SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA'S FIRST NEWSPAPER An excessively rare, historic bound set of 98 issues (including one "extra") of The Santa Barbara Daily Press, one of the first, if not the first daily newspaper published in the fledgling town of Santa Barbara, California. Included is the very first issue, Vol. I, No. 1 of the newspaper which was published on Sep. 9, 1872 and which bore a cover story concerning a meeting of the Santa Barbara Co. Railroad Committee, with additional reporting of Grant's nomination for the Presidency and ads for an "Agent for Chinese Laborers ", tradesmen, and so on. Each newspaper is 4pp. large 4to., and contains local, national and international news, generally conservative in its slant. Other news featured within the editions, ending on Dec. 31, 1872, includes news of the new San Francisco Mint, the richness of local gold mines, an editorial on the site of Santa Barbara showing promise as a future "great city ", a letter from Mark Twain in London, an article on the search for Cochise, an "extra " on the election of Grant, the Boston Fire, the death of Horace Greeley, Indian battles, articles on the women's rights movement, railroad news, and so on. These rare newspapers are bound within leather and cloth boards and are in fine condition. There is some controversy over which newspaper was the first to publish a daily in Santa Barbara, with the News-Press claiming the title. Whether or not our Daily Press was publishing its weekly prior to the News-Press' 1855 start cannot be determined, but certainly this is at the very least the city's second-oldest daily. $1,000-1,500