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Collection of German Army letterpress newspapers: A substantial run of ephemeral newspapers printed by German forces stationed in Beijing after relieving the siege of the international legations. Collections of assorted issues are confined to German institution only.The Germans began publishing their newspaper on Christmas Day 1900 under the name Pekinger Tageblatt, and this issue (given a spurious numbering of "599") opens the collection. Fifty thousand copies were printed at a press symbolically located in the building of the former Zongli Yamen, an department of the Qing government dealing with foreign affairs which was abolished after the Boxer Uprising. The Christmas number reveals much about the makeshift conditions in which this new printing venture germinated. For example, the letters of the decorative banner on the first page - "Weihnachtsausgabe" ("Christmas Number") - are each formed by multiple Chinese characters, and on pages 3 and 4 the typesetters are forced to use a symbol to stand in for the letter "z", likely because they were using a font proportioned for printing in English.Publication continued weekly into 1901 - the name of the paper changed to Pekinger Deutsche Zeitung - and lasted for a further 24 numbers, this collection including all but the last three. The fragile newssheets mix updates on local military action with announcements of regulations, coverage of special events and the visits of dignitaries, cultural titbits, sports news, and advertisemen

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