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Frequently Asked Questions
Rocky Mountain News: Original or Reprint?
The first issue of the Rocky Mountain News was published April 23, 1859. About five hundred copies of Volume 1 Number 1 were printed. This issue has been reprinted often, however, and facsimiles are often mistaken for the original.
Maxine Benson, former state historian, researched this question and reported her findings in Colorado Heritage News.
Benson compiled a brief list of reprints that have been collected by the Colorado Historical Society and the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library:
1. Size 15.25 “ by 20.75 “; bound with the RMN Golden Jubilee Number, April 23, 1909; otherwise unmarked.
2. Size 15.25” by 20.75”; paper and printing quality very poor.
3. Size 15.75” by 21.375”; first page only; labeled “This replica of the first Rocky Mountain News is a souvenir from Industrial Federal Savings on their 68 th anniversary, April 1959.”
4. Size 11.375” by 14.875”; labeled “A Reprint in Tabloid Size of the First Issue of the Rocky Mountain News.” Unmarked facsimiles of approximately this size also are common.
To determine if you have a genuine copy of the April 23, 1859 issue of the Rocky Mountain News, measure it: the originals in the Collections of the Colorado Historical Society measure 15 15/16” by 22”, larger than the reprints described above. Next, check the quality of the paper and printing. If the paper is brittle and yellowed and the printing is blurred, you have conformation that the newspaper was printed later than 1859.
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