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The Burney Collection consists of over 1,270 17th-18th century newspapers and other news materials, gathered by
Charles Burney Charles Burney (7 April 1726 – 12 April 1814) was an English music historian, composer and musician. He was the father of the writers Frances Burney and Sarah Burney, of the explorer James Burney, and of Charles Burney, a classicis ...
, most notable for the 18th-century London newspapers. The original collection, totalling almost 1 million pages, is held by the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
.


Contents of the collection


Highlights

Key objects in the collection include: *The financial scandal of the 1720s, the South Sea bubble, with reports in the ''Weekly Journal'' or ''Saturday’s Post'' of how Parliament decided that if they left the country, the directors of the South Sea company "shall suffer death as a felon without benefit of clergy and forfeit to the King all his Lands, Goods and Chattels whatsoever." *First advertisement for '' The Memoirs of Fanny Hill'' in the '' Whitehall Evening Post'', 6 March 1750, and then, in the issue of 17 March, a report of how the publisher was taken into custody and all copies were seized. * Insight into English attitudes to contemporary events, such as when the '' English Chronicle, or, Universal Evening Post'' used the unusual device of a headline – FRENCH REVOLUTION!! – for a whole page article on 18 of July 1789. It reported sympathetically on the fall of the Bastille four days earlier, including how the officers were decapitated in ‘a sad but necessary spectacle...a solemnity worthy of the highest admiration.’


Summary

The collection begins with Parliamentary papers from 1603, and newspapers from the early 1620s. 18th-century London newspapers are the richest part of the collection. The following is an incomplete list of titles covering some of the most popular. * Parliamentary papers from 1603 * London Newspapers ** The '' Daily Courant'' * (1702-1735), the first daily newspaper published in London ** The ''
London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
'' * from 1665 ** ''
London Chronicle The ''London Chronicle'' was an early family newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background ...
'' * ** '' London Evening Post'' * ** '' Lloyd's Evening Post and British Chronicle'' * ** '' Evening Post'' * ** '' Daily Post'' * ** '' Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser'' * * National papers ** '' The Era'' * Periodicals ** ''
Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle c ...
'' (1709-1711) ** '' Spectator'' (1711-1712) * English provincial titles from 1712 ** The ''
Stamford Mercury The ''Stamford Mercury'' (also the ''Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', the ''Rutland and Stamford Mercury'', and the ''Rutland Mercury'') based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, claims to be "Britain's oldest cont ...
'' of 1728, ** The ''
Leeds Mercury The ''Leeds Mercury'' was a newspaper published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was published from 1718 to 1755 and again from 1767. Initially it consisted of 12 pages and cost three halfpennies. In 1794 it had a circulation of about 3,00 ...
'' * ** The '' Exeter Flying Post'' * * Irish newspapers from 1691 ** The ''Dublin Intelligence'' of 1691 ** The '' Belfast News–Letter'' * * Scottish newspapers from 1708 ** The '' Aberdeen Journal'' * ** The ''
Caledonian Mercury The ''Caledonian Mercury'' was a newspaper in Edinburgh, Scotland, published three times a week between 1720 and 1867. In 2010 an online publication launched using the name. 17th century A short-lived predecessor, the '' Mercurius Caledonius'', ...
'' * ** ''The Echo'' or ''Edinburgh Weekly Journal'' * * Many 18th-century American newspapers, including: ** The '' New England Courant'' (1721-1723), on which
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
worked * (unsorted in this list) ** '' British Journal'' * ** '' Daily Gazetteer'' * ** '' General Advertiser'' * ** ''Lounger'' * ** ''Mirror'' * ** '' St James' Chronicle'' or '' British Evening Post'' * ** '' Whitehall Evening Post'' or '' London Intelligencer'' * ** '' Daily News'' ** '' Morning Chronicle'' ** '' Illustrated Police News'' ** '' The Chartist'' * These items are available as part of the online collection.


Preservation and access


Microfilm

Due to rapid deterioration of the collection, a decision was made to microfilm the collection and restrict access to physical copies. The success of the microfilm project led to many other book collections being preserved on film.


Access to the collection

* The Joint Information Systems Committee provides free online access to the collection for all UK Further and Higher Education institutions.


See also

* History of British newspapers *
JISC Digitisation Programme The JISC Digitisation Programme was a series of projects to digitise the cultural heritage and scholarly materials in universities, libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural memory organizations in the United Kingdom, from 2004 to 2010 The p ...
*
List of online newspaper archives Archives of newspapers are held in many libraries, either in the original format, on microfilm or other physical formats. Digital archives of newspapers, some searchable via the internet, also now exist. The following is a list of archives that s ...
*
List of newspapers in the United Kingdom Twelve daily newspapers and eleven Sunday-only weekly newspapers are distributed nationally in the United Kingdom. Others circulate in Scotland only and still others serve smaller areas. National daily newspapers publish every day except Sund ...


References


Sources

* * *


External links

* http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/news/newspdigproj/burney/index.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20091018055510/http://www.nls.uk/collections/digital/resources/burney.html * http://microformguides.gale.com/BrowseGuide.asp?colldocid=1003000&Page=23&Item= * http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/webres/newspaperliblinks/index.html * http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/digitisation/newspapers2.aspx {{Defunct newspapers of the United Kingdom Documents British Library collections Burney Collection History of newspapers