The grave-site legacy of Benjamin Franklin…

August 1, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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If you have never traveled to Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, PA, it is certainly worth the trip. One of the centerpiece structures of the park is Christ Church, with its adjoining cemetery containing the remains of many of America’s Founding Fathers. Among the most noteworthy include those of Benjamin Franklin and his wife Deborah. We recently found a National Intelligencer from November 18, 1848 which speaks quite eloquently of both Franklin and the resting place of his remains: Ben Franklin

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Filed under: Food for Thought, Pre Civil War
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A gem in the American Antiquarian Society…

July 28, 2014 by · 1 Comment 
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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.).

New-England Courant63. “The New-England Courant“, Boston, February 5, 1722

As a member of the family which controlled the Boston Globe,and as the newspaper’s treasurer from 1893 to 1937, Charles Henry Taylor avidly collected publication on the history of American printing and journalism. He generously donated to AAS anything it lacked. Among his gifts were runs of many important American newspapers, including this issue — the second earliest at AAS — of The New-England Courant.

Only the third newspaper to be printed in Boston, The New-England Courant was published by James Franklin from 1721 to 1726. During the Courant’s first two years, its popularity was bolstered by the publication of fourteen letters from one “Silence Dogood,” the nom de plume of James’s younger brother and apprentice, Benjamin Franklin. But the Courant had a contentious history, as James was often at odds with the provincial government, the powerful Mather family, and other influential Bostonians. In 1723 James was imprisoned by the Massachusetts General Court and ordered to suspend the Courant, a ban which James circumvented by issuing the paper under his brother’s name. Even after Benjamin ran away to Philadelphia in October of that year, the Courant continued to appear under this imprint until it ceased publication.

The front page of this issue contains an extensive article on the smallpox inoculation controversy then raging in Boston. While Cotton Mather and other clergy supported inoculation, many Bostonians disagreed. James Franklin opposed the practice in this and many subsequent articles.

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Filed under: Noteworthy Issues, The Collectible Community, The Rare Newspapers Community
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Great Headlines Speak For Themselves… Doolittle raid…

July 25, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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The best headlines need no commentary. Such is the case with the HERALD EXPRESS–EXTRA, Los Angeles, May 19, 1942: “DOOLITTLE DOOD IT”Doolittle Raid - WW2

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Filed under: Great Headlines, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, The 20th & 21st Centuries
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The Traveler… make your own island… a tribute…

July 21, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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Blog-7-21-2014-South-SeasToday I traveled back to Salem, Massachusetts, by the way of the Salem Gazette of July 19, 1814. There I found reporting in regards to Captain Porter and his taking possession of an island in the South Seas. The natives called it Noosheevah but he renamed it “Madison’s Island” after President Madison. He also establish Fort Madison as well.

Judge Parker provides a very nice tribute to the “Character of late Chief Justice” Samuel Sewall which he addressed at the Bar. In reading further information on the internet about Mr. Sewall, I found that his great-grandfather was a judge at the Salem witch trials!

~The Traveler

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Filed under: The Hobby, The War of 1812, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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A life wasted…

July 18, 2014 by · 2 Comments 
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We were not designed to spend our days consumed with self, meaningless activity, and various forms of virtual reality (note: a quick search on the Rare Newspapers website for “self”, “meaningless activity”, and “virtual reality” is returned void).  The following article found in a National Intelligencer from November 21, 1848 is worth pondering:Blog-7-18-2014-Thoughts-on-Life-II

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A gem from the American Antiquarian Society…

July 14, 2014 by · 1 Comment 
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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.).

Frontier Scout117. “Frontier Scout“, Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, June 15, 1865

Thanks to Donald McKay Frost, AAS owns a complete run of the second newspaper printed in the Dakota Territory, preceded only by a paper of the same title issued at Fort Union the previous summer. Located in south central North Dakota, Fort Rice was a 500-foot square wooden stockade erected in the summer of 1864 to protect vital transportation routes from increasingly frequent Lakota attacks. Initially it was manned by “galvanized Yankees” — former Confederate prisoners of war who had enlisted in the Union Army rather than wait indefinitely in prison camps for parole or exchange.

