Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

Hear ye, hear ye, this week at The Archive we have a treat for you as we welcome five brand new newspapers to our collection, covering everything from the Irish whiskey trade to Midlands satire, the latter through the medium of the Magpie and the Birmingham Town Crier. That’s not all, as we welcome 246,880 brand new pages in all to our ever-growing holdings, whilst we’ve also updated nine of our existing titles from across the United Kingdom, as we reach the 96 million page mark.

Stay tuned to learn all about our new and updated holdings of the week, and also to discover some fantastic 19th century whiskey advertisements.

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The Birmingham Town Crier

Oyez, oyez, it’s only fitting that we start this week’s rundown of new titles with the Birmingham Town Crier. Established in Birmingham in 1861, this title featured a range of ‘witty and satirical local articles.’

Indeed, the publication, which appeared every month priced at two pence, had the subheading of ‘Jacob’s Belles Lettres.’ It can be no coincidence that Birmingham’s last town crier was a man by the name of Jacob Wilson, who held the position for over 50 years. Wilson, who was born in 1799, became Birmingham’s town crier in 1827, only retiring at the age of 80, when, somewhat ironically in this instance, the rise of the newspaper press rendered his position redundant.

Birmingham Town Crier | 1 May 1887

So, what kind of articles could you find within the sixteen pages of the Birmingham Town Crier? With such titles as ‘Notes by Our Idiot Correspondent’ and ‘The Forthcoming Harborne Gooseberry Show,’ you can understand the tongue-in-cheek, eccentric, stance that this newspaper took.

A good example of its humour can be found in pieces like ‘Another Meeting of the Statues,’ or ‘How To Make Money.’ Unlike some examples of Victorian satire, the latter article on suggestions for getting rich quick from 1882 reads as wittily now as it must have done then:

Start a newspaper. But be careful to have more paper than news. Always give uninteresting advertisements preference to real intelligence. Put in plenty of sporting letters. Make the most of spicy full flavoured news. Cackle loudly about the nobility of the press. Give yourself no end of airs. Turn up your nose at those who are your superiors. Pocket your gains, and regard yourself as a public benefactor.

The Magpie

Hot on the heels of the Birmingham Town Crier is another example of eccentric Midlands satire, Wolverhampton’s Magpie. A ‘grave and gay paper,’ the Magpie appeared every Saturday priced at one penny, dubbing itself as ‘the only illustrated comic paper in the district.’

Magpie | 7 October 1882

Circulating ‘extensively all through the Black Country,’ this lively Wolverhampton paper featured ‘portraits of local celebrities every week.’ Filling sixteen pages, and costing just one penny, the paper featured a range of poetry, cartoons, short stories and skits.

Indeed, the Magpie delved into the realms of gossip, with one such report reading as follows:

That Porter, 0002, is rather fond of courting. That the rendezvous is the platform at the Deep. That certain young women do congregate on the said platform in leap-year style. That M. and J. ought to have enjoyed themselves on the corn bag and under the tunnel.

Magpie | 6 September 1884

Away from its more scandalous snippets, the Magpie contains reports on local matters under such headings as ‘Bird’s Views’ and ‘Our Special Correspondent’s Letter.’ The paper, meanwhile, also focussed on sporting matters, with articles dedicated to Wolverhampton Bowling Club and to football, alongside ‘Musical and Dramatic Gossip.’

The Southern Star (Skibbereen)

Before we take a look at the Irish whiskey trade, we’re off to County Cork and the market town of Skibbereen. Founded in 1889 by brothers Florence and John O’Sullivan, the Southern Star was initially known as the Cork County Southern Star.

An immensely robust guide to Skibbereen and the towns across County Cork, the Southern Star regularly reported on the latest from the Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty, Dunmanway, Macroom, Skibbereen and Timoleague Unions and Petty Sessions. Priced at one penny, the Southern Star appeared every Saturday priced at one penny.

Southern Star (Skibbereen) | 1 April 1899

Nationalist in its politics, the Southern Star featured updates from local Gaelic Associations, as well as reporting from the likes of the Clonakilty Young Men’s Association and the Clonakilty Gaelic Football Club. The paper also extensively reported on accidents and crimes in the area, as well as printing literary notes.

Counting soldier and revolutionary Michael Collins (1890-1922) as one of its shareholders, the Southern Star later bought out its Skibbereen rival, the Skibbereen Eagle in 1929. The paper is still running to this day, and counts itself as the largest selling newspaper in County Cork.

