Early in 1846, word of a new broadsheet newspaper was spreading across the bustling City of London. And on the morning of 21 January, “flying newsmen” (street vendors) tore through the crowds, touting for business by waving the brand-new edition. Some 10,000 copies of the first issue of The Daily News, edited by Charles Dickens, were sold in London for five pence on the streets and in taverns, gentlemen’s clubs and coffee shops.