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Noteworthy newspapers – one person’s view (part I)…
October 15, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
At Rare Newspapers, the most difficult to answer yet common question our staff is frequently challenged to answer is, “Do you having anything new to offer that’s interesting?” While some newspapers would certainly rise to the top of the heap and make the answer a no-brainer (Lincoln assassination, Declaration of Independence, an Oxford Gazette, a great Stock Market crash report, etc.), these issues are few and far between – and do not come along very often. What about the periods when no “best of the best” has come our way? Selecting great issues is often quite subjective – and ends up being heavily 
influenced by one’s own interests and knowledge base. This truth makes answering this question nearly impossible. However, just for fun, from time to time we’ll ask the Rare & Early Newspapers’ staff to take turns looking at the issues listed month-to-date to select their choice for the most interesting new item.
I’ll get things started by taking a look at September (to-date), 2015. In my opinion, there are several good issues to choose from: The New York Yankees acquire Joe DiMaggio, the very 1st King Kong advertisement, the announcing of the creation of a Jewish homeland, the execution of the Rosenbergs, and the death of William Randolph Hurst – to name a few. However, as a graduate of Penn State University, my selection of the month is an issue announcing Joe Paterno becoming a starter at Brown University. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I’m confident my selection may not be the same as yours. You can weigh in on your own thoughts by looking at the first page of our Recent Listings. Enjoy.
Next stop: October, 2015.
The Traveler… unbelievable human brutality…
October 5, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
This week I traveled back to New York City by the way of the Harper’s Weekly, October 7, 1865. Although this issue is filled with a variety of woodcuts [illustrations], the one that struck me the most was of the “Grounds at A
ndersonville, Georgia, Where are Buried Fourteen Thousand Union Soldiers Who Died in Andersonville Prison” and the accompanying article. “…The graves of the soldiers starved and poisoned and brutally murdered there are not scattered about over the innocent hill-sides of our land, but are dug under the sod that drank their blood and bore witness to the cruelty of Wirz, Winder, and the rebel authorities at Richmond, who kept these demons at their posts… James M. Moore,Assistant-Quarter-master, and his party, returned from Andersonville, where they have been engaged for a month in identifying the graves and giving honored sepulture to the fourteen thousand victims of rebel barbarity, who suffered all manner of torture and death in that notorious prison-pen…”.
~The Traveler
The Traveler… a sweet business…
September 21, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to back London, England by The London Chronicle of September 21, 1765. I found the reporting of some sweet business happening in New England, the making of maple syrup! “Having chosen out a large maple-tree, suitable for the purpose, they with an axe box it…a kind of trough is prepared… in order to retain the sap as it runs down. By this means upwards of 30 gallons from one tree has been drawn in a day;… produces a sugar, the grain of which is equal in fineness to the the Jamaica… upwards of 600 lb. was made by one man the last season…”
~The Traveler
A West Coast collector amasses a large collection…
September 17, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Richard Robinson was a long-time collector of historic newspapers, having begun at the age of 10 in the mid-1940’s & continuing to add to his collection until his passing earlier this year. He was one of a small number of serious 
newspaper collectors from that era.
Having grown up in Beverly Hills, California, it is not surprising that a majority of his issues were from the Los Angeles area. Fortunately both the “Herald Express” and the “Examiner” typically used large, “screaming” headlines desired by collectors today. Although he had some issues from the 18th and 19th centuries, the lion’s share of his collection was made up with those from the era in which lived. How great it would have been to add to a collection reports on the end of World War II and later by simply paying the 10 cent price at the newsstand!
This front page article in the Feb. 26, 1952 issue of the “Beverly Hills Bulletin“ shows him as a 12 year old student when his collection included some 1000 newspapers. At the time of his passing the number had to have grown to 50,000 or more.
In a correspondence with him many years ago I recall him stating that he never paid more than $5 for any newspaper in his collection. Many were simply given to him. He noted as one of his prize editions the famous “Chicago Daily Tribune” with the “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline, which the Tribune offered to buy back from him for $25. He refused.
