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Poetic analogy from the battlefield…
June 12, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The “Bradford Reporter” newspaper from the small town of Towanda, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1863, contains: “The Story of Two Bullets” which provides a somewhat poetic analogy to a hopeful conclusion to the Civil War.
One never knows what will be found…
June 7, 2010 by TimHughes · 4 Comments
I suspect I have reflected several times upon the great wealth of interesting information which can be found in a seemingly “generic” issue. Recently I came across an item which was unfound for over 30 years until time permitted a closer look.
I have always touted the value of London’s “Gentleman’s Magazine” as a great periodical, as few world events of the 18th century escaped its pages, including American events from after the Revolutionary War. As a title which has always be somewhat common in a relative sense, when American titles of the 18th century have become almost impossible to find, key issues in “Gentleman’s Magazine” offer an excellent opportunity to add period, historic reports to a collection at a relatively modest cost.
Admittedly, volumes of this title have become more difficult to come by in recent years, prompting us to take a closer look at some issues which used to go out the door almost as quickly as they came in. The June, 1790 issue was seemingly just another innocuous magazine from the post-war era, and which I suspect we sold dozens of times for $15 to $25 or so. But a week ago I took a more careful look and found an excellent obituary of Benjamin Franklin, taking over 1 1/2 pages, even including is very famous self-written obituary which includes: “The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer, like the cover of an old book, its content torn out & stript of its lettering & gilding, lies here food for worms…”.
You may have purchased this June, 1790 issue from us in years past. If you have, take a look at pages 571-3 and elevate the status of this issue from generic to significant. Even with this wonderful content, we still offer this issue for less than 1/3 the price of comparable reports in American newspapers.
I wonder how many other significant issues we’ve sold over the past 34 years not fully knowing what was inside? Hopefully you have discovered some gems which escaped my eye….it’s all part of the thrill of collecting!
Letter from the “dead”…
June 5, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
The San Francisco “Daily Herald” newspaper dated March 30, 1854 has a brief report headed “Not Dead” (see below). It is reminiscent of the more famous–although much later–quote by Mark Twain in 1897 in which an illness of his cousin was confused with him, prompting him to write: “…The report of my illness grew out of his illness, the report of my death was an exaggeration.” 
The Traveler… Let the journeys begin…
June 3, 2010 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
After reading Tim’s recent blog posting on digging into an article that was not the “meat and potatoes” of the issue, I decided it would be interesting and intriguing to see what could be found within issues 100, 200 or 300 years ago. As we work with the newspapers, we are constantly being side-tracked with different articles and advertisements that catch our eye and these will be share with you from time to time. Welcome to This Day In History…
On June 3, 1910, within the issue of the Christian Science Monitor (Boston), I found the amazing news reporting of the round-trip aviation feat of flying across the English Channel — a total of 53 miles as Capt. Charles Rolls took it upon himself to circle twice over Sangatte before his return flight to Dover. And to think that we are actually flying to space stations and landing just like an ordinary flight!
However, another intriguing article was of a young Cossack woman who had started to ride from Hargin, Manchuria to St. Petersburg on a Mongolian pony. The distance was 5,420 miles. I wonder if she ever made it??
As I was about to put the issue down I also happened to notice a mention of the famous aviation pioneer, Glen Curtiss. Who knows what other “treasures” might be buried within this issue???
~The Traveler
First newspapers in Massachusetts…
May 31, 2010 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
It would be of no surprise that Massachusetts has the longest history of newspaper publishing anywhere in the colonies. The very first printing press in the colonies was set up there, and by 1690 a newspaper was published in Boston, “Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick”, but lasting but a single issue. In November of 2008 I did a post specifically on this title so I won’t dwell on this effort other than to say that it lasted but a single issue before being suppressed.
It was not for another fourteen years that Bartholomew Green, of the very famous Green family of printers, had the honor of printing the first newspaper to be permanently established in the colonies, the Boston “News-Letter“. Green published it for the owner, John Campbell, for 18 years and when Campbell retired Green & his successors continued the publication until the evacuation of Boston 1776, at which point the newspaper ceased.
