Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week
Published on 27 October 2025 by Rose Staveley-Wadham
At The Archive this week we are delighted to announce that we have hit another milestone, as we are now at over 97 million pages all available to search, as we embrace spooky season and find out how to throw a 1950s style Halloween party. That’s not all, we’ve added another 256,448 brand new pages to our collection, with five brand new titles and updates to seven of our existing titles from across the UK.
And so, read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, and also to learn how to plan your vintage Halloween party.
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The Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial
Before we get on to planning the perfect 1950s Halloween party, it’s time to introduce our new titles of the week. Kicking us off is the charmingly named Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial, which was ‘born’ in Aberdeen in 1880.
By the 1930s, the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial had a circulation of some 16,000 copies. Filling sixteen pages, it appeared every Friday, and was bursting with photographs of local personalities and events.
Independent in its politics, by the 1950s the Aberdonian newspaper cost some 3d. A lively and entertaining paper, the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial printed columns with titles like ‘Concerning the City,’ and ‘Town and Gown,’ the latter of which shone a light on the University of Aberdeen.
Meanwhile the paper published a robust entertainment review, alongside a ‘City Cinema Index,’ notes on ‘sporting topics,’ a children’s column and a ‘woman’s page.’ Photography, however, was the main part of the paper, with the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial featuring a plethora shots of Aberdonian couples of their wedding days.
Sadly, the title closed in 1959, but we shall return to the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial to learn how to plan a Halloween party, 1950s style.
Allen’s Indian Mail
Our next new title of the week is Allen’s Indian Mail, which was first printed in London on 9 May 1843, priced at one shilling. With the full name of Allen’s Indian Mail and Official Gazette from British and Foreign India, China, and all Parts of the East, this title contained the ‘fullest and most authentic reports of all countries to which it is devoted, compiled chiefly from private and exclusive sources.’
‘Published on the arrival of each overland mail,’ Allen’s Indian Mail featured the news from the likes of India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, China, Australia and South Africa, each edition noting the date from which each item of intelligence was received. ‘Indispensable to all who have friends or relatives in the East,’ Allen’s Indian Mail claimed to afford ‘the only correct information regarding the services, movements of troops, shipping, and all events of domestic and individual interest.’
Claiming to have no political bias, Allen’s Indian Mail stating that ‘it is no part of the plan of this Work to make critical reflections upon public measures,’ the paper filled upwards of thirty pages, appearing twice a month before settling into a weekly publication pattern.
An important part of Allen’s Indian Mail was its ‘Register’ section, which printed a range of details covering ‘General Orders issued by the local governments; Courts Martial; Civil, Ecclesiastical, Military and Marine Appointments, Promotions, Furloughs, &c., Shipping, Passengers and Freights; Births, Marriages and Deaths; Reports of the Markets in India, Securities, Exchanges, &c.’ A fascinating resource for those researching ancestors who travelled beyond British shores in the Victorian period, Allen’s Indian Mail was known for its ‘plain and perspicuous narrative.’
The Newcastle-under-Lyme Times
We have another fun local paper for you now, in the shape of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Times. First published on 4 March 1938 in the Staffordshire market town of Newcastle-under-Lyme, this ‘non-party’ paper circulated in ‘the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, the Rural District of Newcastle and adjoining areas.’
As the debut edition of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Times announced, ‘the borough of Newcastle with its self-contained community life, its busy public activity, and its special interests, is a district that needs its own local paper.’ And with the Newcastle-under-Lyme Times, the town got a ‘weekly paper devoted to its interests.’
To that end, the twenty pages of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Times were filled with news from the local area, from the likes of Knutton, Wolstanton, Silverdale and Chesterton. The title published articles with such titles as ‘Mainly About People in and Around Newcastle’ and ‘Stories of Yesterday and To-Day For Those Who Love the Potteries,’ clearly with a love of all things Staffordshire firmly on the agenda. Meanwhile, the paper covered the fortunes of local Stoke-on-Trent football teams, Stoke City and Port Vale.
There were also items of more general interest featured in the Newcastle-under-Lyme Times. The paper printed items about music, gardening and films, as well as featuring a horoscope column, a ladies’ column and a humour column. Of particular note, meanwhile, was its extensive reporting of deaths in the local area.
The Northern Review
There must be something in the air this week as we have another lively title for you to enjoy, this time in the shape of the Northern Review. Established in the North Yorkshire port town of Middlesbrough in 1886, the Northern Review was described as a ‘Social and Political Journal,’ as well as ‘A Weekly Journal for Middlesbrough, Stockton, Darlington, the Hartlepools, and the North.’
