THE DAILY CITIZEN, Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 2, 1863  

* Most sought Confederate newspaper to be had ?

A fascinating newspaper and arguably the most famous of any newspaper printed on Confederate soil, not just for being printed on the back of wallpaper (some others were as well) but because of the circumstances which surrounded the creation of this issue.
The story of this newspaper is intriguing, well-known to serious collectors. However, this is an issue printed before Yankee troops overtook the city & the printing presses, meaning the "Note" (dated July 4th) at the bottom right--added by Yankee printers--is not here. This issue exists just as the Confederate printers intended, and is consequently a "true July 2" issue.
Of the many issues of this famous title we've handled, this is the first true July 2, 1863 issue we've uncovered.
The issue measures 11 3/4 by 19 1/4 inches with ample margins. The issue was folded several times with some foxing to some folds, and minor perforation along folds including two small holes at fold junctions. See photos for more detail.
The wallpaper design on the reverse is a brown wood grain pattern.

Background: The July 2, 1863 edition of The Daily Citizen stands as one of the most poignant and tactile symbols of the Confederacy’s collapse and the turning point of the American Civil War. Printed on the back of wallpaper due to the catastrophic deprivation caused by Ulysses S. Grant’s grueling, months-long Siege of Vicksburg, the newspaper's literal composition reflects the desperate straits of a blockaded South. More importantly, its publication coincided precisely with the dual, fatal blows delivered to the Confederacy: the surrender of Vicksburg—the "Gibraltar of the Confederacy"—on July 4, which gave the Union total control of the Mississippi River and sliced the South in two, occurring simultaneously with Robert E. Lee’s definitive defeat at Gettysburg. When victorious Union soldiers captured the printing shop, discovered the intact type, and appended their own mocking, triumphant "July 4th" postscript to the edition, the physical newspaper transformed from a localized artifact of Southern resilience into a permanent historical monument of Union victory. A "true" July 2nd edition, printed just before this takeover, captures a fleeting, final moment of Confederate defiance frozen in time, right on the precipice of the Union's ultimate strategic breakthrough.