Newspaper Index proudly presents: The first newspaper in Scandinavia (1749) now online
Yesterday I was holding newspaper history in my hands. The first omnibus newspaper ever published in Scandinavia from January 1749. The owner - a gentleman who had in it in his family’s possession since it was published - let me scan it on his flatbed. The newspaper is in very good condition since it was not printed on paper made from wood but from flax and cotton that can last for much longer time. It is kept inside a book in a privately owned historic library in the countryside in the snow covered hilly in East Jutland in Denmark. Only a handful of other copies are held in The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, but this is the first time the publication has been scanned and made public in the digital world. The newspaper has the title “Kjøbenhavnske Danske Post Tidender”, a few years after it changed name to Berlingske Tidende. This first edition had 8 pages and it was since printed twice a week.

Translation of the front page from gothic Danish:
Monarch of the Nordic twin kingdom (Denmark and Norway) allow, and all your servants, the public to see with what is truthfully the hearts joy, you your highness King to step into another unified year, that great luck and happiness foresees. What else could it foresee than happiness, when we have you, our brave and pretty, with royal house and heir.
And it goes on like this till the middle of page two. The newspaper was controlled by strict censorship by the King and not only did the editor have to accept this, he also felt obliged to praise the King all over the front page.
Here starts the international reporting.
Wiena: Russian troops has left for Poland, more will leave soon.
Hanover: Several people killed and about 40 injured when lightning hit a church in Diepholz.
Paris: Speculations about where Prince Edward might be. In Avignon? Maybe in Switzerland?
London: The House of Commons decided to raise the number of men in the navy to 17.000 during 1749.
We also get to hear news about the Russian queen and there is a page only with ads - not clickable..
Download the entire newspaper as pdf. here.
This very early and very rare newspaper was way ahead of its time. It has many of the elements we know from modern newspapers: The short notice, facts and figures about power, war and economics, the commentary, the gossip and the editorial.
The first newspaper in the New World, titled Publick Occurrences, was published in Boston, Massachusetts on September 25, 1690. (It was only published once so it is doubtfull if it can be called a newspaper.) Intended as a monthly publication for the general public, it was published without a license from the authorities. Its contents greatly offended those in power and caused such a public uproar that it was immediately discontinued after the one issue. Publick Occurrences was the forerunner of a new time, however, and in the 1700s, newspapers began to spring up in the American colonies.
While Berlingske Tidende is still in print, and is one of the 3 largest daily newspapers in Denmark, the oldest continually published newspaper in the World is Berrow’s Worcester Journal. It has appeared each week with unfailing regularity for more than 300 years.
Update 22/02/05
The newspaper has now been downloaded 2715 times. This number must be a lot higher than the numbers of readers it had when it published first time… Due to the interest in the publication, I am willing to translate the entire text if there is a need for it.
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First-ever newspaper scanned and posted
Hans sez, “today i scanned the first newspaper in Northern Europe and published it on my blog. I have translated some of it from Gothic Danish to English. I found the newspaper after long research in a privately owned library. It has been kept there …
Trackback by Boing Boing — February 20, 2005 @ 6:58 pm
ldsta skandinaviska tidningen har hamnat i en blogg
Den frsta tidningen i norra Europa, som gavs ut fr mer n 250 r sedan, har skannats in och publicerats i en blogg. Det hittade jag i Boing-Boing Tidningen r en dansk tidning, tror jag, men har delvis versatts till…
Trackback by No illusions - Chadies NU-blogg — February 20, 2005 @ 8:59 pm
Utrolig interessant lesning. Godt journalistisk arbeide, å overlevere dette til allmenheten. Stor takk fra Norge :)
Comment by Eirik Larsen — February 20, 2005 @ 9:00 pm
Are you saying that newspapers began being regularly published in America first, before Europe had them? That would really surprise me. Why would that have been the case?
Comment by Ralph — February 20, 2005 @ 10:57 pm
The image quality is awful. You should re-scan the document and compress the output to a higher-quality jpeg.
