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The start of a new year…
January 4, 2016 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
The start of each new year typically brings a sense of promise – a certain newness of hope and expectation which drives us to peel off bad habits and at least seek to develop new ones. Of course this new refreshed outlook is often quickly squashed once we grab the morning paper and allow the events all around us to cast a wet blanket on our hopes and dreams for the new year. Perhaps a bit jaded – but all too true.
Of course, it doesn’t need to be this way. I’m convinced part of the antidote is for us to practice counting our blessings throughout the year – day-in and day-out. Sound like a plan? For those of us who are “all in”, let’s put our resolution for 2016 to the test and look through the news reports of the first week of January through time and see if we can come out the other end with a sense that life is truly good – after all, we could be living in the past when technology, medicine, the average standard of living, and life-expectancy were not what they are today: 1st Week of January thru Time
The Traveler… give it up for the second time, with a little help…
December 21, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to Edinburgh by the way of The Edinburgh Advertiser dated December 20, 1765. There I found an account of a New Hamsphire stamp agent by the name of George Meserve being forced to resign for the second time. “…that Mr. Messerve, notwithstanding his late verbal resignation, determined to execute his office…about 400 resolute men, well equipped…Their purpose was to demand of Mr. Messerve a more explicit resignation…the repeated assurances from the Council, that the bale of stamped paper should not be opened…that they would never use them on any account, disarmed the populace of all their resentment…The stamped papers sent for the use of this province are lodged in the fort at Newcastle where they are to remain as a dead inactive lump of matter…”
~The Traveler
A December stroll thru time – 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250 years ago…
December 3, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of December – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? 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.
Sometimes reality defies reason…
November 30, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Just because the odds are stacked against us doesn’t mean we shouldn’t move forward. There are times when sticking to our guns is the right choice – regardless of our chances of success. This point was driven home in 1777 when Lord George Germaine presented his reasons why the American colonists had no chance of succeeding with their revolutionary effort before Parliament. If the American rebels had weighed the odds against them as itemized by Lord Germaine, they may have raised the white flag of defeat – and world history would have been forever altered. The full list of his reasons why the Americans would fail were printed in The London Chronicle of May 17, 1777. Thanks to our forefathers, they were driven by principle and not by the odds-makers of the day. Perhaps we should take a page from history and be driven likewise.
Archaeologists uncover secrets of historic Revolutionary War battle site…
November 19, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
While reports of the events surrounding the skirmish at Lexington & Concord (1775) are few and far between, due to their undisputed importance, authentic newspapers with first-hand accounts are highly prized. A current archaeological effort in and around the area are sure to only increase public interest. The following article brings to light some of the recent finds:
Archaeologists uncover secrets of historic Revolutionary War battle site
They put it in print… in two different editions…
November 9, 2015 by TimHughes · Leave a Comment
“Newsbooks” from Europe, those small pamphlet-looking periodicals which were the predecessors of today’s newspapers, have always been difficult to find. But rarely have we had a more intriguing issue than one recently added to our inventory, and its the back story which makes it interesting.
Rather than one, we have secured two issues of the “Mecurius Aulicus“newsbook, both of the same date, “The five and thirtieth Weeke” of 1643, one the “regular” Oxford edition, the other the secretly-printed and exceedingly rare London edition.
This newsbook was created because of the English Civil War during the early 1640’s, as a means for the Royalist faction supporting King Charles I to promote their views in Parliament-held London. It was published in Oxford, the stronghold of Charles I at the time. Any person or any publication promoting the cause of Charles I would not have been welcomed in London. It was a short-lived publication which began to lose support from 1644 onward as the Royalist losses on the battlefield continued. This Oxford newsbook found it more & more difficult to obtain current news and issues became badly delayed. It finally ceased publication in 1645.
But an intriguing article in Wikipedia adds an interesting tidbit to the history of this publication: “…The Mercurius Aulicus was printed in Oxford, which was at this time the Royalist capital…then smuggled into London where it was sold by local women, often at heavily inflated prices. It was also reprinted on occasion–albeit not necessarily accurately–by local sympathizers in London…”.
So as we see, there was also a secretly-printed edition done in London, with print runs which had to be exceedingly low. On the rare occasion we have had the opportunity to offer an issue of the Mercurius Aulicus it has always been the Oxford edition. Never have we seen a London edition. Until now.
The photos show the complete text of not only the “regular” Oxford edition but the very rare London edition as well. Comparing the two gives evidence to some subtle differences between them (embellishment at top of front page is different; heading type sizes are different; embellished first letter of ftpg. is different; dated headings on inside pages are different, etc.) Although I am struck but the considerable similarity between the two issues given they were printed on different presses in different cities, put side-by-side several differences are very evident.
Not only is this London edition very rare, but we were fortunate enough to secure the Oxford edition of the same date as well. If ever a pair of same-date newsbooks deserve to be kept together, here it is. A fascinating pair from an intriguing period in British history—and in newspaper history as well.
A November stroll thru time – 1765… 1815… 1865… 1915… 1945…
November 5, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of November – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? 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.
The Traveler… not quite the intended effect…
November 2, 2015 by The Traveler · Leave a Comment
Today I traveled to London by the way of The Post Boy dated November 1, 1715. While peace in Lithuania now prevailed, Poland was being torn into pieces. A proclamation was made “…that if any Gentleman should presume to mount on Horse-back, his House should be burnt, and his Wife and Children put to the Sword… However, it had a quite contrary Effect to what was expected; for the Nobility of the Palatinate of Cracow having mounted on Horseback, march’d towards Podgura and prevail’d with the Palatinate of Russia to join them; as several more are very ripe to do…The Muscovites, to the Number of 20000 Men, are arrived within 8 Leagues of this City, and pursue their March, with all speed, for Pomerania.”
~ The Traveler
A ghost robs a bank (revisited)…
October 29, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
And just in time for Halloween, a report from “The Observer” of London, January 1, 1797 (original post, 2010):
An October stroll thru time… 1765… 1815… 1865… 1915… 1945…
October 1, 2015 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
What news was reported in the month of October – 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 years ago? 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.