In the 16th century, handwritten newspapers evolved as a news medium reporting history in the making. It was both a rather expensive public commodity and a gift exchanged in social relationships. Both functions appealed to public elites and their news consumption for about 300 years. From the late 18th century onwards, changing notions of publicness as well as the social needs of private or even secluded groups re-defined the medium. Handwritten newspapers turned more and more into an internal or even clandestine medium of communication. As such, it has served as a means to create social cohesion, political debate, and religious education for nonelite groups until the 20th century. Despite these changes, continuities can be observed both in the material layout of handwritten newspapers and the practices of distribution.
Heiko Droste ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
Kirsti Salmi-Niklander ( https://orcid.org/0000-0003-