GRASS VALLEY REPUBLICAN, Nevada County, California, Nov. 9, 1871

* First issue of a very rare old West publication

This is the volume 1, number 1 issue. The very first published.
Grass Valley, which was originally known as Boston Ravine and later named Centerville, dates from the California Gold Rush. Gold was discovered at Gold Hill in October, 1850 and population grew around the mine. When a post office was established in 1851, it was renamed Grass Valley the next year for unknown reasons. The town incorporated in 1860. 
This title existed from just Nov. 9, 1871 thru April 9, 1872, a brief 5 month period. It is an exceedingly scarce title, as Gregory's "Union List of American Newspapers" notes that only the Bancroft Library had any institutional holdings, and its issues were deaccessioned many years ago. It is from this collection that this issue came.
Four pages, in somewhat "2nd rate" condition due to various archival mends, tears at the right margin, and a piece from the back leaf (see photos for details). But a first issue of a rare newspaper.