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Very first of the advice column newspapers...
Very first of the advice column newspapers...
Item # 638982
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March 15, 1692
THE ATHENIAN MERCURY, London, Dec. 2, 1693 This was the very first of the "agony aunt" newspapers (see hyperlink), a newspaper providing personal advice to its readers. In creating this format of responding to questions from readers, the publisher, John Dunton, did so as a result of feeling guilty for cheating on his wife. He thought that people like himself might appreciate confiding anonymously in a stranger & that readers would be titillated by the exchange. It proved to be a success as he was bombarded with queries on everything from marriage to the ethics of slave-trading to why sermons seem longer than they are.
There are 18 questions in this issue, one question is: "Whether the Christian and sir-name beginning with the same letter denotes the person fortunate?" Also of interest is a back page advertisement for a "newly published" book, the "Third Edition of the Life and Death of the Reverend Mr. Eliot, the First Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians in America." Nice mention of the colonies in this early newspaper.
Single sheet, 7 1/2 by 13 inches, very nice condition.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
