The Traveler… coffins… do they really have an expiration?

October 21, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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Take me out to the ballgame… It’s the reporting for Game Three of the World Series between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago Cubs in the October 21, 1910 issue of The Allentown Morning Call in which it is reported, “The Combat to-day was a slaughter with the final score Philadelphia 12 – Cubs 5″. Just a Wikipedia tidbit of information — in Game 2, all nine Philadelphia players in the line-up got a hit, the first time in World Series history.

The reporting of Dr. Crippen’s murder trial is also on the front page as well. This was the first murderer caught via wireless communications.

An unrelated article caught my eye as I was quickly scanning through inside pages… “Three Years For Coffin”. It ends up being about a man with the last name of Coffin who was being sent to Leavenworth on counterfeiting charges. At a quick glance, it makes one wonder if there were was an expiration date on “coffins”.  I thought they were to last an eternity. 🙂

~The Traveler

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Filed under: Sports, The 20th & 21st Centuries, The Hobby, Uncategorized, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1993…

October 18, 2010 by · 2 Comments 
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Forest Gump, Jerry Maguire, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana… the 90’s.  Our price-searching through time continues… all the way to “back in the day”… when everything was “aiight. Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at sample prices from 2006 and 2009.  Today we explore a half-dozen years earlier – 1993.  To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go here:  Catalog 90

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Common Questions, The Hobby, Valuation of Issues
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Roosevelt to blame for the Pearl Harbor attack…

October 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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We often list on our website issues from the island of Guernsey during World War II when it was occupied by the Nazis.  As such all news is filtered through the German propaganda machine which offers interesting reading, as the reports are in English because the residents speak English.

Although many battles reports border on the absurd, particularly with historical hindsight, the front page report in the “Evening Press” dated December 8, 1941, one day after the Pearl Harbor attack, is one of the more outrageous (see the photo below).

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Filed under: The 20th & 21st Centuries, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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Contest/drawing… humorous nuggets…

October 14, 2010 by · 1 Comment 
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Over the years, while searching for key content within our newspaper archives, we inevitably have found articles, images, headlines, anecdotes, etc. which are quite humorous.  Many such snippets have appeared on the History’s Newsstand blog and may be viewed at:  https://blog.rarenewspapers.com/?tag=humor

What about you?  Have you found a little comic relief within your personal collection? If so, we would love for you to share your most humorous discovery (or discoveries) with the Rare Newspapers collecting community – and receive a reward for doing so.  There are several ways to participate:

1) post the text of your newspaper anecdote, article, headline, etc. directly on the blog as a comment to this post.

2) post a scan/photo of  your newspaper anecdote, article, headline, image,  etc. directly on the blog as a comment to this post.

3) send the text or photo of your entry to guy@rarenewspapers.com, and we will post it for you.

You may submit as many entries as you wish, through Thursday, October 31st.  Everyone who makes a submission will receive a coupon for 10% off a future website order at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers.  However, we will also have a random drawing for three winners whom will also receive $50 gift certificates for use at Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers.  Why draw at random as opposed to selecting the most humorous?  What one may find to be funny, another may not.

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Contests, Illustrated Newspapers, Sports, The 1500's - 1700's, The 19th Century, The 20th & 21st Centuries, The Collectible Community, The Hobby, The Rare Newspapers Community
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Prices… a walk down memory lane… 1999…

October 11, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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A week ago we looked at authentic newspaper prices from 2006.  Today will go a little farther back in time… to 1999. To see a larger image of the catalog’s page, go to:  Catalog 120

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The Traveler… a hatchet and… a slap in the face…

October 9, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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This week I ventured off the date just a bit, but staying within the current week. I began reading through the October 3, 1810 issue of Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy, or Worcester Gazette when a lengthy front page article entitled “An Island of Savage Cannibals” caught my eye. This was from The Fejee Islands, and after reading the article, I have decided that this would definitely not have been on my vacation agenda! For some reason, a part of ransom requested by these people was twelve hatchets??!!

Inside the issue was a small article entitled “Real Bravery” which read “Little Algiers has declared war against France. The independent States of America dare not.“ Now, talk about a slap in the face…

~ The Traveler

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Filed under: Pre Civil War, The Hobby, Unusual, Fun & Bizarre
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A great rarity comes into our inventory…

October 7, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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One of the more rare items in the world of early newspaper collecting has come into our inventory: a collection of the very first newspaper in Hawaii, including the volume one, number one issue.

