Nieuwe Tijdinghen is the name cataloguers and bibliographers have given to the first Flemish newspaper, which was published without a single fixed title. News was printed from across Western and Central Europe.

From 15 February 1620 consecutive signatures

Bookbinding

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.-Origins of the book:...

 were used on each issue, so that they could be collected and bound as a set. From 8 January 1621 issues were numbered consecutively on the front page.

The newspaper carried a wide range of general news, and sometimes included celebratory, polemical or satirical comments, verses, songs and prayers. Each issue was illustrated with a woodcut on the front page, and occasionally with further woodcuts on the back pages. The editorial perspective was outspokenly Catholic and pro-Habsburg.

Publication was licensed by the authorities, and almost all issues bear the initials of the canon of Antwerp cathedral who acted as ecclesiastical censor.

Considerable runs are preserved in the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 (1620-1621) and the Royal Library of Belgium

Royal Library of Belgium

The Royal Library of Belgium is one of the most important cultural institutions in Belgium. The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Dukes of Burgundy...

(1622-1628).

External links

• Copy offered for sale by Asherbooks, with illustration. Accessed 24 December 2007.
• Sample summaries (in English) and transcripts (in Dutch) at the History of News Wiki.