I should really be working on my finals, and I am, I am (pretty sure that AACR2 rule 24.1C is the reason we've given the PLO the authority record of Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah but do not list the Unification Church as T'ongil Kyohoe or 통일교회 ---- fascinating, huh?)..... but on a quick errand run up to La Jolla yesterday I walked into Warwick's Books and spotted a massive display hawking an 8-pound book entitled The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages, 1851-2008. The 450-plus page tome offers reproductions of over 300 notable front page editions, with some annotations and essays sprinkled throughout the book. And these front page displays are fascinating and of high quality. But the real motherload comes in the three included DVD-ROMs which offer every single front page of the newspaper's history - over 54,000 of them. And from each individual front page scan, one can link directly to the archived stories in full in their online database, something the Times has previously made somewhat difficult for non-subscribers. In short, this set is a massive collection of information and history - both a research tool and a cultural fun house.
A few caveats - there does seem to be a weird error that moves the 1st and the 18th of every month to the wrong place. Some of the front page scans, especially those before the Times went to color in 1997, are a bit blurry. And of course there is a bit of self-congratulation in such a project. I'm not sure how accurate a focus on front pages actually is to historical trends - the Times has always focused rather narrowly on Wall Street and the Beltway, to the detriment of many other issues and aspects (in that regard, the longer articles in the weekly magazine may offer a better representation of the march of history) - and any focus on headlines tends to skew towards an artificial dependence on narrative. But enough hemming and hawing - the addictive qualities of this stuff rivals that of heroin. Or caffeine, at least. If you don't wish to brave the holiday crowds and patronize better bookstores, you can find it here on Amazon and pay much less than I did at Warwick's. Either case, it's history-buff manna.
A few caveats - there does seem to be a weird error that moves the 1st and the 18th of every month to the wrong place. Some of the front page scans, especially those before the Times went to color in 1997, are a bit blurry. And of course there is a bit of self-congratulation in such a project. I'm not sure how accurate a focus on front pages actually is to historical trends - the Times has always focused rather narrowly on Wall Street and the Beltway, to the detriment of many other issues and aspects (in that regard, the longer articles in the weekly magazine may offer a better representation of the march of history) - and any focus on headlines tends to skew towards an artificial dependence on narrative. But enough hemming and hawing - the addictive qualities of this stuff rivals that of heroin. Or caffeine, at least. If you don't wish to brave the holiday crowds and patronize better bookstores, you can find it here on Amazon and pay much less than I did at Warwick's. Either case, it's history-buff manna.
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2 comments:
oh my gosh, i want to put my fingers on that one! can i look through yours (if I let you turn the pages, of course!)?
Feel free to turn the pages yourself, as long as there's no kelp on your fingers!
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