The third newspaper in Massachusetts, also in Boston, was the famed “Boston Gazette“, printed for owner William Brooker by James Franklin, elder brother to Benjamin. This newspaper started on Dec. 21, 1719 and when sold James Franklin decided to begin a newspaper of his own. The “New-England Courant” began Aug. 7,1721 and it was on this project that Benjamin Franklin gained his apprenticeship as a printer. He would then move to Philadelphia, buy the Pennsylvania Gazette, and the rest is, well, history.
So it was that the first three newspapers in the American colonies were all published in Boston, although it was a close call. The first newspaper outside of Boston, the “American Weekly Mercury“, began in Philadelphia on Dec. 22, 1719, just one day after the “Boston Gazette“.
A witty five year-old…
May 29, 2010 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
This item appeared n the “Santa Cruz Sentinel“, California, on April 18, 1871:
Digital newspaper archives…
May 27, 2010 by GuyHeilenman · 1 Comment
Many collectors of historic newspapers often collect issues based upon desired content. If the content is relatively common or is within a clearly defined (and small) time frame, finding issues to collect may not be too difficult. However, if the desired content appeared within issues only occasionally and/or over large spans of time, finding desired issues can be quite difficult. For example, if someone is looking for issues with Moon landing content, since the dates are precise, the task of location issues can be easy. In contrast, if what is being collected are pre-1800 mentions of Georgia, the task can be quite daunting.
However, with the continued growth of the internet also comes ever increasing access to digital archives of newspapers from throughout the world. While some are only available for a fee, the quantity of free archives continues to soar. Wikipedia has begun to assemble a list of both types. It can be viewed at:
Wikipedia: List of online newspaper archives
Maryland’s first newspapers…
May 24, 2010 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
The first two newspapers published in Maryland were both done in Annapolis, and both titled “Maryland Gazette“. The earlier of the two was presumed to have started on Sept. 16, 1727 based upon the earliest issue located, that of December 10, 1728, issue number 65. It was also the first newspaper south of Pennsylvania. It was published by William Parks until sometime in 1734, the last issue located being Nov. 29, 1734. During a portion of this 7 year enterprise however, the newspaper was in suspension as William Parks was in England, but upon his return in Dec., 1732 he revived the paper (along with partner Edmund Hall) under the title of “The Maryland Gazette Reviv’d “.
The second “Maryland Gazette” in Annapolis was established by Jonas Green on Jan. 17, 1745. This proved to be a much more successful venture, the title lasting well into the 19th century. During the Stamp Act the newspaper was suspended for a time, the issue of Oct. 10, 1765 headed: “The Maryland Gazette, Expiring: In uncertain Hopes of a Resurrection to Life again.”
Baltimore’s first newspaper was not until “Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette; or the Baltimore General Advertiser” which began on May 2, 1775, it lasting until 1792 although interrupted from 1779 to 1783 while the printer was in Annapolis, where he established the fourth newspaper with “The Maryland Gazette” in its title and the third so titled in Annapolis.
Thankfully no arboreal collaborators…
May 22, 2010 by TimHughes · 1 Comment
The following brief item appeared in “The Daily Picayune” of March 4, 1845. I’m not sure what the last sentence is meant to imply but it adds a comical note for the modern reader:
Values for first section only newspapers…
May 20, 2010 by TimHughes · 2 Comments
Fellow collector Morris Brill asks a question which may be on many collectors’ minds:
“If a collector has only the first section of a newspaper containing the reporting of the entire historic event how much is the monetary and collector value depreciated because the entire paper is not available? Is it worthwhile to collect a ‘first section’ only newspaper?”
In my opinion, there is not much decrease in value for not having the entire newspaper if the complete report of the “event” is contained within the first section. Some newspapers–particularly Sunday editions–can be extremely bulky with nothing but superfluous material, so it is not surprising that, in many cases, only first sections were saved.
Some purists might disagree, but rarely do we get requests from collectors wanting only complete newspapers. Many “first section only” issues of 20th century events will be found on our website, and I tend to price such at 80% to 90% of the value of a complete newspaper.
In some cases it can be difficult to tell if the complete issue is present. Some newspapers note the number of pages in the dateline, and others might mention the number of sections. Where neither exist I look for a table of content to see if there are reports on pages beyond what are present. If I have no way of determining, and I am unsure of the issue is complete, I tend to note within the description something like “…presumed complete in 24 pages…” just in case it could be proven to me otherwise.