What is the earliest British newspaper?
It is rarely a straightforward matter to talk about the ‘first’ book, newspaper, or magazine published; normally, we talk about the earliest known. With newspapers, a further complication arises: who defines when a piece of reporting is or is not a newspaper, in the sense of the word as we use it today? Here though are some of the earliest known, under various interpretations of the word ‘newspaper’: • Around 1513, an undated news pamphlet giving an eye-witness account of the battle of Flodden was published, in England, by ‘Richarde Faques’: Hereafter ensue the trewe encountre or .. Batayle lately don betwene Engláde and: Scotlande. [etc.] [1513?] • You could say that this is probably the earliest known account of any historical event to be printed in England, and as such represents the birth of British journalism and the precursor of the newspaper of today. • The first English-language newspapers which are recognisably newspapers (this is, folded news-sheets) were published in Holland
