Editing History of British newspapers (section)

==17th century==
During the 17th century there were many kinds of news publications that told both the news and rumours, such as [[pamphlet]]s, [[poster]]s and [[Broadside ballads|ballads]]. Even when news periodicals emerged, many of these co-existed with them. A news periodical differs from these mainly because of its periodicity. The definition for 17th century [[newsbook]]s and [[newspapers]] is that they are published at least once a week. [[Johann Carolus]]' ''Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien'', published in [[Strassburg]] in 1605, is usually regarded as the first news periodical.<ref>World Association of Newspapers: [http://www.wan-press.org/article6476.html "Newspapers: 400 Years Young!"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310235015/http://www.wan-press.org/article6476.html |date=10 March 2010 }}</ref>

At the beginning of the 17th century, the right to print was strictly controlled in England. This was probably the reason why the first newspaper in the English language was printed in Rome by [[Joris Veseler]] around 1620. This followed the style established by Veseler's earlier Dutch paper ''[[Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c.]]'' However, when the English started printing their own papers in [[London]], they reverted to the pamphlet format used by contemporary books. The publication of these newsbooks was suspended between 1632 and 1638 by order of the [[Star Chamber]].  After they resumed publication, the era of these newsbooks lasted until the publication of the ''[[The London Gazette|Oxford Gazette]]'' in 1665.

The control over printing relaxed greatly after the abolition of the [[Star Chamber]] in 1641. The [[English Civil War]] escalated the demand for news. News pamphlets or books reported the war, often supporting one side or the other. A number of publications arose after the [[English Restoration|Restoration]], including ''[[The London Gazette]]'' (first published on 18 November 1665 as the ''Oxford Gazette''),<ref>{{cite news |title=as The Oxford Gazette November 1665 issue 1 page 1 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/1/page/1 |newspaper=[[The London Gazette]] }}</ref> the first official [[journal of record]] and the newspaper of the Crown. Publication was controlled under the [[Licensing Act 1662]], but the act's lapses from 1679 to 1685 and from 1695 onwards encouraged a number of new titles.

''[[Mercurius Caledonius]]'' founded in [[Edinburgh]] in 1660, was [[Scotland]]'s first but short-lived newspaper.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://caledonianmercury.com/2010/01/24/the-previous-incarnations-of-the-caledonian-mercury/001099 | title = The previous incarnations of the Caledonian Mercury | access-date = 15 April 2013 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140227052423/http://caledonianmercury.com/2010/01/24/the-previous-incarnations-of-the-caledonian-mercury/001099 | archive-date = 27 February 2014}}</ref> Only 12 editions were published during 1660 and 1661.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nls.uk/collections/rarebooks/collections/newspapers.html|title=Rare Books Collections - Newspapers|publisher=[[National Library of Scotland]]|access-date=25 January 2010|archive-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820074341/http://nls.uk/collections/rarebooks/collections/newspapers.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>