For nearly 140 years the County Press has been at the centre of Isle of Wight life, recording the highs and lows of Islanders’ lives week after week, providing the generous and full accounts that only local newspapers are able to do.
These County Press articles, seen at the time as nothing more than fleeting and ephemeral wallpaper, have left us with an unsurpassed archive providing generous accounts of Islanders’ lives — as written by Islanders.
Scroll through the gallery of pictures above to see more...
They document the extraordinary changes in the life of Islanders during these years more faithfully and precisely than any history book.
Everything from smuggling, to the first Isle of Wight Festivals and Thomas Edison’s early phonographs on the Island is covered.
Isle of Wight historian and author, Alan Stroud, has already produced six volumes of Yesterday’s Papers.
The previous books covered the same years as Alan’s latest book, Yesterday’s Papers, Late Edition, but when compiling those volumes the author found there were always too many items and not enough space so dozens of articles remained used.
This latest compilation brings together those articles that were deemed too good to lie buried in the archives.
Accompanying the text are more than 100 photographs and illustrations, many of which have never been seen before.
Unless otherwise stated, the photographs all come from the author’s collection.
Alan said: “The County Press throughout the last century was the totem pole around which the Isle of Wight sat every week.
“Unlike today, it had no lasting or serious competition — there was no internet and no digital newspapers to worry them.
“The County Press was unassailable, seeing off any newcomers that dared to raise their head over the years.
“It ruled the roost and was the undisputed fount of all local knowledge.
“If the County Press claimed a fact was so, then that was the end of the matter — it was so.
“ Today, the world of provincial newspapers has changed beyond measure. No longer do editors have staff in abundance and teams of journalists at their beck and call to personally attend and report on all manner of local stories.
“Unfortunately, this is now the way of the world for most local newspapers — the County Press is not alone in that.
“The County Press archive is the largest source of Island history in private hands, yet still remains a largely untapped resource.
“In an attempt to redress the balance a little, here are more stories of Isle of Wight life and local history presented in a detail unmatched by any other historical resource and showing that although times may change, human nature doesn’t.”
- Alan Stroud's latest book is on sale now in local bookshops, priced at £13.95, or signed copies are available on Ebay (with £1 p&p) by searching for 'Yesterday's Papers Late Edition'.
Like reading stories about the Isle of Wight in bygone days?
Click here to visit our Looking Back section for more tales of the Isle of Wight and its characters in days gone by.
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