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A product of the amateur press hobby...
A product of the amateur press hobby...
Item # 702089
December 01, 1881
THE FLAG, Stanberry, Missouri, December, 1881 This tiny newspaper is part of the amateur press hobby that was very popular in the latter decades of the 19th century. Printed on small presses by amateur printers, the content was typically whimsical and very localized. This is the volume 1, number 3 issue. Most such newspapers had a very short life.
Four pages, 4 1/2 by 6 inches, great condition.
background: The Flag represents a rare, tangible artifact of the "Boy Printer" craze that swept through Gilded Age America, specifically edited and printed in Stanberry, Missouri, by Richard B. Teachenor (with associate Carrie B. Wilson). This 4.5 by 6-inch publication was produced during the town's infancy—just two years after its 1879 incorporation—using the affordable tabletop lever presses that democratized journalism for the era's youth. While the paper eventually evolved into The Amateur Exchange by 1882, this December 1881 issue captures the movement at its height, serving as a hyper-local time capsule of whimsical social updates and amateur literary efforts meant for a tight-knit network of "exchange" editors. Because these ephemeral papers were printed on high-acid wood pulp and usually discarded by their teenage creators once the novelty wore off, finding a Vol. 1, No. 3 issue in such pristine condition is a significant find for collectors of American printing history and Missouriiana.
Category: Post-Civil War
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$33.00
