Publishers of the State's First Newspaper
Found It Difficult to Express Themselves
Typographically.
Makeshifts of pioneer journalism have taxed the ingenuity of many a great
mind. Writing for the _Bookman_, J.M. Scanland tells the story of early
California newspapers. The first paper, the _Californian_, was published
at Monterey by Robert Semple, a Kentuckian, who acted as editor, and the
Rev. Walter Colton, a navy chaplain, who was then stationed at Monterey,
as typesetter and pressman. These two men brought out their first issue on
August 15, 1846. Semple went to the village of Yerba Buena (now called San
Francisco) a short time later, and during his absence Colton printed the
following paragraph:
Our Alphabet.--Our type is a Spanish font picked up here in
a cloister, and has no vv's [w] in it, as there is none in
the Spanish alphabet. I have sent to the Sandvvich Islands
for this letter; in the mean time vve must use tvvo v's. Our
paper at present is that used for vvrapping cigars; in due
time vve will have something better. Our object is to
establish a press in California, and this vve shall in all
probability be able to accomplish. The absence of my partner
for the last three months and my duties as alcalde here have
deprived our little paper of some of those attentions vvhich
I hope it vvill hereafter receive.