Archives for October 2024

OTD 30 October 1577

30 Octo­ber 1577 Thomas Bassen­dyne died in Edin­burgh on 30 Octo­ber 1577. Togeth­er with Alexan­der Arbuth­not, he print­ed the first trans­la­tion of the Bible in Scot­land, known as the Bassen­dyne Bible. The New Tes­ta­ment, print­ed by Bassen­dyne, was com­plet­ed first, and the Bible as a whole is known as ‘the Bassen­dyne Bible’.

OTD 19 October 1749

William Ged died in Edin­burgh on 19 Octo­ber 1749. He had trained as a gold­smith, but pio­neered a sys­tem of stereo­typ­ing, though he was unsuc­cess­ful in per­suad­ing print­ers to adopt it. It became a stan­dard process ear­ly in the 19th century. 

OTD 12 October 1789

William Collins, founder of the Glas­gow print­ing and pub­lish­ing house, was born.