Skip to Main Content

Original or Reprint? A Guide to Noteworthy Newspaper Issues

New-England Weekly Journal (Boston)

April 8, 1728

The New-England Weekly Journal was established by Samuel Kneeland at Boston, March 20, 1727. On July 3 of that year, Timothy Green became associated with him. The issue of April 8, 1728, volume "B, Numb. LV." has been reprinted.

The Library of Congress has one of the six known originals of this issue and also has a reprint. The reprint is a very close copy of the original, but the two can be distinguished from each other by the following points:

  • The original is on rag paper, having as watermarks a double fleur-de-lis and parallel chain lines that are alternately 1 inch and 7/8 inch apart. The reprint is also on rag paper but lacks the watermarks.
  • The type of "The New-England" in the title of the original measures 1/4 inch high, while the same letters in the reprint measure only 3/16 inch high.

Copies of the reprint are rather numerous and have little monetary value.

Source: Information Circular 10 (Revised 1955).

Library Holdings

The Library of Congress has an original issue and a reprint (online catalog record).