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One of the "other" Vicksburg Citizen wallpaper issues...
One of the "other" Vicksburg Citizen wallpaper issues...
Item # 620095
Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.
June 20, 1863
THE DAILY CITIZEN, Vicksburg, Mississippi, June 20, 1863 Although it is the quite famous July 2/4, 1863 issue of the Citizen which is so famous (and many reprints exist: be careful), few might know that the publisher, J.M. Swords, printed several previous issues on wallpaper as well. Like several other Southern newspapers of the Civil War period its stock of newsprint paper became exhausted and the publisher resorted to the use of wallpaper. On this substitute he printed issues dated June 16, 18, 20, 27, 30, and July 2, 1863. Each was a single sheet, four columns wide, printed on the back of the wallpaper.
The genuine issue of July 2/4 had reason to be saved gien its report of the Yankee capture of the city, and is actually the most common of the Citizen wallpaper issues on the market. The earlier wallpaper editions did not report significant events and consequently were not commonly saved, making them quite rare.
The content is varied and interesting. Reports include "Grant's Talk to His Men" which is signed in type: U.S. Grant; "Our Admirers In The North" "Stonewall Jackson--Report of the Enemy" concerning his death, which begins: "Stonewall Jackson is dead. While we are only too glad to be rid in any way of so terrible a foe, our sense of relief is not unmingled with emotions of sorrow and sympathy of so brave a man..." with more (see).
Complete as a single sheet issue, never bound nor trimmed, the single column masthead is at the top of the 3rd column (when folded vertically it was the beginning of "page 1"). printed on a multicolor wallpaper design (see photos), with various professional archival repairs at folds & fold junctures causing loss to a few words. Note that the bottom 5 inches of the third column has been replaced in photocopy.
Of interest are the penciled notations in the top margin noting: "Shots fire at us" with 20 dashes, presumably the number of shots fired; and also: "Shots Fired at the enemy" with 5 dashes. A very nice, period notation giving evidence this issue was likely owned by a soldier.
A terrific opportunity for a scarce wallpaper newspaper at a reasonable price given the archival repairs.
Category: Confederate
No Longer Available
