This newspaper is still going strong at the remarkable age of 283 — in fact it is growing

Today that long heritage is underscored by the fact that this is our 283rd birthday (see link to news story below).

We are marching on towards our 300th.

In some respects little has changed since Francis Joy’s first edition on September 6 1737 (September 17 in modern date).

If you look at the front page from 1738 that we reproduce on page 3, you can see it has many aspects of a modern newspaper. It has a masthead, with date, at the top. It has a headline for the first, most important story, underneath the title. Stories are bunched together, often separated by headlines.

The most notable change is the fact that newspapers today have colour photographs on the front page. As recently as a century ago, after World War I ended, photographs were unusual on the front. And as recently as 50 years ago, photographs were always black and white.

But, for all the technological change, such as photographs then cinema then radio then TV then the internet, the public appetite for lots of news stories printed on paper as a way of finding out about the world remains extraordinarily strong.

We are delighted to say that sales of our print edition, which fell in the early stages of the Covid lockdown, have recovered strongly almost to where they were before social distancing restrictions.

Meanwhile, demand for modern ways of reading the News Letter has risen sharply– on our website, which complements the print edition, and our tablet version, which reproduces it.

On page 3 we cite some global stories we have covered since 1737. But such a glimpse cannot do justice to our vast history. It would hardly be possible for a person to read all our past papers – tens of thousands of them with a billion plus words. The key thing to know is that we could not have survived without our faithful readers, who are now growing in number, thanks to the digital versions of our paper.

Watch out for regular notices in the paper on how to subscribe (such as on page 11 today). Or see the web version of this and other articles, which at the bottom explains how to do so.

• The Belfast News Letter is 283 years old today

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A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

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Alistair Bushe

Editor