The Editor: Nicholas Brownlees is an Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Florence (Faculty of Letters and Philosophy). He was the co-organiser of the Conference on Historical News Discourse held in Florence (2-3 September 2004).

• Contents: Nicholas Brownlees: Introduction – Nicholas Brownlees: Polemic and Propaganda in Civil War News Discourse – Maurizio Gotti: Disseminating Early Modern Science: Specialized News Discourse in the Philosophical Transactions – Ellen Valle: Reporting the Doings of the Curious: Authors and Editors in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London – Udo Fries/Hans Martin Lehmann: The Style of 18th-Century English Newspapers Lexical Diversity – Andreas H. Jucker: «but ’tis believed that…»: Speech and Thought Presentation in Early English Newspapers – Mirella Billi: Ladies’ Fashion Magazines: Social Life and Consumerism in Eighteenth-Century England – Valerie Wainwright: «To Smite Friendly and Reprove»: The Seven Years War and the Critical Review – Susan Kermas: From Herbal to Advert – Laura Wright: Street Addresses and Directions in Mid-Eighteenth Century London Newspaper Advertisements – Silvia Pireddu: News Language in Elizabethan Prose Dedications and Prefaces – Marina Dossena: Forms of Argumentation and Verbal Aggression in the Darien Pamphlets – Anne M. McKim: Adapting News and Making History: Daniel Defoe and the 1707 Union – Alessandra Levorato: Wisdom, Moderation and Propaganda in the Act of Union Debate of 1801.