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The first issue of the very rare Oxford Gazette...
The first issue of the very rare Oxford Gazette...
Item # 644032
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November 16, 1665
THE OXFORD GAZETTE, London, (Nov. 16, 1665). This is an extremely famous--and extremely rare--title, not only being the predecessor of the famous "London Gazette", the oldest continually published English language newspaper in the world, but also being the very first issue of this title published. This is issue: "Numb. 1" as noted in the upper right. Note that the dateline does not have the date, but with issue #2 dated Nov. 16 - 20, 1665, this verifies the date of issue #1 as Nov. 13 - 16, 1665.
Because of the Plague at this time, the Royal Court had removed itself from London to Oxford when this newspaper began, so issues #1 thru #23 were published in Oxford (actually published simultaneously in London & Oxford), and when the contagion had subsided & the Court returned to London this newspaper went with it and renamed itself "The London Gazette" with issue #24, and the rest is history. The London Gazette still publishes to this day.
The front page has much reporting on news events in Europe, including military, plus mention of the "New World" with one report including: "...was brought by a French West India ship which came from S. Christophers about 3 leagues from it...about 300 of the forces belonging to Jamaica went thither with a resolution of an attaque. There is but one landing place in the whole island & that of such difficult access..." with more (see). Military reports from throughout Europe take most of the back page.
The bottom of the back page has the weekly account of deaths from the Plague, reading: "The Account of the weekly Bill at London runs thus, Total 1359. Plague 1050. Decreased 428." (see).
A single sheet newspaper measuring 6 3/4 by 11 1/4 inches, a small rubbing hole in the masthead which causes no loss of text, and in overall very good condition. We have only had the pleasure to offer perhaps 3 issues of this very rare issue #1 of the Oxford Gazette over the last 41 years and this is undoubtedly in better condition than the previous two. It is very common for the first issue in a volume to suffer from library stamps, staining, or other excessive wear due to its location within the bindings. This issue is absent of all of these problems save for a small rubbing hole (as described).
Certainly a very scarce newspaper and a cornerstone issue for any early newspaper collection, being the first issue of the world's oldest continually published newspaper.
Note: The first issue we sold had a distracting library stamp while the 2nd one sold may be viewed at the following link for condition comparison: http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/644031?acl=882968469
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
