1817 The News Newspaper Regency Distress Congo Expedition Forged Banknotes Rare For Sale

You are looking at an exceptionally rare, complete eight-page issue of The News, Number 597, published in London on Sunday, January 12, 1817. Printed during a deeply volatile post-Napoleonic Regency period marked by economic depression, widespread distress, and social unrest, this Sunday broadsheet provides a stunning primary source record of early 19th-century British history.

The front page opens with a fiery lead editorial titled \"Commencement of a New Year,\" offering a dark, unflinching critique of Britain\'s post-war economic crisis. The editorial attacks government extravagance and heavy taxation while chronicling the plight of over 600,000 disbanded soldiers and ruined manufacturers facing winter starvation. Alongside this essay are breaking dispatches reporting on military conscription in Poland under Russian rule and a tragic Admiralty report regarding the fatal outcome of the British Congo River Expedition under Captain Tuckey.

Deeper within the pages, this issue captures a fascinating range of Regency life:

• Theatrical Reviews: Page 10 features an extensive critique of performances at Covent Garden, including Miss O\'Neill in The Widow\'s Daughter.

• Fatal Winter Floods & Frost: Page 10 logs devastating regional reports of rivers overflowing across Kent, Sussex, and Scotland, sweeping away livestock, flooding farms, and causing fatal drownings.

• Forged Bank Note Investigation: Page 15 contains a detailed police court report from Bow Street involving Bank of England inspectors tracing counterfeit banknotes to local tradesmen.

• True Crime & Highway Robbery: Inner pages detail Thames Police Court hearings on a brutal murder investigation near Peckham, armed burglaries in London villas, and highway robberies across Middlesex.

• Weekly Regency Markets: The back page provides a complete ledger of early 1817 economic prices, covering the Corn Exchange, Smithfield Meat Market, Coal Market, Leather at Leadenhall, and Public Funds.

Authenticated by a crisp, bold Red Four-Pence Revenue Tax Stamp hand-stamped into the front corner margin, this complete issue is an outstanding centerpiece artifact for serious collectors of Regency ephemera, crime history, or 19th-century broadsheets.

Custom Item SpecificsCustom Field NameKeywords To EnterHistorical FiguresCaptain James Tuckey Miss O\'Neill Lord SidmouthLocations MentionedLondon Congo River Poland Bow Street Covent GardenFeatured TopicsPost-War Economic Distress Congo Expedition Forged Bank NotesNewspaper SectionPolice Intelligence Theatre Gazette Country News MarketsMedia TypeOriginal Regency Sunday Newspaper BroadsheetMajor Property & Direct Pitch Guide

1. African Exploration & Admiralty Archives (e.g., National Maritime Museum, Greenwich): The front-page reporting detailing the tragic end of Captain James Hingston Tuckey\'s 1816 expedition to explore the River Congo (where Tuckey and most of his crew died of fatigue and fever) is a primary source account highly sought after by naval and exploration history collections.

2. Bank of England Museum / Legal Archives: Contemporary police court transcripts detailing Bank of England inspectors tracing counterfeit notes during the \"Bank Restriction\" era (when cash payments were suspended and paper notes flooded Britain) are actively collected for economic and crime history displays.

📦 Postage: Sent in a protective sleeve via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

the shadow at the bottom is me taking the photo, it is not a stain.

will be folded for postal reasons.

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