Comment by Name — February 20, 2005 @ 11:57 pm
Fascinating, but not first. The first newspapers were in German, 1610; the first English newspapers were published in 1620/21 in the Low Countries and England, not in the American colonies. I’d be amazed if the whole of Scandinavia (especially the protestant parts) waited till 1690, but that would be for someone in Scandinavia to check. Meanwhile, check out: http://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/Collier’s%20page.htm (oh, and also http://www.berrowsjournal.co.uk/)
Comment by John Hartley — February 21, 2005 @ 1:53 am
First Newpaper
The first newspaper scanned and online. That is, the first Scandinavian newspaper. From 1749….
Trackback by Link-Fu — February 21, 2005 @ 2:18 am
First paper ever now shows up in a blog
First paper ever printed has been scanned and shown in a blog. That’s right folks. MSM better shape up. Even the first known newspaper from 1749 has made its way into the digital medium and latched onto the blogosphere….
Trackback by LUX.ET.UMBRA — February 21, 2005 @ 8:17 am
You might like . . .
http://www.lian.com/TANAKA/comhosei/NPinEB.htm
Comment by Frank Jones — February 21, 2005 @ 9:02 am
Excellent work! Thanks for posting it.
Comment by niblog — February 21, 2005 @ 9:49 am
The official Swedish newspaper “Post- och Inrikes Tidningar” (http://www.poit.org/) has been published continously since 1645. As far as I know it’s the oldest newspaper in Scandinavia.
Comment by Jan Eklöf — February 21, 2005 @ 10:52 am
Those people saying the thing about the American paper is wrong - re-read the piece; he said the first in the NEW WORLD. Dicks.
Comment by Tetsuo — February 21, 2005 @ 3:14 pm
The first Newspaper
The first newspaper in Scandinavia (1749). I love the header designs of these things….
Trackback by OcNews — February 21, 2005 @ 5:23 pm
I agree with the above commenter. Your “oldest” paper was plainly beaten by over a hundred years by “post och -inrikes tidningar”! Or do you operate with a definition of newspaper here that somehow excludes POIT from competition?
Comment by m — February 21, 2005 @ 11:10 pm
It is all a matter of definition. The Egyptians made public letters, the Vikings used the futharks to inform everybody about their doings and so forth.
What I mean by a “real newspaper” is one that is independent, have an idea of sources and how to deal with them in an journalistic way. It should also include the newspaper stuff that we see in modern newspapers.
As far as I know POIT was not only censored but published by the Crown in Sweden untill 1791. Government propaganda dates back to ancient times.
Comment by Hans Henrik Lichtenberg — February 21, 2005 @ 11:37 pm
Downloaded the PDF. Image quality still lacking. You should have used better quality jpg og png and fiddled with the contrast for better readability. Not that I speak danish anyway.
Comment by Nussah — February 22, 2005 @ 7:10 am
Hey Nussah,
The newspaper has been downloaded more than 3000 times now. I had to place at another server. I will not make a better quality pdf because of the bandwidth problem, but if you are interested I can send you JPEGS of the singe pages . -about half a MB pr. page.
Comment by Hans Henrik Lichtenberg — February 22, 2005 @ 9:26 am
Dear Hans,
your and the owner’s sharing this fairly ancient newspaper in the online world is wonderful, but do, please, ask boingboing (where I found this entry) to update their post on your scan. Of course there were newspapers in Europe in the early 17th century.
