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World's Oldest Newspaper 1741 Gazette over 270 years old...
World's Oldest Newspaper 1741 Gazette over 270 years old...
Item # 591291
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May 16, 1741
THE LONDON GAZETTE, May 16, 1741
* 18th Century original
This single sheet issue is over 265 years old. Various news from London and other parts of Europe and more. This title is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the world which began in 1665 and is still in existence today. Also with some interesting advertisements as well.
A complete newspaper measuring about 7 by 11 1/2 inches and is in great condition. Made of rag paper which was used back in the day (no wood pulp). Fine and very early newspaper. Can easily be framed.
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 afterwords 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."
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
