Candles "guttering": "Also used to describe an unevenly or weakly burning candle resulting in unevenly melted wax at the top of the candle forming gutters that result in ribbons of wax running down the sides.
Very enlightening, dxb. I wondered about that connection [in other thread].
I share your doubt that "gutter press" goes back to hawkers selling newspapers from the curb in England. My guess is they were probably selling respectable newspapers like The Times of London or The Observer [just like the headline shouters did in Walter Winchell's days - what did they call those those newsboys, anyway, I wonder?]
The operative word in "gutter press" is "gutter" not "press".
Of course, the thing which distinguishes the "gutter press" from the rest of the press is the trash it collects and purveys - bearing in mind, of course, that gutters collect trash in the run-off, and the "gutter press" runs-off nothing else but trash.
