? Is it historic? A large portion of collectible issues relate to the plethora of events we all learned about in grade school. Does it tell of a sports or political milestone… a broken record… a tragedy… a discovery… an invention? Does it have content related to another collectible (ex., model train enthusiasts love to add newspapers featuring coverage of the development of the railroad). If the answer to any of these questions (and similar) is yes, chances are the newspaper will have value to a collector of historic newspapers. Requests from collectors are also a great way to discover new issues to offer, as are movie releases, current events which relate to the past, and new books (both non- and historical fiction).

One of my favorite “reasons” for exploring our archives in the hopes of finding something new to collect and/or to offer to others is the latter: historical fiction. I think part of the fun for me is discovering whether or not a particular event I read about is more “historical” or more “fiction”.

This trek was recently inspired when I became aware of author Michelle Collins Anderson’s new novel, “The Flower Sisters”.
A review by journalist James Gardener included in part: ““The Flower Sisters” is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of history, memory, and storytelling. Join Daisy Flowers on her quest for truth and justice”.

The outcome? The photo below from an issue of the Kansas City Journal for April 15, 1928 reveals what I surmised by a brief internet search. How horrible. Unfortunately, the cause still remains a mystery.

Note: What’s a Zizzer? A town can often be defined by a single sensational event – be it tragic (in this instance), historical (Williamsburg, VA), spectacular (Aspen, Colorado), etc. It is easy to forget that these locations have much more to explore than these single moments in time. While the Bond Dance Hall was truly horrific, there is no doubt those who have lived there over time see much more. Feel free to learn more about West Plains, Missouri at: West Plains. Perhaps “Zizzer” will become part of your vocabulary. Randon thought: I wonder if Dick Van Dyke ever had a local Zizzer?

 

The July (2024) Newsletter from Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers…

July 19, 2024 by · Leave a Comment 

Welcome to the July, 2024 edition of our monthly newsletter. This month we continue with our focus on the History’s Newsstand blog. Additional links will take you to two sets of discounted items, new “bonus” items added to the July catalog, and a special offer (free issue) for members (see last item below). Please enjoy.

Discounted Newspapers (50% off) – Over 100 new items have been discounted through Thursday, August 15th. They may be viewed through the following links:

All Discounted Issues

Pre-1800 (50% off)

1800 – 1860 (50% off)

1861 – 1899 (50% off)

1900 – 1945 (50% off)

Post-1946 (50% off)

Last Month’s Discount – The June discount has been extended through Monday, July 22nd. They may still be purchased at: June’s Set of Discounted Items

New Items Added to Catalog 344 – Since Catalog 344 went to print we’ve added over 40 additional issues. The list of new items may be viewed at:

Catalog 344 – “New Items”

Catalog 344 – Entire Catalog

Recent Posts on the History’s Newsstand Blog:

Sometimes you just know what it means – The Spirit of ’76…

The revered Sept. 15, 1790 issue of the Gazette of the U. S. – The back story…

Don’t try this at home… or ANYWHERE for that matter!

The Founding Documents – the Bill of Rights edition…

This Month in History – July…

The Power of Music… Classics Never go out of Style!

Inspiration Comes in All Shapes, Sizes & Stories…

Special Offer for Members – We are offering a free issue of Harper’s Weekly dated 150 years ago. We will randomly select an issue of Harper’s Weekly Illustrated from 1874 and send it for no charge (other than the cost for shipping ($10 to U.S. destinations), but for only $1 additional S&H if added on to an order for other items). Issues may have small binding holes in the centerfold (typical), foxing, or slight wear, but they will not be damaged.

Free Harper’s Weekly from 1874

As always, thanks for collecting with us!
Sincerely,
Guy & Laura Heilenman & the entire Rare Newspapers Team
(including our “founder”, Tim Hughes)
570-326-1045

Next Page »