Existing comment:
Richard H. Gosman (1875-1946), three issues of The Peoples [sic] Paper, March, April, and June 1887.
Richard "Dick" Gosman was born in 1875 and raised on a farm in Blissville, Queens. Between ages ten and fourteen (1886-1889) he produced several handcrafted periodicals, of which his monthly Peoples Paper ran the longest, from January 1887 through at least February 1888. Dick (whose self-portrait graces the cover of the March 1887 issue) copied stories from printed journals like Harper's Young People and Golden Days for Boys and Girls, but he also "published" original tales, local news, and funny pictures, like the one below from April 1887 of John L. Sullivan, the Boxing Elephant, a genuine circus attraction of the day. Advertisements on the back page of the June 1887 issue hawked real stories like Ridley's, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, as well as Dick's own poultry and egg business. A regular "Household Column" carried recipes, but one senses how the editor must have pestered his mother once too often or ideas: he announced conclusively in July 1887 that "NO RECEIPTS WILL BE IN THE PEOPLES PAPER ANY MORE." |