The shire acquires a newsletter!

After our little shire had been going for a few months, and we had corresponded with our superiors in the brand-new Principality of the Outlands, we discovered that we needed to have a newsletter. Jerilyn of Vert Silva, our chronicler, got to be its editor and publisher.

Volume I
July, November, and December A.S. XII (1977)

The first issue of The Questing Quill was one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet, folded in half, with screeds from Seneschale, Herald, and Chronicler. It was published 8 July 1977 (A.S. XII), just before the July revel.

It took a while for the next issue to come out–until November A.S. XII. In that issue a format that continued for years was established: editorial info and officer’s list on the inside front cover, upcoming events calendar facing that page, and then articles to fill out the issue.

The next issue, last in Volume I, was the December A.S. XII issue. As chronicler Jerilyn notes therein: The Questing Quill is going to become a monthly issue. It seems an issue every once in awhile isn’t enough. This issue had real cover art, articles from most of the officers, and event reports.

Keep in mind that this was in the days before personal computers. All text was hand-written or typed on *gasp* typewriters. Cut-and-paste meant just that–masters were taped together, artwork pasted onto the paper pages with real paste! We didn’t have access to cool Celtic or Gothic fonts. Calligraphy was done by hand or with “Letraset” (stick-on letters). Clip art was really clipped–usually photocopied from a book and pasted into the newsletter master. We loved artists who would draw a page of small pictures that we could use to fill in spaces in the newsletter.