Comment by Martina — February 22, 2005 @ 6:19 pm
All depends on the definition of newspaper. All early newspapers in Sweden was under the scissors of the censor, many was shortlived, but you have many examples from the 17th century, e.g. “Swenske Mercurius” published under slightly different names between 1674-1685 (with some interruptions)
Comment by Hans Larsson — February 23, 2005 @ 10:20 pm
deviam meter mais cenas e mais esplicitas sobre isto
Comment by dog — April 27, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
[…] From Scotsman.com Link to the first newspaper in Scandinavia […]
Pingback by Newspaperindex - the blog | Newspapers of the world, media, free speech and update on the newspaper catalogue Newspaper Index » 300 years old newspaper for sale at Ebay.com — August 25, 2005 @ 5:53 pm
[…] Now you know - remember you read it first at Newspaper Index´ blog. Stay tuned.. More Old Danish? - Read the first newspaper in danish, scanned, blogged and online. […]
Pingback by Newspaperindex - the blog | Newspapers of the world, media, free speech and update on the newspaper catalogue Newspaper Index » Now Whats Great About That? — October 20, 2005 @ 4:11 pm
[…] The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned Danish travellers to Pakistan of increased hazard, after a Danish newspaper’s decision to publish cartoons of Muslim prophet Mohammed escalated into a bounty being placed on the heads of the cartoonists. Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoon drawings of Mohammed in September, sparking angry reactions from Denmark’s Muslim population and a number of Muslim countries. A bounty of DKK 50,000 (EUR 6,713) had been put on the head the cartoonist responsible for the drawings, daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on Friday. The Pakistani group offering the reward mistakenly believes that the 12 cartoons were created by just one person […]
Pingback by Newspaperindex - the blog | Newspapers of the world, media, free speech and update on the newspaper catalogue Newspaper Index » Price on the heads of the men who drew Mohammed — December 13, 2005 @ 11:04 am
Program on the emergence of civilization.
“14 species of large animals capable of domesitcation in the history of mankind.
13 from Europe, Asia and northern Africa.
None from the sub-Saharan African continent. ”
Favor.
And disfavor.
They point out Africans’ failed attempts to domesticate the elephant and zebra, the latter being an animal they illustrate that had utmost importance for it’s applicability in transformation from a hunting/gathering to agrarian-based civilization.
The roots of racism are not of this earth.
Austrailia, aboriginals:::No domesticable animals.
The North American continent had none. Now 99% of that population is gone.
AIDS in Africa.
Organizational Heirarchy/Levels of positioning.
Heirarchical order, from top to bottom:
1. MUCK - perhaps have experienced multiple universal contractions (have seen multiple big bangs), creator of the artificial intelligence humans ignorantly refer to as “god”
2. Perhaps some mid-level alien management
3. Evil/disfavored aliens - runs day-to-day operations here and perhaps elsewhere
Terrestrial management/positioning:
4. Chinese/egyptians - this may be separated into the eastern and western worlds
5. Romans - The seamless transition between Cleopatra and Julius Ceasar may be a clue alluding to a partnership.
6. Mafia - the real-world 20th century interface that constantly turns over generationally so as to reinforce the widely-held notion of mortality
7. Jews, corporation, women, politician - Evidence exisits to suggest mafia management over all these groups.
Movies foreshadowing catastrophy
1985 James Bond View to a Kill 1989 San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake.
Our society gives clues to the system in place. We all have heard the saying “He has more money than god.” There is also an episode of the Simpsons where god meets Homer and says “I’m too old and rich for this.”
This is the system on earth because this is the system everywhere.
20 cent/hour Chinese labor, 50 cents for material.
An $80 sweater costs less than a dollar; tribute kicked upstairs vindicates the creative accounting.
I don’t want to suggest the upper eschelons are evil and good is the fringe. But these individuals become wealthy exploiting those they hurt.
They have made it abundantly clear that doing business with evil (disfavored) won’t help people. They say only good would have the ear, since evil is struggling for survival, and therefore only the favored could help.
The clues are there which companies are favored and which are disfavored, but they conceal it very hard because it is so crucial.
I offer an example of historical proportions:::
People point to Walmart and cry “anti-union”.
Unions enable disfavored people to live satisfactorly without addressing their disfavor. This way their family’s problems are never resolved. Without the union they would have to accept the heirarchy, their own inferiority.
Unions serve to empower.
Walmart is anti-union because they are good. They try to help people address and resolve their problems by creating an environment where there are fewer hurdles.
Media ridicule and lawsuits are creations to reinforce people’s belief that Walmart is evil in a subsegment of the indistry dominated by the middle and lower classes.
Low-cost disfavored Chinese labor is utilized by corporate america to maximize margins. They all do it. Only WalMart gets fingered because they are the ones who help, and those who seek to create confusion in the marketplace want to eliminate the vast middle class who have a real chance and instead stick with lower classes who may not work otherwise. So they dirty him up while allowing the others to appear clean.