The Swansea Journal, Commercial, Literary, and Agricultural Advertiser

Our penultimate new title of the week hails from Wales, and it is the Swansea Journal, Commercial, Literary, and Agricultural Advertiser. Founded in Swansea in 1840, this paper was subtitled as the Llanelly, Neath, Aberavon, Bridgend, and South Wales Advertiser.

Swansea Journal, Commercial, Literary, and Agricultural Advertiser | 31 December 1881

Appearing every Saturday at the cost of one penny, the Swansea Journal, Commercial, Literary, and Agricultural Advertiser was a mix of general and international news, with short stories and correspondence making appearances within its eight pages.

Liberal in its politics, this newspaper circulated ‘in Swansea and district.’

The Whiskey Trade Review

And now for the paper you’ve been waiting for – the Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin). A fortnightly compendium of ‘Brewery, Wine, Spirit, Mineral Water, and General Liquor Trade News,’ this liquid-focussed title filled upwards of 50 pages. A yearly subscription to the Whiskey Trade Review would set you back one whole guinea, but for that, you could enjoy robust reporting on whiskey news from across Ireland.

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 15 May 1893

So what filled the pages of the Whiskey Trade Review? Well, you can find a range of fascinating illustrated adverts for different whiskeys. The publication even included an index of advertisers, for ease of locating your favourite. Meanwhile, the title printed lists of Irish whiskey exporters, with reports on whiskey auctions at Dublin, whiskey export prices, and whiskey shipments into Dublin.

Away from the whiskey trade, well, not too far away from the whiskey trade, the title wrote about whisky notes from Scotland, and covered issues like the ‘Taxation of Alcohol in France,’ and different alcoholmeters in France, England and the United States. Founded in 1889, the Whiskey Trade Review also took in the latest inventions in the distilling trade, whilst also examining brandy prices, porter shipments, and cognac firms.

Our updated titles

Before moving on to look at some of our favourite whiskey adverts from the Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin), it would be remiss of us not to highlight some of our very special updated titles of the week. With a Scottish flavour, our biggest update of the week is to the Arbroath Herald with over 20,000 brand new pages added over the last seven days, whilst we’ve added over 14,000 brand new pages to ‘Scotland’s favourite newspaper,’ the Sunday Post.

The Queen | 21 August 1946

Meanwhile, some of our specialist titles this week also see updates. The year 1946 has joined high society women’s paper the Queen, whilst more pages have joined Victorian dating paper the Matrimonial Post and Fashionable Marriage Advertiser. Lastly, China-focussed paper the London and China Telegraph sees over 10,000 brand new pages join its ranks this week.

Our favourite whiskey ads from the Whiskey Trade Review

As already mentioned, Dublin’s Whiskey Trade Review is a wonderful repository of illustrated advertisements for Irish whiskey brands. And what better way to celebrate the Irish whiskey trade than by collating some of our favourites?

Let’s start with some ‘reliable Irish whiskey,’ as advertised by the Whiskey Trade Review on 15 May 1893. This advert appeared on behalf of Jackson & Co.’s Dublin Whiskey, which was dubbed the ‘flower of Irish malts.’

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 15 May 1893

An advertising stalwart of the Whiskey Trade Review was Allman & Co.. As featured in the 4 January 1893 edition of the Whiskey Trade Review, the advert claimed Allman & Co. as being ‘distillers of one quality only, and that the finest.’ Established in 1825 in Bandon, County Cork, Allman’s Bandon Distillery closed in 1929.

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 4 January 1893

Representing another historic Irish distillery is our next advert, which appeared in the same January edition of the Whiskey Trade Review. Established only two years after the distillery at Bandon, was the Nicholas Devereux & Co.’s distillery at Bishop’s Water, County Wexford. This advert appeals to us at it includes an illustration of the distillery, which closed in 1914.

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 4 January 1893

In terms of adverts, the Irish whiskey trade had some competition from Scotch whiskies. This 18 April 1896 advert for Pattisons’ Royal Gordon and Morning Dew whiskies features photographs of the companies’ distilleries, warehouses, and blending houses. Founded by the Pattison brothers, Pattison, Elder & Co. would in a few years go bust, in a financial scandal known as the ‘Pattison crash.’ However, prior to the collapse of the company, the Pattison brothers capitalised on the boom in the Scotch whisky business, as evidenced by this lavish advertisement.

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 18 April 1896

As if to underline their success, Pattison, Elder & Co. placed another luxurious ad in the Whiskey Trade Review on 17 September 1895, which you can enjoy below.

Whiskey Trade Review (Dublin) | 17 September 1895

Discover more fantastic whiskey, and whisky(!), advertisements and learn more about the history of both drinks in the pages of our Archive today.

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated ten 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.

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.