The London Gazette, 24 January 1688

        The Gazette was first printed as a "broadsheet," a double-sided folio page roughly 11 inches by 5.  The sewing holes you see on the left side of the recto image were produced when a year's worth of Gazettes were sewn into a binding by a collector.  Its layout anticipates many reader guides that were later incorporated into the layout of the modern newspaper, with "hard news" at the front, each story given a "byline" to locate its geographical source, and advertising bringing up the rear in the last column inches of the "verso" or back side.  Note the presence of book advertisements leading the ads ahead of stolen horses and a lost wedding ring.  Clicking on either image will take you to a readable one.    For another edition dated 10-1-1688 to 10-4-1688, click here.