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Snapshot 1801… The importance of newspapers…
November 4, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
In 1803 the well-respected Columbian Centinel and Massachusetts Federalist dated August 19, 1801 printed an article affirming a new publication, the Country Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia), and made a powerful statement regarding the importance of newspapers which we have shown below. This declaration is reflective of new president Thomas Jefferson’s comments regarding newspapers from back in the late 1780’s:
“The people are the only censors of their governors: and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs thro’ the channel of the public papers, & to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.”
If either the publisher of the Columbian Centinel or Thomas Jefferson were alive today, do you think they’d feel the same? Please share your thoughts.
Fascinating Conspiracies (Episode 1) – The Lincoln Conspirators…
October 21, 2021 by LauraH · Leave a Comment
Sometimes it is difficult to determine if a person really is a philosopher. So it is with the author of the profound statement, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”. Philosophical or lyrical, it is the perfect jumping off point for a short series on more obscure conspiracies in American History. Sure, we have all heard of John Wilks Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald. Perhaps we have even heard of George Atzerodt, who conspired with Booth to assassinate Lincoln and Johnson however, there are others that will most defiantly leave you a bit slack-jawed if not curious. To begin our series, let’s start with our 16th President and those who colluded to bring about his demise. Booth’s main conspirators, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Powell and Mary Surratt had their own press coverage, even if they were not quite as infamous as the malicious actor Booth, but reading their confessions and stories can bring this horrific event into clearer focus. So, hopefully you will enjoy reading these Lincoln Conspiracy issues… and, until next time, remember the wise words of Kurt Cobain and keep looking over your shoulder.
Announcing: Catalog #311 (for October, 2021) is now available…
October 1, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 311 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 311 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.
Announcing: Catalog #310 (for September, 2021) is now available…
September 3, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 310 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 310 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.
Daniel Webster – “Defender of the Constitution”…
August 27, 2021 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
Daniel Webster, “Defender of the Constitution,” needs no introduction to the collectors of Rare & Early Newspapers. A search of his name on the Rare & Early Newspapers website brings up over 25 active listings (select “view details” to see the Webster content), including an illustration of his residence, the text of his, “Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!“ speech, and the black-bordered notice of his death.
Among these, however, there is no mention of the six page biography contained in the August 1867 Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Prompted by the publication of The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, this unsigned submission reflects on the character of the great man. Of greatest impact to me is the refrain that Webster was the same refined, organized, gentleman in private as he was in public. And, it seems it was his self-proclaimed standard. “So rigidly had he adhered to the rule he frequently avowed in his lifetime–never to write anything which he would not be willing to see in print the next morning — that scarcely was there a letter which even delicacy could withhold from the public eye.”
I was fortunate to read this account firsthand, to fill in many details in this larger-than-life figure of American history. His impact covered three presidencies, and his correspondence –saturated with wisdom and reason– was prolific. That said, I feel compelled to share a larger than usual portion from the actual text.
No view of this man is at all complete unless regard be had to his love of the grand and beautiful in nature…It has been said: “his face warmed to a fine tree as to the face of a friend.” The most noticeable feature, it may be, of the Correspondence is the general silence that pervades it concerning the author’s own efforts. While all other tongues are sounding of his exploits, his is still. Or if he breaks the silence, he does so with such moderation and modesty that refinement even could not torture the allusion into a ray of vanity.
Note: Many of his speeches were printed within contemporary newspapers and are often available upon request.
Am I Dating Myself? The B&O Railroad…
August 6, 2021 by LauraH · Leave a Comment
Raise your hand if you spent hours as a kid playing Monopoly. Raise your hand if you can’t imagine why you spent hours as a kid playing Monopoly. Somehow, back in the day before handheld electronics did more than play music, I loved that game. Nowadays it would seem agonizing to play; however, my interest was peeked by a March 5, 1827 issue of The National Gazette and Literary Register which had: “the founding of the historic B & O Railroad, the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States.” Amazingly, this property is able to be purchased for a mere $200 in a Monopoly game – and just think, B&O was not the only railroad made famous by the world’s longest lasting board game.
Announcing: Catalog #309 (for August, 2021) is now available…
July 30, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
- Catalog 309 (in its entirety)
- Noteworthy Catalog 309 ($250+)
- Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.
A New Term For An Old Happening…
July 26, 2021 by LauraH · Leave a Comment
If I asked you what comes to mind when you hear the term “embedded reporter”, most of us would quickly picture some war scene… perhaps Vietnam … perhaps The Gulf War. Few of us would picture a train or “A Canadian Pacific Steamships” and yet, in 1870 an ingenious publisher decided to take a small printing press on board the first Transcontinental Railroad excursion and publish 6 issues westbound and 6 issues eastbound. Printed on a Gordon press in the baggage car, it is considered the very first newspaper composed, printed, & published on a train. Think … 1st embedded reporter. Similarly, in 1939, the PACIFIC EMPRESS was printed and considered “A Newspaper Printed & Published Daily Aboard Canadian Pacific Steamships”. These reporters may not have been dodging bullets behind enemy lines but they did boldly put themselves into harrowing circumstances to give 1st hand accounts covering big events during their lifetime. A fascinating precursor to Geraldo Rivera.
Happy Flag Day!
June 14, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
Happy Flag Day, compliments of Harper’s Weekly and your friends at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers… History’s Newsstand.
History’s Hidden Gems… President Lincoln, July 4th, 1861…
June 7, 2021 by LauraH · Leave a Comment
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana or, as we history buffs like to say, “Those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it”.
Lately, I have developed a bit of an obsession with Abraham Lincoln. I am sure there are many who would chuckle and say, “what took her so long?” Granted, I knew all the Lincoln Basics. I have helped my 6 children memorize the Gettysburg Address. I have stood more than once, for more time than my companions were comfortable, gazing in awe at each word on the Lincoln Memorial. But most recently I’ve been struck with wonder when I come across the more obscure, hidden treasures of our 16th President. . . overcome with a sense that his insights into his times may be equally applicable to mine. This last week I heard someone mention a portion of President Lincoln’s speech before Congress on July 4th, 1861. I have shared a portion of it below so you can make your determination as to whether his call to see beyond the surface events, to the heart of the matter, is as relevant today as it was then. If you agree, then we should be a people who remembers our past so we do not repeat it and for those fellow Lincoln lovers out there, let’s keep digging for his more obscure hidden gems.
“It might seem at first thought to be of little difference whether the present movement at the South be called “secession” or “rebellion.” The movers, however, well understand the difference. At the beginning they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magnitude by any name which implies violation of law. They knew their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, and as much pride in and reverence for the history and Government of their common country as any other civilized and patriotic people. They knew they could make no advancement directly in the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they commenced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism, which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps through all the incidents to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the National Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully , withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the sole judge of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice.
With rebellion thus sugar coated they have been drugging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the Government the day after some assemblage of men have enacted the farcical pretense of taking their State out of the Union who could have been brought to no such thing the day before .” ~ Abraham Lincoln, July 4th, 1861