Hawaii’s first newspaper was essentially a student newspaper, titled “Ka Lama Hawaii” (The Hawaiian Luminary), done by Protestant missionaries at their school at Lahainaluna on the island of Maui. The missionaries transported a printing press some 18,000 miles around Cape Horn to Hawaii, setting up what would become the very first newspaper building west of the Rocky Mountains. The newspaper was printed in the Hawaiian language on the manually operated flatbed press which could turn out 100 sheets per hour. Content included articles on government, Christian teachings, and in keeping with the educational element,  illustrations of exotic animals like the lion, elephant and zebra. The very first issue, dated Feb. 14, 1834, was dominated by an essay on the habits & habitats of the lion.

This newspaper lasted for just these 25 issues printed in 1834, then did not print for several years only to resurrect itself to print just two final issues in January, 1841.  Not only is it the first newspaper in Hawaii, but it also predates any newspaper in North America west of the Rocky Mountains.

We felt these rare issues were worth sharing with fellow collectors.


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Filed under: Announcements, Noteworthy Issues, Pre Civil War, The Hobby
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Prices… a walk down memory lane… 2006…

October 4, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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We recently took a look at “prices realized” for a number of historic newspapers spanning the centuries.  We’ll now take a look a the pricing of authentic newspapers from a different perspective:  pricing over time.  Over the course of the next several weeks we’ll post a random page from old Rare & Early Newspapers catalogs.  We’ll start with a page from a catalog sent in 2006, and work backwards through time.

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Filed under: Collecting Newspapers, Common Questions, Valuation of Issues
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Beware what you “conjure”…

October 2, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 
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The “Massachusetts Centinel” newspaper from Boston printed this interesting item headed “Astrology” in its May 12, 1790 edition:

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20th century prices realized… revisted…

September 30, 2010 by · 2 Comments 
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The previous post focused on “prices realized” from a sampling of key issues from the 20th century.  Fellow collector, Charles Signer, posted a response we thought collectors would appreciate.

These papers (see previous post) are excellent choices for your article. I think the Titanic disaster marked a new era in journalism, since improvements in printing technology and inventions like the facsimile machine made it possible for newspapers all over the United States and the world for the first time to cover the story simultaneously with full coverage and great graphics. Because the Titanic event took place at sea there was no “home advantage” as there would have been for a disaster taking place in a populated area. I don’t have the Rhode Island version of the story that you show, but I have seen others like it from other cities. I am amazed how they could get such good reporting and graphics literally overnight on such an unexpected story.

When I see the Honolulu Star-Bulletin First Extra I think of it as a time capsule marking of an end of an era. The front page of course gives the full first report, but the inside pages were mostly set up before the event, in the last hours of peacetime. The ads for 1941 consumer goods and Christmas sales suddenly fell out of place in the grim new wartime world. I imagine the people shown in the ads floating at the bottom of the ocean where they are all drowned dead but still visible to divers. It’s eerie.

I was going to say that the whole First Extra paper could be seen on the Honolulu Star-Bulletin website, but in trying to test the link as I write this I see that the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and the Honolulu Advertiser merged on June 7, 2010. The combined paper is now the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. There used to be a great story on the Star-Bulletin’s old website about the people who put out those first reports that day. I guess it’s gone now.

I got a copy of the Dewey Defeats Truman paper from Tim Hughes before 2000 for about $850. It was real cherry. I grew up in Chicago where my dad and I would drive down in the evenings to get the first edition of the following day’s Tribune. When you opened up a Tribune for the first time there were tiny holes made in the printing process which made the pages stick together. The copy I got from Tim had those little holes so I knew I was opening that Dewey Defeats Truman paper for the first time ever. It was almost like being there on November 2, 1948, the evening the paper was printed. Yes, it truly is a classic that will be recognized as long as newspapers are remembered, which may be a lot longer than some of them are being published.

Thanks Charles!

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Filed under: Common Questions, Guest Posts, Noteworthy Issues, The Hobby, Valuation of Issues
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