One of the newspapers I enjoyed sourcing material from, possibly more than any other, during the ‘Treaty of Union Articles’ Research, was the Caledonian Mercury, an Edinburgh publication which printed it’s first edition on the 8th of January, 1661. I thought I’d attempt to source a few examples to add to our collection of source material we want to give people access to. I had already managed to score the Mecurius Caledonius second centenary print but none of the newspapers themselves, as they can be fairly pricey, even when found. I have managed to obtain three , which people who came round to collect their copies of the ‘Treaty of Union Articles’ were able to have a good look at. This first is dated 5 years prior to the ’45 Rebellion and the second is from a couple of years thereafter. They give a nice indication of general context during this time and the list of deaths from the last page of the first make for a fascinating wee insight into the perils of the age. The third paper I have is from Monday, June 29, 1801, but has by this point become a broadsheet publication requiring a couple of scans of each page in order to jigsaw them together in Photoshop, even using the A3 scanner, hence why it took a couple of days extra before I could post it.
- Mercurius Caledonius (1861 Reprint of 1661 Edition).
- Tuesday, September 9, 1740.
- Monday, February 8, 1748.
- Monday, June 29, 1801.