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The earliest newspapers of the New World were published in Boston. The
very first venture was attempted in 1690, with the publication of 'Publick
Occurrences. Both Forreign and Domestick,' printed by Richard Pierce for
Benjamin Harris at the London Coffee House. It came to a sudden end after a
single issue. The General Court denounced it as containing 'reflections of a
very high nature,' and promptly suppressed it; at the same time forbidding
'anything in print without license first obtained from those appointed by
the government to grant the same.'
Fourteen years later in 1704, the Boston News-Letter made its debut,
'printed by authority,' and publication continued for 72 more years. It was the first true newspaper published in Boston, and in the colonies.
The first issue bore the date of April 24, 1704. Its appearance was an
event in Boston. An early historian wrote, 'There was a visible
sensation. The first sheet of the first number was taken damp to Chief
Justice Sewall to show President Willard of Harvard University what a
wonderful curiosity it was.' It was published by John Cambel,
postmaster of Boston, and son of Duncan Campbel, the organizer of the Postal
System in America. The newspaper was printed by Bartholomew Green, a
famous printer in his day, who had an office on Newbury Street [now
Washington Street] near the Old South Meeting House.
The first edition was half-sheet, and only two pages. It contained
news taken from the London papers, and a small amount of domestic news.
In 1721, Cambel took upon the idea and printed some copies of his
News-Letter on a sheet of writing paper, leaving one page blank, so that
subscribers could write their letters on this page and then send the paper abroad
without any extra postage.
The paper later changed its name several times. The last owners,
Margaret Draper and John Howe, were fierce Tories, and the paper was
discontinued when the British evacuated Boston in 1776.
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