An Outline of The Sun 1833-1927

New York: Sun Printing and Publishing Association, 1927.

Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches; 215 x 140 mm), 11, [1] pages in stapled wrappers.

A short history of The Sun, founded in New York by Benjamin H. Day in 1833. The Sun was a trendsetter in American journalism, according to the media historian Edwin Emery. "Journalism began a new epoch on September 3, 1833, with the appearance of a strange little newspaper, The New York Sun (It Shines for ALL," he writes in The Press and America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media. "[M]ost of the material was trivial, flippant -- but highly readable. Most important, it was cheap. Within six months the Sun had a circulation of around 8,000, which was nearly twice that of its nearest rival."

The Sun was sold in the street for only a penny and appealed especially to working-class readers with its mix of human-interest stories and emphasis on clear, lively (sometimes exaggerated) storytelling. It was also notable for relying largely on advertising rather than subscriptions for its revenue.

"An Outline of The Sun" features numerous photographs of key people at The Sun through the years, including the great editor, Charles A. Dana, who led the paper (and was its owner) for 20 years. Its editorial cartoonist, Rube Goldberg, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. But perhaps its most famous moment came in 1897, with the publication of a letter from a young girl wanting to know if there is a Santa Claus. That led to one of the most renowned newspaper editorials ever, commonly known as "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Oddly, though, the pamphlet doesn't mention it.

The Sun continued to publish until 1950, when it was folded into the New York World-Telegram.

OCLC shows only 2 institutional holdings, at Columbia and the New York Historical Society. None in commerce. RARE.

A short but interesting look at a famous American newspaper known for its emphasis on human-interest storytelling.

CONDITION: Some soiling to the wrappers, upper corners bumped, upper part of wrappers pulled away from staple, small split at bottom of spine. Clean, bright, and unmarked on the inside pages. About Very Good.