Publication History:

Place of Publication:  Fort Victoria, Mashonaland, Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)

Frequency: Unknown

Volume and Issue Data: November 11, 1890

Size and Format: In manuscript; motto: “Root hog or bust”

Editor/Publisher: H.R. Vennell

Title Changes and Continuation: Unknown

General Description and Notes:

According to the British South Africa Company Historical Catalogue and Souvenir of Rhodesia, Empire Exhibition, 1936-1937,

   “273. First Newspaper, Mashonaland. – The Nugget, with the motto Root hog or bust, produced in manuscript at Fort Victoria, 11th November, 1890 (two months after the occupation of Mashonaland). The Editor says frankly that his principal object was to be the first in the field of journalism in the country. Printed and published by H. R. Vennell at the Nugget Publishing Company’s works, Fort Victoria, Mashonaland. No price is mentioned.

– Government Archives, Salisbury”

Information Sources: 

Bibliography:  British South Africa Company Historical Catalogue and Souvenir of Rhodesia, Empire Exhibition, 1936-1937 (1937); Jerry Don Vann, Rosemary T. VanArsdel, Periodicals of Queen Victoria’s Empire: An Exploration (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996), p. 290; Press Reference-Zimbabwe; Louis W. Bolze, “The Book Publishing Scene in Zimbabwe,” The African Book Publishing Record, 6:3-4 (1980), 229–236

Locations:  None