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This French Satirical Newspaper Is Only Published on Leap Day

Subscriptions cost 100 euro a century.
Rachel Pick
New York, US

La Bougie du Sapeur is a French satirical newspaper that just ran its 10th paper ever—despite first being published in 1980. That's because La Bougie only runs on leap day, making it technically the least frequently published paper in existence.

It was founded on a lark by friends Jacques Debuisson and Christian Bailly, but is currently run and edited by Jean d'Indy. In a 2012 interview with NPR, when the ninth edition of the paper was published, d'Indy said the paper sells about 200,000 copies, which is pretty respectable. Despite selling well at 4,70 euro a pop, the paper is obviously not a profit-driven entity, and proceeds from the last two editions were donated to an autism-related charity.

Subscriptions were originally offered at 100 euro per century, but d'Indy says it's become too difficult to keep track of subscribers between editions. D'Indy also told NPR he has "little overhead, because his newsroom is a restaurant where…his writers grease their mental gears with Champagne," and writers are personal friends of the editor who work on a volunteer basis.

This leap year's edition contains headlines like "Who Will Be the Future President's Wife?" and an interview with French comic Alex Lutz, his name misspelled as "Axel" for reasons unclear. Either the satire is lost in translation, or the headlines themselves aren't meant to be funny.

The eight-page paper also includes a crossword, but you have to wait four years for the answers.