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Announcing: Catalog #262 (for September, 2017) is now available…
September 1, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 262, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of nearly 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:
• Newsbook dated 1548
• Boston newspaper with a report on the Battle of Bunker Hill
• A more rare edition of the Herald on Lincoln’s assassination
• Washington’s inaugural address
• Illustration shows the Lincoln assassination
• Confederate newspaper from Houston, Texas
To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 262
(The catalog links shown above will redirect to the latest catalog in approximately 30 days.)
The (now) controversial Robert E. Lee monument unveiled in Richmond (1890)…
August 28, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
Whether or not the Robert E. Lee monument will remain in Richmond has yet to be determined, but considering the controversy, we thought it might be interesting to post the original Harper’s Weekly report from June 14, 1890 concerning the unveiling of the monument. The link provides the full text related to the image. The text reads, in part:
“The occasion of the unveiling of the Lee statue at Richmond, Virginia, on the 29th of May, possessed features that render it unique in history. It was a mighty tribute to the central figure of a lost-cause, attended by an undercurrent of satisfaction even that the cause was lost… The Confederate flag was everywhere conspicuously displayed… The military companies affectionately bore it in the line of march, but with it they bore the Stars and Stripes, and bore them loyally. The paradox is explainable only by the fact that the former no longer meant disunion… The opinion has with much reason been expressed that the occasion of such magnitude as the one described, with reference to the late Confederacy, is not likely ever to be repeated. General Lee personified what was best in a bad cause. His individual virtues gave the Southern people, who craved a demonstration commemorative of an indelible epoch in their lives, some substantial and unquestioningly credible to rally around. The honor to the hero of their vain struggle has been paid, and the full conditions for another gathering are wanting. It may therefore by surmised that in the great outpouring of the ex-Confederates at Richmond the final obsequies of the war of session have taken place, and the circumstances attending it show how completely the wounds of conflict have been healed, and a mist important chapter of American history closed. AMOS W. WRIGHT
Ticktock, ticktock, ticktock, ticktock…
August 14, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What do Grace Kelly, Gene Kelly, Lillian Gish, Ruby Keeler, Gergory Peck, Henry Fonda, Stanley Kubrick, Madeline Kahn, DeForest Kelley, Fay Wray, Michael Landon, Dalton Trumbo, Sal Mineo, Robert Mitchum, 
Anne Baxter, Rock Hudson, Orson Welles, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo, John Candy, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Perkins, Audrey Hepburn, Liberace, Cab Calloway, John Candy, Marlene Dietrich, Dean Martin, Orson Wells, Anne Baxter, Ava Gardner, William Holden, Ginger Rogers, Lana Turner, Gilda Radner, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Cary Grant, Mary Pickford, Bette Davis, Natalie Wood, Robert Shaw, Alfred Hitchcock, Andy Kaufman, Jackie Gleason, Charlie Chaplin, Joan Crawford, John Belushi, Jimmy Stewart, and Steve McQueen all have in common? Answer: There was a time when they were each on top of the world – adored by millions, and thanks to the silver screen’s ability to capture them in their prime, they seemed as if they would live forever. However, truth be told, the clock strikes midnight for everyone – regardless of their fame.
Over the past few months this reality was brought home to the staff at Rare & Early Newspapers as we discovered the death reports of some of the most famous Hollywood celebrities of all time – nearly all within Los Angeles newspapers. As Mark Twain not-so-subtly revealed through Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, and Frank Capra reinforced through the eyes of George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart – shown above) in It’s A Wonderful Life, sometimes a glimpse at the brevity of life can be a healing, re-purposing salve for the soul. With this in mind, please enjoy(?): Death Reports of the Hollywood Famous
Announcing: Catalog #261 (for August, 2017) is now available…
August 2, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 261, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of nearly 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:
• Phillis Wheatley letter in a 1774
• Deadwood newspaper with mention of Wild Bill Hickok
• New York Times reporting Lincoln’s assassination
• Newsbook dated 1609
• Quebec Gazette from 1775
• First “Confederate” newspaper to report Lincoln’s assassination
To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 261
(The catalog links shown above will redirect to the latest catalog in approximately 30 days.)
