Phil Barber Cambridge, Mass. 02139
Telephone (617) 492-4653 www.historicpages.com
Newspaper collecting is a relatively new hobby, one which is gaining in popularity daily as more Americans discover the richness of this neglected aspect of our heritage. The links below lead to sections from our An Introduction to Collecting Historic Newspapers, which we prepared to give the novice collector some background to this enjoyable pursuit. We hope you will find these subjects to be interesting and informative, and we look forward to your comments and suggestions.
A Brief History of Newspapers. An overview of nearly the five hundred year heritage of news communication, with a bibliography and references to Net resources on the topic.
Why Collect Old Newspapers?An appreciation of old newspapers and what they can tell us about the present, as well as the past, and a discussion of how they are collected today.
Newspaper Collecting FAQs. Answers to the most commonly encountered questions about old newspapers, such as how to tell if they are genuine, how to care for them, what makes one paper more or less valuable than another, and so on.
Glossary of Collector Terms. Definitions of the standard hobbyist terms which are used to describe old papers and books, and which you will find used in our descriptive catalogs.
Current Newspapers. Which of today's newspapers are most likely to become valuable future collector's items? How should they be selected and preserved? Check this page for some suggestions on the subject.
See also the following pages on the fascinating historical hobby of collecting early manuscript and printed books and leaves.
Illuminated Manuscripts. Before Gutenberg's introduction of movable type for printing in 1455, all books were copied by hand by monks and later by skilled secular copyists. Superb examples of calligraphy and decoration, leaves (pages) from these earliest works are highly collectible and are surprisingly affordable.
Incunabula. This term, meaning literally "in the cradle" refers to books and leaves printed in the first half-century of the European practice of the art of printing, 1455 to 1501. Some of the finest examples of presswork ever seen date to this period, and fine quality leaves can be procured for under $20 by today's collector.
Indentures. "Indentures" are legal contracts, generally written on large pieces of actual sheepskin, dating to the 14th through the 19th centuries. They are very popular collectibles today and their history, meaning, care, and collecting are discussed in some detail here.
Apocrypha. What are these mysterious, so-called "hidden" books of the Jewish and Christian Bible, that have been deleted from publication since 1827? Here for the leaf collector is a discussion and appreciation of these now-forgotten inspirational books.
Acts of Parliament. A discussion of these historic but little-known official Crown imprints. They are quite rare and collectible today!