Old Newspapers… New Value…
September 10, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · 6 Comments
We just became aware of a post featured on The Atlantic in regards to a large collection of newspapers from New Orleans that is quite interesting. Please enjoy:
The Traveler… the sinking of the Hesperian…
September 7, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to New York City by the way of the New York Tribune of September 7, 1915. The headline is of the tragic sink of the Hesperian. “Hesperian Sinks; 26 Dead; No Excuse for Act Found; Disavowal Is Expected”. “With all of the twenty-give missing passengers and crew of the Hesperian, torpedoed Saturday evening, now given up as lost, the total death list… stands at twenty-six… Wesley Frost telegraphed today to the American Embassy that the Admiralty authorities had not been informed officially that the Hesperian had been torpedoed without warning, but that they believed this was the case. Persons so far seen stated that no warning was given…”
~The Traveler
A September stroll thru time… 1815… 1865… 1915… 1945…
September 1, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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.
They put it in print… the Stamp Act…
August 27, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Some of the most noteworthy events in history have humble beginnings. Such is the case with the announcing of the passage of The Stamp Act in The Gentleman’s Magazine, March, 1765. Under the Historical Chronicle section is the rather inconspicuous note, “Lord Mansfield, as speaker, and the Earls Gower and Marchmont, by virtue of a commission from his majesty, gave the royal assent to the following bills: …for laying a stamp duty in the British colonies in America.” While this official notification of the Stamp Act most likely flew under the radar of most readers of the day, there is no doubt regarding its significance. I wonder which one-liners which go unnoticed today will prove similar ten years from now?
The Traveler… Miami gets some “new fish”…
August 17, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to New York City by the way of The New York Times dated August 17, 1965. There I found an announcement on the sports page, “Miami Is Granted an American Football League Franchise for 1966 Season.” (see below) The text includes: “A group headed by Danny Thomas, the comedian-television producer, was granted an American Football League franchise today to field a team in Miami next year… A name has not been chosen for the team yet… Once before, Miami had a professional football team, the Miami Seahawks of the now defunct All-America Conference. But the team folded after only one year of play — 1946…”. The team did receive a name, the Dolphins.
~The Traveler
“Le Bijou” – a gem from the American Antiquarian Society…
August 10, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers’ focus: The American Antiquarian Society
In celebration of its 20oth anniversary the American Antiquarian Society published a beautiful exhibition catalog titled “In Pursuit Of A Vision – Two Centuries of Collecting at the American Antiquarian Society”. Featured are a fascinating array of books, documents, maps & other paper ephemera, as well as several very rare & unusual newspapers we felt worthy of sharing with our collectors (with permission from the A.A.S.). 
180. “Le Bijou“, Cincinnati, Ohio, September, 1879
A hobby practiced especially by teenagers, amateur journalism exploded in popularity in the United States following the invention of an inexpensive table-top printing press in 1867. During the 1870s and 1880s, thousands of amateur newspapers were published and liberally exchanged with other amateur journalists around the country. Because of the circumstances under which they were produced, amateur newspapers are becoming of increasing interest to historians, and AAS actively adds to its large collection.
One of the most interesting amateur newspapers at AAS is Le Bijou, edited and published by Herbert A. Clark (ca. 1860-ca. 1924). A great-grandson of Lewis and Clark Expedition leader William Clark, Herbert was born into one of Cincinnati’s leading African-American families. His father Peter, an associate of Frederick Douglass, was politically active and instrumental in establishing free public schools for Ohio African-Americans. Le Bijou is notable for its prominent and forthright and advocacy of civil rights, a fight carried over to the Amateur Press Association, which in 1879 elected Clark it’s third vice-president over the heated objections of its Southern members. Many withdrew, forming in its stead the secret Amateur Anti-Negro Admission Association. Clark delightedly reported on the controversy in the pages of Le Bijou, which he published from 1878 to 1880. He then moved on to a career as a journalist and publisher of African-American newspapers.