With a stunning masthead, the Northern Review appeared every Saturday, typically filling eighteen pages. Priced at one penny, readers could enjoy short, humorous and sometimes satirical ‘reviews’ from Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland. Meanwhile, the Northern Review published a ladies’ column, a column devoted to even more wit and humour, which featured cartoons and poetry, football and cycling notes, pieces covering music and drama, as well as the latest from trade unions and friendly societies.
Y Celt
Our final new newspaper title of the week is Y Celt, Welsh for ‘The Celt.’ Founded in 1878 in Bangor, Wales’s oldest city, Y Celt was a ‘Radical Newspaper and Review.’ Printed entirely in Welsh, and filling twelve pages, it was also the ‘organ of a section of the Welsh Congregationalists,’ having an international reach.
Indeed, Y Celt circulated ‘extensively throughout North and South Wales, and the Welsh speaking population of England, America, Australia, and Patagonia.’ Furthermore, it dubbed itself as being ‘the only Welsh Paper printed and published in the University City of Bangor, the ‘Metropolis of North Wales,’ and close to the Penrhyn and Llanberis Quarries, which are universally acknowledged to be the Largest Slate Quarries in the World.’
The Penrhyn quarry was close to the heart of Y Celt editor the Reverend W. Keinion Thomas (1856-1932). Thomas was the son of a chief smith at Penrhyn quarry. Believing that a minister should have another job outside of their ministry, Thomas also worked as a journalist. He edited Y Celt from 1885 to 1901, and Y Cronicl from 1885 to 1910.
Our updated titles
This week we have seven updated newspaper titles for you to enjoy. With over 56,000 brand new pages added apiece, we have Sussex’s Chichester Observer and the Peterborough Evening Times. Coming in second with over 40,000 brand new pages added this week is the South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times. Meanwhile, we have added new pages to two of our Scottish titles, the Ayrshire Express and the Montrose Review.
Throwing a 1950s style Halloween party
On 27 October 1955, 70 years ago this week, our new title the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial posed this question to its readers: ‘Why don’t we revive Hallowe’en?’ Indeed, the piece, which appeared in the paper’s ‘Women’s Topics’ column, related how:
This once popular children’s party date (October 31st) has been almost obliterated by Guy Fawkes night. Often on November 5th there are so many parties going on that children get asked to several on the same day.
However, the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial article explained how a Halloween party ‘is just as fun, often less expensive now that fireworks cost so much, and need not be governed by the weather.’ But how to make a Halloween party 70 years ago a roaring success? The Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial was on hand to advise.
First, it suggested the construction of a ‘witches fire, made of twigs and red paper lit with a torch with a ‘cauldron’ (a black coal scuttle) hanging over it.’ The witches fire would contain ‘mysterious numbered packages which are pulled out and passed round.’ The Halloween party guests would then have to guess ‘what they contain,’ and for those who guessed correctly, they would get a prize. Another suggested game was to guess ‘the number of twigs in the witches broom.’
Of course, the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial suggested some more traditional activities for the Halloween party, such as ducking for apples, and carving a turnip lantern. Note, there are no pumpkins here (the North American influence had not yet crept in to Halloween celebrations), as the paper advises how:
A must for a Hallowe’en party is the turnip lantern: large well-shaped turnips or swedes are best. Cut off the top and hollow out the inside, leaving as thin a skin as possible on one side. This is where a face, it can be sinister or amusing, is carved. A candle is stuck inside and the top replaced as a lid. The aim is to have a soft glow round the face with the light shining through the holes. Very superior lanterns are finished off with a straw topknot.
With an eye on further decorations, the Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial related the fun of decorating ‘the table with traditional Hallowe’en symbols,’ like ‘witches, owls, black cats and twigs of mountain ash or rowan.’
No Halloween party, however, would be complete without refreshments, and the Aberdeen paper suggested giving spooky names like ‘Witches Favourite, Moonbeams and Witches Brew’ to drinks, even going so far as to suggest colouring milk for extra impact. The piece concludes by giving a recipe for ‘Jelly Whip,’ which could be decorated ‘with little faces,’ and be ‘very much in keeping with the spirit of the occasion.’
Find more suggestions for throwing the perfect Halloween party, or discover more about the history of Halloween, in the pages of our newspaper Archive today.
New Titles
Title | Years Added |
1951-1959 | |
1843-1847, 1850-1860, 1863-1870, 1872-1882, 1884-1885, 1887-1891 | |
1938-1950 | |
1887-1894 | |
1881-1882, 1884, 1891 |
Updated Titles
This week we have updated seven of our existing titles.
You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a free sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.
Title | Years Added |
1879, 1884-1886 | |
1986-2004 | |
1937-1962 | |
1994-1999 | |
1932-1962 | |
1986, 1989, 1991-1993 | |
1992-2004 |
You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page. You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.
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About the author
Rose Staveley-Wadham
Newspaper Licensing Manager
Published on Mon, 27 October 2025.