Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-11-06
+" "BACK-NUMBER BUDD"
THE PROSPEROUS BUSINESS OF AN
ENTERPRlslNG coLoREO MAN.
Over q Million Copies Of Old Newspapers
Collected on an Original Capital
Of GS-ReIics Of Old
New York
New York Morld.l

lGC" AOAh 'pANNA'A
Robert N. Budd ("Back Number Budd"
he is called) is a colored man and was born
in Washington thirty-two years ago. Five
years ago he came to New Yorkwith So in
bis pocket and openeda boot backing stand
where Wallack's theatre now is. Shrewd,
e%nterprising and industrious, he got along
and soon branched out into the newspaper
business Like other newsdealers he some
times found himself with unsold copies of
the daily papers on his hands. The fire.
quent inquiry for old papers suggested an
idea to Mr.. Budd, and his present bust
ness is the carrying out of the idea-the
keeping of complete files of all New York
papers, so as to be able to furnish back
numbers at any time
In the basement of 1879 Broadway,
on the east side of she street, a few doors
above Thirty second, Budd has his place.
He still does business as a bootblack, but
numerous signs inform the public that
here they may subscribe for any publica-
ton desired. At one side of the entrance
to the dark basement is this notice: Back
numbers of all daily papers for every day
in the year., while opposite is another
sign, "Boots BACKED, 3 cents" Still
another informs the public that the place
is open every day in the year from d
a. IN. to 10 p. M. and that while seven
boot blacking tickets may be bought for
% cents, the proprietor is not willing to
labor on the Lords day for nothing, and
therefore charges 10 cents for backing
boots after & p. m. on Sunday.
PAPERS ON FILE.
When a reporter visited the place it was
very dark, except at the foot of the stairs,
and a dim jet of gas in the back part of
the room only seemed to add to the gen
eral gloom. All about the room, on
shelves, tables and counters, were piles of
newspapers. The proprietor. a tall, good.
natured young fellow, was busy writing
in a book, stopping now and then to sort
out some particular paper from a loose
pile behind him.
"Yes, " he said, am Back. Number
Budd. That nickname helps to advertise
my business, so don't mind. I've been
here since Feb. 30, 1889; began with less
than a w~agon-load of old papers, and now
l have /, 500, 900.
what do | charge for these old pa
pers2 That depends on how old they are
and how much they are wanted. My
prices run from 5 cents up. Sometimes
these lawyers want a paper to use in
court, and they have to pay for it The
most l ever charged for q single paper
was $40. A lawyer paid M $40 for two
copies of The Sun published in 1861
Newspaper men often borrow papers,
look them over here in the shop and pay
me so cents or 81. A large part of my
trade is in the country, but | never send
papers out until they are paid for. Gen.
Grant has bought papers from me. In
June, 1884, he came and got q months
file of the papers containing an account of
the Grant " Ward failure, and the next
day his wife got The World and Tribune
for the same time.
"How do l keep track? Oh, that's easy
enough. The papers are arranged by
dates and tied in bundles of one month;
then each paper has its own particular
shelves. and the bundles are stored in reg
ular order and each bundle is tagged.
Here, for instance. " pointing to q pile of
papers, lis The World You see, they
are arranged in double rows of six; that
gives twelve bundles, one year, on each
shelf. You ask for The World of July 4,
1858. Here's the 1913 shelf; July is the
end bundle in the second row Seventh
month, you know, and the paper you
want is the fourth from the top of the
bundle. The only trouble is that I'm
getting crowded and will soon need more
room This place is 24x65, and it's full
already. l keep files of twenty-five
dailies, two Sunday papers and eight week.
lies.