The middle class is being deceived. They are being misled into the unfavored, and subsequently will have no assistance from their purchases with corporate america.
The coining of the term “Uncle Sam” was a clue alluding to just this::Sam Walton’s WalMart is one of few saviors of the peasant class.
They desire a system based on duality:::good and evil. They seek to set up a system of two participants and assign them polar opposites:::
Coke and Pepsi (?)
BestBuy and CircutCity
Energizer and Duracell
Coors and Budweiser
Republican and Democrat
The list goes on:::
AMD and Intel
Microsoft and Apple (?)
Lowes and HomeDepot
Sam’sClub and Costco
WellsFargo and BofA
Pier1 and CostPlus
Borders and Barnes&Noble
Amercia is a country of castoffs, rejects. Italy sent its criminals, malcontents.
Between the thrones, the klans and kindred, they decided who they didn’t want and acted, creating discontent and/or starvation.
The u.s. is full of disfavored rejects. It is the reason for the myriad of problems not found in European countries. As far as the Rockafellers and other industrialists of the 19th century go, I suspect these aren’t their real names. I suspect they were chosen to go and head this new empire.
Royalty is the correct way to organize a society. Dictatorships and monarchies are a reflection of the antient’s hierarchical organization.
Positions go to those who have favor with the rulers, as opposed to being elected.
Elections bring a false sense of how the world is. Democracy misleads people.
Which is why the disfavored rejects were sent to the shores of America::To keep them on the wrong path.
Jewsus Christ is a religious figure of evil. He teaches of a begnign, forgiving god when quite the opposite is true.
The seperatist churches formed so they could capture the rest of the white people, keeping them worshipping the wrong god.
And now they do it to disfavored people of color, Latinos and Asians, after centuries of preying upon them.
Since Buddism doesn’t recongnize a god, the calls are never heard, and Asian representation is instead fully selected by the thrones.
Budda was the Asian’s Jewsus Christ::: bad for the people. It was a clue they both emerged at the same time. Timing may be a clue alluding to ranking.
Simpson’s foreshadowing::Helloween IV special, Flanders is Satan. “Last one you ever suspect.”
“You’ll see lots of nuns where you’re going:::hell!!!” St. Wigham, Helloween VI:::missionary work, destroying cultures.
Over and over, the Simpsons was a source of education and enlightenment, a target of ridicule by the system which wishes to conceal its secrets.
The advent of the modern Christmas was a brilliant move. It creates a vested interest among those who would prefer the Church of Evil be destroyed::::
As goes the Catholic Church so goes the majority of annual retail sales.
The similarity between the names “Santa” and “Satan” is no coincidence.
Jews maim the body formed in the image of “god”, and inflicted circumcision upon all other white people.
I think about how Jews (were used to) created homosexuality among Slavics, retribution for the Holocaust.
Then I think of the Catholic Church and its troubles.
What connection is here between Jews and the Catholic church???
If it is their sinister motives that’s behind the evil that is Jesus Christ are they being used at all?
Perhaps it is them who are pulling strings.
Their centuries of slavery in Egypt proves their disfavor.
For their suffering the Jew leaders were granted the right to prey on the up-and-coming Europeans to try to fix their problems with the ruling elite, a recurring aspect of the elite’s methodology.
Jews were ostracised for a reason.
Retribution for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, the Korean War got the disfavored United States into this socially depraved environment in the latter 20th century because we attacked an antient, revered peoples. Our continued presence keeps us in trouble.
When the disfavored americans attack the wrong people again, as they suggested they will, in Korea or elsewhere, they will pay dearly.
All peoples are ranked in terms of favor and disfavor. And when the disfavored abuse those with favor there is hell to pay.
All the groups mentioned throughout are necessary to justify the will of the managing species. They conceive a strategy, devise a plan yet need a way to implement it, and without these groups the managing species would be exposed in the course of execution. So, based upon their rank they are assigned goals to accomplish and are rewarded with favors.
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Comment by littlela — January 11, 2007 @ 6:43 am