OLD NEWSPAPERS.

Newspaper
Year
1884
Month
10
Day
15
Article Title
OLD NEWSPAPERS.
Page Number
3
Article Type
Language
Article Contents
Priceless Collection of Journalistic Relics. What Mr. Thomas, of Stanley, has Collected in his Leisure Moments. Mr. John Thomas, of Stanley, is well known as a gentleman of intelligence with a task for all things of historical interest. He has among other things worthy of notice several newspapers of very considerable value as relics of another day. One of these is a copy of “The English Mercurie,” not perhaps the first newspaper published in England but one of the first. The “Mercurie,” is a sheet 9x11 inches. It purports to be published by royal authority for the prevention of false reports. Mr. Thomas’ copy is dated July 23rd, 1588, and gives a full report of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It is supposed to be the oldest copy of the “Mercurie,” extant, except a copy in the British Museum. It is wonderfully well preserved considering it is nearly three centuries of existence. Another of Mr. Thomas’ collection is a copy of “The Weekly News,” published on January 31st, 1606. This contains an account of the trial and execution of Guy Fawkes. Another dated January 29th, 1648, a quarto, 9x11, gives an account of some interesting scenes in parliament, and tells of the daily proceedings of the army under Lord Fairfax. It also contains the speech of Charles I delivered on the scaffold at Whitehall, other old papers which Mr. Thomas has are the “Gazette” of September 9th, 1658, the “News” of July 6th, 1665, containing an account of the precautions to be observed against the Plague; the “Gazette” of September 9th, 1658, contains an advertisement of a book called “A Few Sighs from Hell or The Groans of a Damned Soul, being an exposition of those words in the 16th of Luke, concerning the rich man and the beggar; also a brief discourse touching the profitableness of the Holy Scriptures, by John Bunyan; the “London Gazette,” of September 10th, 1666, giving an account of the great fire; the “London Times,” of January 26th, 1793, giving an account of the execution of Louis XVI; also the “Times,” of October 3rd, 1798, giving an account of the Battle of the Nile; and one of April 16th, 1801, giving an account of the taking of Copenhagen; and others containing accounts of the Battle of Trafalgar the death of Nelson, and of the burial of Nelson, with a picture of his coffin; Wellington despatches from Waterloo and others of great interest. Mr. Thomas has been collecting these papers for about forty years and has altogether over 2000, representing the press of 56 different countries and four centuries. The oldest are said to have been brought to America in the “May Flower” and to have followed the fortunes of the Loyalists to New Brunswick. Mr. Thomas intends to leave his very valuable collection to the University, or the Fredericton Historical Society. Such a splendid collection should be in the safest available receptacle, and none is better than the Legislative Library.