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This Month in History – December…
December 2, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
One of the most popular topics collectors of Rare & Early Newspapers seek are those with war reports. Due to the nature of the human condition, they are in relative abundance. However, primarily due to poor weather conditions often present in the month of December, such reporting does not dominate the news as much as during warmer months. So, what is a collector to collect during this month? Feel free to peruse the link below to see a host of other topics which collectors have found to be desirable. Sadly, war reporting will also be interspersed throughout.
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER
Announcing: Catalog #349 for December, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers for collectors…
November 29, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[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 Spy…
November 14, 2024 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Sometimes newspapers are just so odd that they defy description, and when we encounter such, they were added to the private collection.
One such title is “The Spy” (see below), or as noted inside “The Village Spy”. The masthead does not include a city or state of publication, other than: “Printed In Recluse” and the date: May 13, 1824. Printed on page two the title is actually: “The Village Spy” noting the publication place as: “City of Mud” along with the date.
This is the volume 1, number 7 issue, about which we can find nothing online. Noted in the masthead: “Edited by Gen. Consequence, and His Associates”.
This would appear to be an early comic or satirical newspaper. All of the front page is a play: “…to be performed soon at some place in the city of Mud.” Other odd notes take up pages 2, 3 and 4 including two poems.
We offer this post to allow others to do a bit of investigation if they find this intriguing, or perhaps someone already knows of this newspaper?
This Month in History – November…
November 4, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Let’s have some fun. Go to The History Place and pick three events which capture your attention. Limit yourself to 3 minutes.
… (waiting)
… (waiting)
… (waiting)
Welcome back. So, which events did you select?
Mine were:
November 1, 1848 – The first medical school for women opened in Boston. [Why did it take so long?]
November 4, 1922 – King Tut’s tomb was discovered at Luxor, Egypt. [“I see dead people.”]
November 6, 1860 – Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16th U.S. President and the first Republican. [I’m sure we all picked this low-hanging fruit.]
Bonus selection: I would have said: “November 5, 1733 – The first issue of the New York Weekly Journal was published by John Peter Zenger, a colonial American printer and journalist. A year later, he was arrested on charges of libeling New York’s royal governor.”, but that may have come across a bit self-serving.
I’m sure if I had started at the middle or end of the list I would likely have a different “top three”. Furthermore, to be fair, the task was not served fairly by the time constraint. Oh well.
Although some of the events in their list may not have had corresponding reports within contemporary newspapers, my guess is more than a few did – and while each can be explored online, it is only through “rare & early newspapers” they can be easily pursued in context. Albeit not to Biblical proportions, context matters.
If your interest has been piqued, the following link will take you to an abundance of available newspapers containing reports of events which occurred in the month of November:
NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN NOVEMBER
Announcing: Catalog #348 for November, 2024 – Rare & Early Newspapers…
November 1, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The November catalog (#348) 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.
1) Catalog #348 (for November): This latest offering of authentic newspapers is comprised of over 300 new items, a selection which includes the following noteworthy issues: Lincoln’s famous ‘House Divided’ speech, a significant ‘pillar cartoon’: the Constitution is in effect, the death of Benjamin Franklin, a rare political cartoon on the Boston Port Bill, the King declares Americans free & independent, and more.
The following links are designed to help you explore all available items from this latest edition of our catalog:
- The Complete November Catalog (includes wholesale lots and ongoing listings)
1500-1799 (full view OR quick-scan/compact view)
1800-1899 (full view OR quick-scan/compact” view)
1900-Present (full view OR quick-scan/compact” view)
- Combined Catalogs (November’s, w/ remnants of the previous)
- PDF Version of the November Catalog
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DISCOUNTED ISSUES – What remains of last month’s discounted issues may be viewed at: Discount (select items at 50% off)
HISTORY’S NEWSSTAND – Recent Posts on the History’s Newsstand Blog may be accessed at: History’s Newsstand
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[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 – October…
October 7, 2024 by GuyHeilenman · 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 GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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[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 GuyHeilenman · 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 GuyHeilenman · 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):
- (a) We had no idea such an item existed, so we weren’t looking for it.
- (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.
- (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. 
“Just a Moment Before”… The Wild West is Romanticized…
September 2, 2024 by Laura Heilenman · Leave a Comment
Our lives are filled with “Just a Moment Before” instances – the brief seconds, minutes, or day right before we hear either good or bad news which changes our lives forever. From dramatic events to small, nuanced changes, our life’s path is littered with turning points. On July 26, 1881, a newspaper editor set about his daily work of printing the day’s news in THE TOMBSTONE EPITAPH, without any inkling of what he would be printing exactly 3 months later.
“Few could argue for a more recognizable title from the Old West, nor could any town be more linked to the romance of the West than this one. Tombstone is steeped in Western lore, and the several movies done concerning the gunfight at the O.K. Corral have kept this town in popular culture.” ~ Tim Hughes
But on this July day, the editor only gave brief mention to the Earp brothers, with a page 3 legal notice for a mining claim beginning: “United States Land Office…Notice is hereby given that Robert J. Winders for himself and his co-claimants, Virgil W. Earp, Wyatt [misspelled at Eyatt] S. Earp, and James C. Earp, whose post office address is Tombstone, Cochise county…”
Little did he know that just 3 short months later he would be printing a defining moment in the epic drama of the United States’ Wild West era.