La Fronde - an Irishman's Diary on the world's first feminist newspaper

The French newspaper, La Fronde, is reputed to be the world's first feminist newspaper. It was founded in by Marguerite Durand in Paris, France in December 1897. I have just written an Irishman's Diary newspaper article about La Fronde. Read it here.

Advertising poster for La Fronde. Image source.

The newspaper's title had connotations to the uprising against the French monarchy by the aristocracy in the 17th century. At the time, the mob in Paris used a slingshot or catapult (known as une fronde) to smash windows as a sign of protest.

First edition of La Fronde from 9 December 1897. Image source.

The French National Library has digitised 12 years worth of the newspaper and it is available to view and download from their digital library Gallica. In a side note, as you can see from the front page reproduced above, the date was shown in the Jewish, Russian, Protestant and French Republican calendar.

You can find out more about the history of La Fronde, (in English) on the British Newspaper Archive's blog and (in French) on the RetroNews website.

The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand mentioned in my article is located in Paris. Have a look at their website for more information.