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NOTES AND QUERIES. 1 12 S.U.JCLY 29,1916.
of Norwich and Longmans of London.
The omitted account gives a history of
printing in Norwich, and a description of the
pap.-r mills at Tabrum, Norfolk, which
must have had a very great influence upon
local printing. It is, therefore, very im-
portant to rediscover Burges's tract.
There were several newspapers published at Norwich during the first two decades of the eighteenth century, but the most im- portant of these were printed and written by the Jacobite, Henry Crossgrove, whose career extended through the greater part of the century. The earliest number of his The Gazette, afterwards The Norwich Gazette (with varying sub-titles), in the British Museum is dated 1712, and is not numbered ; but many examples earlier than this are in existence*, ?nd the paper is known to have commenced in 1706. The British Museum, however, possesses the finest collection in existence of the later issues of Crossgrove's paper, extending up to and beyond his death. If only because of Crossgrove's literary tastes, his intimacy with Strype, the ecclesiastical annalist, and the amusing personal notes so often given in his papers, this writer's career is the most important and interesting of all those of the early provincial journalists. A paper on Cross- grove, by the present writer, appeared in The Library for April, 1914.
BRISTOL.
A pamphlet by Mr. Charles Wells on the ' History of The Bristol Times and Mirror ' was published a few years ago, but, unfor- tunately, my copy is not at present accessible to me. Mr. Wells printed in this a facsimile of the earliest known copy of Bonny's Bristol Post-Boy (No. 91, 12 Aug., 1704), from which it is clear that Bonny's paper began in 1702, and thus was second in the field. More information about Bonny and his paper is badly needed.
EXETER.
The British Museum possesses a solitary number of a paper which, I think, is the earliest known copy of an Exeter periodical It is to be found in the Burney collection vol. 153 B., and is as follows :
" ' Jos. Blixxs Exeter Post-Boy. Containing an impartial collection of the most material news, both foreign and domestick.' Printed by Joseph Bliss, at the Exchange Coffee House, in St. Peter's Churchyard. No. 211. Friday, 4 May, 1711."
This paper must have commenced in April, 1707, but another printer must have preceded Bliss, for Dr. Tanner wrote in 1706.
The antiquary the Rev. George Oliver,
of St. Nicholas Priory, Exeter, who died in
1861 (life in ' D.N.B.'), is the chief authority
on the history of Exeter newspapers, though
[ believe the whole of his MSS. have not yet
)een printed. Unfortunately, Dr. Oliver's
statements are full of errors, as the number
of Jos. Bliss's Exeter Post-Boy, to which
[ have drawn attention, proves. One such
error is the assertion that Bliss started The
Protestant Mercury; or Exeter Post-Boy , in
September, 1715, in opposition to Farley's
Exeter Mercury.
Treiwnaris Exeter Flying Post for Feb. 15, 1849. contains an article by Dr. Oliver dealing with Farley, and some further notes on the subject will be found in the same periodical for June 28, 1913.
I hope that these notes will induce local antiquaries to clear up a very obscure subject, and to give the readers of ' N. & Q.' the benefit of their researches. In conclusion I should like to draw attention to some points :
1. All the earliest numbers of the provin- cial papers were " half sheets in folio " two pages, " papers," not pamphlets. Later on this was sometimes varied, and they became " newsbooks " again, i.e., pamphlets.
2. They did not at first publish local news, but " collected " their news from London papers or the newsletters.
3. Their printers were their editors.
4. The majority seem to have been either Jacobite or crypto-Jacobite.
5. In many cases they were given away, and advertisements not charged for. I do not suggest that this was an absolute rule ; but, obviously, people in country towns would not pay for a paper the originals of whose news could be seen in the local coffee-house. They must have been sold only on market days to the country folk. Again, as regards advertisements, was not some sort of brokerage charged on the result of sales, as an office charge, to which the advertisements were but an accessory, and not a necessary accessory ? We have the clearest evidence of these brokerage charges in Nedham's Publick Adviser in Cromwell's time. His prospectus is still in existence, and gives the scale of his charges. So, also, the various City Mercuries, printed right down to the end of the seventeenth century, were distributed gratis, and there were office charges for things sold, &c., through their agency. Local news seems to have been an afterthought. J. B. WILLIAMS.
