Item 558743
* October 30, 1671 (338 yrs, old); October 8, 1771 (238 yrs old); October 6, 1871 (138 yrs old) & November 2, 1971 (38 yrs. old).
These issues contain news of the day, lots of royal related news.
This title is the oldest continually published newspaper in the world that is still published today. The format of this famous newspaper didn't change that much over the years except for the number of pages being increased in the later years. These issues also come in a elaborate 4 section acid free folder for display with the title and years nicely silk printed on the front. A very rare opportunity to recieve an issue of the same title for each of the last 4 centuries. These issues are in very nice condition.
Historical Background: "When in the autumn of 1665 Charles II sought shelter in Oxford from the Great Plague, he and his courtiers wanted newspapers to read, yet feared to touch "The Intelligencer" or "The News," which, coming from London, might be infected. Therefore Leonard Litchfeld, the university printer, was authorized and ordered to bring out a local paper. On Tuesday, November 14, 1665, the first number of "The Oxford Gazette" appeared, and it continued afterwards through eleven weeks on Thursdays and Mondays. It was meagre enough, but, though comprised in only two double-columned pages of folio, each number contained nearly as much matter as one of Roger L'Estrange's papers, and it soon became a formidable rival to those papers, especially as Thomas Newcombe, the old printer of the Commonwealth organs, was allowed to reproduce its sheets in London "for the use of some members and gentlemen who desired them. The plague was soon over and King Charles went back to Whitehall, but he was pleased with the Oxford effort and it was soon succeeded by "The London Gazette, which made its first appearance, labelled as No. 24, on February 5, 1666, and which has been kept alive, altering its size and character from time to time, down to this day. "
$195.00
