John Nichols (1745–1826) began collecting newspapers around 1778 through purchasing a large share in the Gentleman’s Magazine, who had provided Samuel Johnson with his first regular employment as a writer. He collected many more materials after this and also made them available to scholars, a tradition continued by the Bodleian Library. The collection contains over 150,000 pages of printed text, spanning nearly 100 years of history.
Through a partnership with the Bodleian Library, Gale has digitally scanned each page of this collection, and with Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Nichols Newspapers Collection makes these rare documents available to scholars around the world in a full-text, searchable, digital format.
Essential to the study of British history and culture in crucial periods, this collection features many rare news media resources, including:
- Applebee’s Original Weekly Journal
- Athenian Mercury
- Flying Post or Postmaster
- London Gazette
- Mist’s Weekly Journal
- Original Weekly Journal
- Post Boy
- Post Man or the Historical Account
This collection can also be searched on Gale Primary Sources, an integrated platform that combines Gale’s digital archives into a single cross-searchable interface.
Provider: Gale
Coverage: 1672-1737