Porcupine's Gazette and United States Daily Advertiser.
Item #50142
[COBBETT, William]. Porcupine's Gazette and United States Daily Advertiser. Philadelphia. March 29, 1797 - March 20, 1799. Folio newspapers, printed in four columns. A discontinuous run of 147 issues, beginning with Number 22 (March 29, 1797) and concluding with Number 635 (March 20, 1799). Each issue consists of [4]pp. Several issues with a contemporary ownership signature of "Mr. Kinney" or "Capt. Kinney." Plus one issue of CLAYPOOLE'S AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER; two issues of the TRUE AMERICAN COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER; and one issue of the PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE & UNIVERSAL DAILY ADVERTISER from the same time period bound in. Folio. Contemporary marbled boards, expertly rebacked, retaining the original gilt morocco spine label. Boards scuffed, an occasional stain or fox mark; light even tanning. Some twenty issues have from 2- to 6-inch tears in the edge or center of the text, resulting in loss. A few issues trimmed close at the upper edge or foredge, with slight loss. Overall, in good condition. PEARL, WILLIAM COBBETT 28. GAINES, WILLIAM COBBETT 30. BRIGHAM, pp.946-947. A significant number of William Cobbett's important and controversial - but short-lived - daily newspaper, PORCUPINE'S GAZETTE. The numbers in this volume represent about twenty percent of the complete run of the newspaper, which lasted 770 issues. Cobbett (1763-1835) the legendarily prolific, controversial (often contradictory), and anti-authoritarian polemicist, often wrote under the pen-name "Peter Porcupine." In 1796, a few years after he arrived in the United States, he began a monthly periodical called THE POLITICAL CENSOR, which he used to snipe at his political opponents - usually those of a pro-French or Jeffersonian-Republican sentiment. The CENSOR ran until March, 1797, when it was replaced with PORCUPINE'S GAZETTE a daily newspaper. The first issue appeared on March 4, 1797, the day John Adams was inaugurated President, with a subscription base of about one thousand, which more than doubled within a few months. By November, 1797, Cobbett was printing 3,000 copies a day. A weekly German-language version was published in Lancaster, Pa., in 1798 and 1799, and a thrice-weekly edition called THE COUNTRY PORCUPINE also ran in those years. Cobbett used the newspaper to support the Federalist party and to rail against the French and their American suppor.
Price: $5,000.00