The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general-circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. The Baltimore Sun Company's history is among the longest and most distinguished in American journalism. Founded by Arunah Shepherdson Abell, a journeyman printer from Rhode Island who believed in the concept of a people's paper devoted to the news that most directly affected the lives of its readers, The Sun first appeared on Wednesday, May 17, 1837. That issue consisted of four tabloid-size pages, sold for a penny, and was in marked contrast to the six-cent "literary" dailies then in fashion all along the East Coast. Since that time, The Sun has experienced dramatic growth and change that is not adequately reflected in a chronicle of the mere passage of years.