Type Quadrennial newspaper Political alignment None (humorous) | Editor Jean d'Indy Language French | |
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Founder(s) Jacques Debuisson,
Christian Bailly Founded 29 February 1980 (1980-02-29) | ||
La Bougie du Sapeur is a humorous French newspaper launched in 1980 that prints only on Leap Day, making it the world’s least frequently published newspaper.
Contents
History
La Bougie du Sapeur was created by Jacques Debuisson and Christian Bailly as a joke between friends. The newspaper's name, literally The Soldier’s Candle refers to the Camember, a soldier in a comic book created by Georges Colomb in 1896. In the story, Camember was born on 29 February and joined the army when he had celebrated his birthday only four times.
Content
The paper’s tenth edition was released in February 2016 and 150,000–200,000 copies of each edition are printed. It sells for € 4.70 from newsstands for one month, but subscriptions are available – € 100 per century – and back issues are € 15.
2004 saw the first edition of La Bougie du Sapeur – Dimanche, a special series to be published every Sunday 29 February, which will not occur again until 2032.
Profits from the 2008 and 2012 editions went to charity.
The 2012 edition of the paper featured a story on the end of the Euro which led readers to believe that the paper supported the politics of the far‑right Front national; the editor‑in‑chief maintains that the paper is apolitical.
The 2016 edition was the first to be sold in Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Canada.
Management
As of 2016, Jean d'Indy served as editor-in-chief and has worked for the paper since 1992.