About the Library

The Quebec Gazette

The bilingual Quebec Gazette / Gazette de Québec is the earliest newspaper in the Library of Parliament’s collection. This paper chronicled the events, people and businesses of Quebec in the late 18^th century. It also stands as a record of the early history of printing in the country.

The Gazette was founded in Québec City by partners William Brown and Thomas Gilmore. They arrived from Philadelphia in 1764 to establish their printing operation. At the time, there were no printing houses or newspapers in New France. Brown saw that void as a potential lucrative venture. The printers landed government contracts from the outset, printing official announcements and advertisements.

Published weekly, the Gazette had four or so pages divided in two columns that gave readers an English and French side-by-side view. The paper included a broad range of content: international news, government announcements, advertisements, book reviews and, occasionally, poems.

Soon after it launched, the newspaper suspended publication twice: in response to the 1765 Stamp Act, and during the siege of the city by American troops in late 1775 into early 1776. The French version of the Gazette was abandoned in the 1840s because of strong competition from other French newspapers. The English Gazette merged with the Morning Chronicle in 1873 and then the Daily Telegraph in 1925.

Today, Québec City’s Chronicle-Telegraph is one of the descendants of the Gazette, ensuring the paper’s continuity. The Chronicle-Telegraph honoured its past with a celebration of the Gazette’s 250^th anniversary in 2014.

Details

• The Quebec Gazette / Gazette de Québec is Quebec’s first newspaper and Canada’s second newspaper, after the Halifax Gazette, which was first issued in 1752.
• Printers Brown and Gilmore would also print the first book published in Quebec, the Catéchisme du Diocese de Sens (Catechism of the Diocese of Sens) in 1765.