Description:

Pulitzer Joseph

Check No. 431 issued from St. Louis, Missouri on January 28, 1882 in the amount of $1,474.06 payable to “Bulkley Dunton & Co.” signed by “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” President Joseph Pulitzer as “Joseph Pulitzer” in black pen. The check was issued from the State Savings Association on “Office of the Post-Dispatch” letterhead with a graphic of sparking telegraph wires at left encircled by motto: “Three Papers United In One, The Only Evening Journal in St. Louis”. The check is not endorsed verso but bears a cruciform cancellation mark over logo. Graded by PSA/DNA as “Gem MT 10”. Check measures 7.875” x 3.125” within slab measuring 12.5” x 5.5”.

 

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) was an American newspaper publisher and founder of the Columbia School of Journalism. Although today Pulitzer is known for the eponymous prize which recognizes artistic and journalistic achievements, during his lifetime he was associated with the development of “yellow journalism”. This sensationalist way of reporting news events aimed to increase circulation and sales. Pulitzer’s journalistic methods were quite successful, as we know from this check.

 

Bulkley Dunston & Co. was a New York based paper supplier consolidated in 1865. It probably supplied the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” with newsprint stock. In 2017 dollars, Pulitzer’s one-time payment to the paper company represents about $33,511.58. Just one year later, Pulitzer purchased “The New York World” from financier Jay Gould for $346,000 (1883) or $8,006, 499.66 (2017). This purchase marked Pulitzer’s transition from a Midwestern newspaper publisher to a national publishing magnate, and precipitated the newspaper circulation war of the 1880s.

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