Home History 9. The First Newspapers
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

9. The First Newspapers

View more publications by Yale University Press
To Publisher Page
The Invention of News
This chapter is in the book The Invention of News
In the year 1605 a young book dealer named Johann Carolus appeared before the Strasbourg city council with an unusual request. Besides his bookselling Carolus had recently also developed a lucrative sideline, producing a weekly manuscript newsletter. By this date, as we have seen, the manuscript newsletter had become the cornerstone of the information market for Europe’s elites. From its early days in Rome and venice, the production of manuscript newsletters had now spread across Germany, and from Augsburg and Nuremberg to Brussels and Antwerp in the Low Countries. Strasbourg, situ-ated close to the crucial Rhine crossing serving the imperial post service at Rheinhausen, was extremely well placed for such a venture. Carolus could be sure of a steady supply of news from the imperial postmaster and the constant passage of commercial traffic. And in a busy city like Strasbourg he would not have been short of customers.His enterprise clearly prospered; by 1605 Carolus was in the position to diversify further by buying a print shop. He now conceived a plan to mecha-nise his existing trade in manuscript newsletters by producing a printed version. In a neat echo of Gutenberg and the invention of print one hundred and fifty years before, this was a logical response to a situation where increasing demand was straining the capacity of existing technology to deliver adequate quantities. But the investment costs, not least in buying his printing press, had stretched Carolus’s resources, so now he turned to the city council for help. He told them that he had already produced twelve issues of his printed newsletter. But he obviously feared that if it proved successful others would try to copy him and wipe out his profits. So he asked the council to grant him a privilege – that is, a monopoly – on the sale of printed newslet-ters.1 This was not unreasonable. Any entrepreneur who believed he had pioneered a new industrial or manufacturing process would seek protection C H A P T E R 9The First Newspapers
© Yale University Press, New Haven

In the year 1605 a young book dealer named Johann Carolus appeared before the Strasbourg city council with an unusual request. Besides his bookselling Carolus had recently also developed a lucrative sideline, producing a weekly manuscript newsletter. By this date, as we have seen, the manuscript newsletter had become the cornerstone of the information market for Europe’s elites. From its early days in Rome and venice, the production of manuscript newsletters had now spread across Germany, and from Augsburg and Nuremberg to Brussels and Antwerp in the Low Countries. Strasbourg, situ-ated close to the crucial Rhine crossing serving the imperial post service at Rheinhausen, was extremely well placed for such a venture. Carolus could be sure of a steady supply of news from the imperial postmaster and the constant passage of commercial traffic. And in a busy city like Strasbourg he would not have been short of customers.His enterprise clearly prospered; by 1605 Carolus was in the position to diversify further by buying a print shop. He now conceived a plan to mecha-nise his existing trade in manuscript newsletters by producing a printed version. In a neat echo of Gutenberg and the invention of print one hundred and fifty years before, this was a logical response to a situation where increasing demand was straining the capacity of existing technology to deliver adequate quantities. But the investment costs, not least in buying his printing press, had stretched Carolus’s resources, so now he turned to the city council for help. He told them that he had already produced twelve issues of his printed newsletter. But he obviously feared that if it proved successful others would try to copy him and wipe out his profits. So he asked the council to grant him a privilege – that is, a monopoly – on the sale of printed newslet-ters.1 This was not unreasonable. Any entrepreneur who believed he had pioneered a new industrial or manufacturing process would seek protection C H A P T E R 9The First Newspapers
© Yale University Press, New Haven

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Maps vi
  4. Introduction All the News that’s Fit to Tell 1
  5. Part one. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEWS PUBLICATION
  6. 1. Power and Imagination 17
  7. 2. The Wheels of Commerce 40
  8. 3. The First News Prints 58
  9. 4. State and Nation 76
  10. 5. Confidential Correspondents 96
  11. 6. Marketplace and Tavern 117
  12. 7. Triumph and Tragedy 139
  13. Part two. MERCURY RISING
  14. 8. Speeding the Posts 167
  15. 9. The First Newspapers 182
  16. 10. War and Rebellion 208
  17. 11. Storm in a Coffee Cup 230
  18. Part three. ENLIGHTENMENT?
  19. 12. The Search for Truth 251
  20. 13. The Age of the Journal 269
  21. 14. In Business 289
  22. 15. From Our Own Correspondent 308
  23. 16. Cry Freedom 326
  24. 17. How Samuel Sewall Read his Paper 346
  25. Conclusion 362
  26. Notes 373
  27. Bibliography 408
  28. Index 429
  29. Illustration Acknowledgements 443
  30. Acknowledgements 444
Readers are also interested in:
https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300206227-011

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Maps vi
  4. Introduction All the News that’s Fit to Tell 1
  5. Part one. THE BEGINNINGS OF NEWS PUBLICATION
  6. 1. Power and Imagination 17
  7. 2. The Wheels of Commerce 40
  8. 3. The First News Prints 58
  9. 4. State and Nation 76
  10. 5. Confidential Correspondents 96
  11. 6. Marketplace and Tavern 117
  12. 7. Triumph and Tragedy 139
  13. Part two. MERCURY RISING
  14. 8. Speeding the Posts 167
  15. 9. The First Newspapers 182
  16. 10. War and Rebellion 208
  17. 11. Storm in a Coffee Cup 230
  18. Part three. ENLIGHTENMENT?
  19. 12. The Search for Truth 251
  20. 13. The Age of the Journal 269
  21. 14. In Business 289
  22. 15. From Our Own Correspondent 308
  23. 16. Cry Freedom 326
  24. 17. How Samuel Sewall Read his Paper 346
  25. Conclusion 362
  26. Notes 373
  27. Bibliography 408
  28. Index 429
  29. Illustration Acknowledgements 443
  30. Acknowledgements 444
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 18.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300206227-011/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOorKk_nUYcEsWSkbxAlBAg7LYuFf0t8emrnf__uqMlcZGjq2oEro
Scroll to top button