Announcing: Catalog #260 (for July, 2017) is now available…
July 3, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 260, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of nearly 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:
• Period printing of the Declaration of Independence…
• Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address…
• Dealing with the hated tea tax…
• Washington’s Farewell Address…
• First report of Lincoln’s assassination…
• Displayable Battle of Gettysburg issue…
To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 260
(The catalog links shown above will redirect to the latest catalog in approximately 30 days.)
A June, 2017 stroll back thru time – 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 years ago…
June 12, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of June, exactly 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago (1967, 1917, 1867, 1817, 1767)? Such a walk back through time via the eyes of those who read the daily and weekly newspapers of the period can be quite revealing. This is why we often say, “History is never more fascinating than when it’s read from the day it was first reported.” The following links will take you back in time to show the available newspapers from the Rare & Early newspapers website. There’s no need to buy a thing. Simply enjoy the stroll.
Death of Button Gwinnett: rare find in an American newspaper…
June 8, 2017 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The name “Button Gwinnett” is one most have never heard, yet his signature remains perhaps the most rare and valuable of all Declaration of Independence signers.
Why? He was a relatively obscure figure prior to the war, and he died less than a year after signing the Declaration. Those who like to assemble a complete set of signatures of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence need his signature, and only ten are known to exist in private hands.
The reason for his early death after the 4th of July is a duel. He had disagreements with a rival military commander, Lachlan McIntosh, concerning a military defeat in Florida. Gwinnett & McIntosh blamed each other for the defeat and McIntosh publicly called Gwinnett “a scoundred and lying rascal.” Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to a duel which was fought on May 16, 1777. They exchanged pistol shots at 12 paces, both wounded, with Gwinnett dying of his wounds 3 days later.
The July 24, 1777 issue of the “Continental Journal” newspaper from Boston provides a very rare report of Gwinnett’s death by duel. This is the first we have encountered in an American newspaper.
Great to find an obscure report about an equally obscure but notable name from the Revolutionary War era.
Announcing: Catalog #259 (for June, 2017) is now available…
June 1, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · 2 Comments
Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 259, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of nearly 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:
• Anti-slavery periodical by Frederick Douglass
• Treaty of peace ending the Revolutionary War
• Perhaps the best issue on the end of the Civil War
• Historic printing of the Star Spangled Banner
• Graphic issue on the Lincoln assassination
• Perhaps the finest baseball print in a periodical
To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 259
(The catalog links shown above will redirect to the latest catalog in approximately 30 days.)
“A self-worth reality check… Isaac Newton edition”
May 22, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
“How valuable am I?” “Am I indispensable?” “Will I be remembered when I’m gone?” Truth be told, if our value, degree of indispensability, and/or staying power in regards to remaining in the forefront of people’s minds is what determines our ultimate worth, we’re all in big trouble. This point was recently brought home when our staff discovered Isaac Newton’s burial report in a London Gazette dated March 30, 1727. As is typical, once discovered, we began to search the issues surrounding it for additional mentions of him, and quickly unearthed an article in the very next issue which hit us like a ton of bricks. By the time this follow-up issue went to print, Isaac Newton’s position and office had already been filled! No multi-week vigil. No adherence to mourning-etiquette before filling his shoes. No appreciation for his abundance of contributions to humanity through the claiming of his “space” as a memorial. No tour-bus route altered to include the very office where he likely pondered, explored, and then detailed some of the greatest thoughts of man. No! Within less than a week his position and office were filled, and life moved on. Quite sobering isn’t it. I don’t know about you, but this tandem of events reminds me of my own mortality, and the need for a worth which reaches beyond life’s veil. Please “enjoy” both reports shown below.
Announcing: Catalog #258 – for May, 2017 – is now available…
May 4, 2017 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Rare Newspapers’ monthly offering of collectible newspapers, Catalog 258, is now available. This latest collection of authentic newspapers is comprised of more than 350 new items. Some of the noteworthy content includes:
• John Peter Zenger’s famous New York Weekly Journal dated 1734
• The famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline
• Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
• Rare “View of Boston” plate from 1787
• Washington proclaims an end to the Revolutionary War
• New Jersey’s first newspaper (from 1780)
To view the above key issues and a whole lot more, go to: Catalog 258
(This catalog link shown above will expire in approximately 30 days.)