In order to ward off the stress of isolated frontier living, the soldiers engaged in various diversions, including theatrical performances and the publication of their own newspaper printed on a portable press. Captain E. G. Adams and Lieutenant C. H. Champney of the First United States Volunteer Infantry Regiment served as editor and publisher respectively. In this inaugural issue, Adams encouraged the troops to contribute poems, stories, and adventures. “When this is done our paper is formed, a living, speaking, embodiment of the society in which we dwell.” The last of the fifteen weekly issues appeared on October 12, 1865, shortly before Adams and Champney left the fort. Most issues were printed on sheets of ruled blue ledger paper.

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Great Headlines Speak For Themselves… But In This Case…???

July 11, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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The best headlines need no commentary – they speak for themselves. However, sometimes they communicate the wrong message. Let’s hope the LOS ANGELES TIMES – EXTRA for November 22, 1963 was such an instance and not wishful thinking: “ASSASSINATE KENNEDY“Assassinate Kennedy

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Filed under: Great Headlines, Newspaper Collecting Ideas, Noteworthy Issues, The 20th & 21st Centuries, The Hobby, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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The Traveler… books for all… daring wears…

July 7, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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Blog-7-7-2014-Modest-SwimwearToday I traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, by way of The Atlanta Constitution dated July 7, 1914. There I found that Andrew Carnegie was being extremely generous… “Carnegie Willing To Endow Library In Every County”. He was going to be donating between $75,000.000 and $100,000,000 to establish libraries in country districts. “…He is determined to give his money away and die poor, and here is an opportunity. Seventy per cent of the people of the United States still are without access to good libraries…”.

The front page also has a headline “Young Swimmer, Who Wore One-Piece Suit at Piedmont, Dares Dangerous Hell Gate”. This shows includes a photo of Miss Nora Leahy in a sleeveless, skin-tight garment… which the year prior men were not even permitted to wear suits with sleeves less than an inch in length. My how far we’ve come! Is modesty based purely on cultural norms and/or expectations, or are there certain absolutes – 3rd world regions aside?

~The Traveler

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Freedom is never free…

July 4, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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The following chart found in the National Intelligencer from November 23, 1848 reminds us freedom is never free. Let’s never forget the cost paid by those who were willing to pay the ultimate price to obtain that which we so often take for granted.Blog-7-4-2014-Revolutionary-War-Casualties

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What got the juices flowing for Thomas Paine…

June 30, 2014 by · Leave a Comment 
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“The Pennsylvania Magazine” was one of only two American magazines which published during the years of the Revolutionary War, including a June, 1775 issue containing a great coverage of Battle of Bunker Hill and Washington’s appointment as Commander-In-Chief, and ending with the July, 1776 issue which included the Declaration of Independence.

The Pennsylvania Magazine

The Pennsylvania Magazine

For most of its 19 month life, which began in January, 1775, it was edited by the famed Thomas Paine, employed by the publisher Robert Aitken. Aitken was often frustrated by Paine’s procrastination in providing material, as mentioned in Isaiah Thomas’ “History of Printing in America”:

“…Aitken contracted with Paine to furnish, monthly, for this work, a certain quantity of original matter; but he often found it difficult to prevail on Paine to comply with his engagement…Aitken went to his lodgings & complained of his neglecting to fulfill his contract…insisted on Paine’s accompanying him & proceeding immediately to business & as the workmen were waiting for copy. He accordingly went home with Aitken & was soon seated at the table with the necessary apparatus, which always included a glass, and a decanter of brandy. Aitken observed, ‘he would never write without that.’ The first glass of brandy set him thinking; Aitken feared the second would disqualify him, or render him intractable; but it only illuminated his intellectual system; and when he had swallowed the third glass, he wrote with great rapidity, intelligence and precision; and his ideas appeared to flow faster than he could commit them to paper. What he penned from the inspiration of the brandy was perfectly fit for the press without any alternation or correction.”

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