| The Apiary Network |  |
 |
 |
||
 | |||||
December 19, 2006
Ancient Texts of The Onion Recovered
A few weeks ago, The Apiary caught wind of an Ebay auction for archaic issues of The Onion from its first year of publication. (Carbon dating tests have shown they're from 1988!) Since we've never ever seen such things on the market before, it seemed like too rare of an opportunity to pass up.
First, a history lesson from Wikipedia:
The Onion was founded in 1988 and originally published in Madison, Wisconsin by two juniors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson; they sold it to colleagues the following year. The Onion's success was limited to the Madison and Milwaukee areas until it began its website in 1996. In 2000 as the publication had broken through to the mass market, The Onion was approached by Comedy Central for a buyout that would broaden the scope and reach of The Onion's brand of satire into other forms of media. While the editorial staff was enthusiastic about the move, the deal was ultimately scuttled by then-owner Peter Haise when his negotiations with Comedy Central fell flat and alienated Comedy Central's management. Despondent over the botched deal, the editorial staff threatened to leave en masse for New York City with or without The Onion affiliation. In a compromise motivated to keep the company alive, in early 2001 the company relocated its offices to New York City.
Before these issues get hauled off to Sotheby's and sold for what they're really worth, we thought it would be neat to share one. Enjoy!
The Onion - October 11, 1988 - Volume 14, Number 7
Pages 1-4
Pages 5-8
Posted by The Apiary at December 19, 2006 1:53 PM