A woodcut masthead is worth a thousand words… Slavery…
May 16, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
A few weeks back my favorite person posted: Take a Closer Look … The Delicate Details of Woodcut Prints…
Such prints are truly amazing. However, as is the case with (most?) works of art, to some degree they tell a story. One such story is that of “Slavery – The Cry for Emancipation”, as told through the masthead of The Liberator. While we have many historic newspapers containing articles chronicling the path from the horrors of slavery, through emancipation, then on to suffrage and beyond, few rival what is communicated through this most-amazing, intricate, illustration which was present at the top of nearly every issue. At a distance its beauty speaks to the eyes, but a close-up view shouts to the heart: ENOUGH!
See for yourself:




Announcing: Catalog #318 (for May, 2022) – Rare & Early Newspapers (for purchase)
April 30, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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upon which time it will update to the most recent catalog.
Announcing: Catalog #316 (for March, 2022) – Rare & Early Newspapers (for purchase)
February 25, 2022 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment
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The more things change… Vaccinations and the immoral influences on children…
February 15, 2022 by Stephanie Williams · Leave a Comment
Currently, the whole world over is speaking of virus and antibodies, of carriers and immunization. Outbreaks are mapped in news blurbs, along with identified hot spots and constant status reports on flattening the curve. Comparisons are made to the “Spanish Flu”, but an article in a September, 1808 issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine led me to comparisons with smallpox instead. More specifically, they led me to the smallpox outbreak that eventually brought Edward Jenner into focus — he of the cowpox vaccination fame (or, infamy, as critics would have it).
The mannerly Gentleman’s employs an ambitious article heading as it delves into the fray: “Practice of Vaccination Dispassionately Discussed.” As the Reverend Cotton Mather discovered in 1721, there is much passion involved in the subject. He, who pleaded for the adoption of the African method of inoculation to save the afflicted residents of Boston, was the object of threats and the target of a bombing. The periodical contributor, pen named “Cosmopolitan,” attempts a scholarly address of the merits just twelve years after Edward Jenner formalized the medical application of a controlled injection of the cowpox virus in order to immunize a human body against smallpox, which was disfiguring and killing people by the thousands.
After Mr. Cosmopolitan completes his summary of the beneficial relationship between the vaccine and the decreased virus contraction rate, he promises the editor, Mr. Urban, that as the science may not be completely convincing to all, he is prepared to offer testimonials in the next issue.
I was able to locate the fulfillment of that pledge in the October issue.
The facts which were there mentioned, must of themselves be nearly sufficient to convince an unprejudiced observer of the efficacy of the Vaccine preservative. It now remains to take an impartial review of the remaining part of the evidence on this interesting topick, which may be gathered from the experience of eminent individuals and from the avowed opinion of public bodies.
These are the same methods employed today about the still-controversial procedure of immunization — presentation of scientific data, followed by explanation of that data from medical professionals, and the promotion or recommendation of the practice by public officials. For the Coronavirus of today, the vaccine has not even been developed, and the debate is already heated.
PS This issue also has an article regarding juveniles obtaining access to “age-inappropriate literature” through libraries. Two current topics which reach back to the early 1800’s: “The more things change…”.
Announcing: Catalog #314 (for January, 2022) is now available…
December 31, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment

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Catalog 314 (in its entirety)
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Noteworthy Catalog 314 ($250+)
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Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
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Announcing: Catalog #313 (for December, 2021) is now available…
December 3, 2021 by GuyHeilenman · Leave a Comment

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Catalog 313 (in its entirety)
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Noteworthy Catalog 313 ($250+)
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Combined Catalogs (current, w/ remnants of previous)
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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.
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+)
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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+)
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Don’t forget about this month’s DISCOUNTED ISSUES.
The links above will redirect to the latest catalog in approx. 30 days,
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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.





May’s catalog (#318) is now available. Also shown below are links to a video featuring highlights from the catalog, our currently discounted newspapers, and recent posts to the History’s Newsstand Blog. Please enjoy.