A COPY of the first edition of the Bucks Free Press that was originally printed in 1856 has been lining a storage box in a reader's shed.

A COPY of the first edition of the Bucks Free Press that was originally printed in 1856 has been lining a storage box in a reader's shed.

Pam Moores, of Bovingdon Green, Marlow, found the copy of the paper and did not have the heart to throw it away, so she sent it to our offices in Gomm Road.

The paper, that was first available to buy on December 19, 1856, was originally called The South Bucks Free Press and Weekly General Advertiser, priced at 1.5d.

These were the first words of the BFP and in a very long sentence: 'Wycombe one of the most important towns in Buckinghamshire, the centre of a large parochial Union, and of a County Court District, a Corporate Town sending two representatives to the imperial legislature and possessing large manufacturing population, and many institutions for moral and intellectual advancement, should not be destitute of a weekly organ of communication.'

Since then, the BFP has gained 143 years, increased its price, increased in size and has the ability to change a story a couple of hours before it goes to print.

Producing the original paper would have been a painstaking process and involved placing each letter into a block individually. The whole process would take about a week to produce just a few pages.

Every letter, dot and dash would be moulded in metal and placed in a printing press to publish the final paper. BFP employees were highly skilled.

Adverts always made up the front page, well into the 20th century and stories were not just confined to the local area. Stories from all over the world and Great Britain were covered in the first issue, including India, America, Naples, Scotland, London and Wales.

The number of local stories in the first issue totalled 18 and they were told in a very formal and wordy way.

Stories of the day included the court case between two farmers, George Long of a farm in Loudwater and Mr Lacey a farmer from Kings Mead, Loudwater. Mr Long claimed that Mr Lacey had three of his heifers. Mr Long found one in a pound, one in Mr Lacey' farm and the other dead at the butchers. The case continued.