Monday, June 27, 2005

1709 - The First Blogger: Sir Richard Steele

Posted three times a week + 800 readers + Drank Lots of coffee.

That makes Sir Richard Steele the first blogger.

Ben Hammersley in a talk called Etiquette and the Singularity delivered in Copenhagen, stated that the first blogger was Sir Richard Steele back in 1709. Steele who wanted to circulate his views and opinions did so by writing a letter three times a week. This letter - The Tatler - was distributed to its readers by street urchins.

Steele declared the the objective of The Tatler in his first post:
...wherein I shall from time to time report and consider all matters of what kind soever that shall occur to me, and publish such my advices and reflections every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the week for the convenience of the post. I have also resolved to have something which may be of entertainment to the fair sex...
In case you are wondering who Richard Steele is, You'll find some information here. From what I remember of my Literature classes, Richard Steele was among the first of the celeberated essayists. His reputation is based on his posts in The Tatler and The Spectator (which he published along with Joseph Addison). If I remember right, both these guys are credited as precursors of the newspaper and with the beginnings of the modern novel.

That's another notch now on Sir Steele's pen: He is also the precursor of the blogger.

Found three other posts that have blogged about Richard Steele's "blogging." You can read about them here, here, and here.

No comments: