First issue of a German language newspaper from San Francisco...
Item # 705122
June 17, 1871
HUMORIST, San Francisco, California, June 17, 1871 A smaller size newspaper totally in the German language, obviously for the German immigrants in the Bay area. The masthead features a devil-like engraving. This is the volume 1, number 1 issue--the first published.
Eight pages with very wide margins, 9 3/4 by 12 inches, a lower corner is missing but not affecting any text, various small margin tears.
AI notes: The San Francisco Humorist was a 19th-century German-language weekly newspaper founded around 1871 in San Francisco, known for its satirical and comedic content aimed at the city’s German-speaking immigrant community. Edited by Max Cohnheim, it later became a bilingual publication called the San Francisco Journalist und Humorist, blending humor with local news and cultural commentary. Though its circulation declined by the late 1870s, the paper played a notable role in the vibrant German-language press scene of the time, with surviving issues—such as its illustrated debut edition—offering valuable insight into immigrant life and civic satire in San Francisco.
Eight pages with very wide margins, 9 3/4 by 12 inches, a lower corner is missing but not affecting any text, various small margin tears.
AI notes: The San Francisco Humorist was a 19th-century German-language weekly newspaper founded around 1871 in San Francisco, known for its satirical and comedic content aimed at the city’s German-speaking immigrant community. Edited by Max Cohnheim, it later became a bilingual publication called the San Francisco Journalist und Humorist, blending humor with local news and cultural commentary. Though its circulation declined by the late 1870s, the paper played a notable role in the vibrant German-language press scene of the time, with surviving issues—such as its illustrated debut edition—offering valuable insight into immigrant life and civic satire in San Francisco.
Category: The Old West








