OTD 30 July 1938

The first edition of the Beano was published on 30 July 1938, by D C Thomson of Dundee.

OTD 6 July 1907

On 6 July 1907 the Strathearn Herald in Crieff was printed for the first time on the newly-installed Cossar Patent Flat Bed Web Newspaper Printing Machine. The installation had been supervised by its inventor, Tom Cossar of Govan, and it produced every issue until its final run on 28 March 1991. This machine is now […]

OTD 11 June 1825

11 June 1825 The first issue of The Glasgow Looking Glass was published by John Watson in Glasgow. It pioneered the use of the relatively  new lithographic printing process, and has been described as the world’s first comic.

Robert Smail’s Printing Works opening 2024

The National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Smail’s Printing Works opens for the season on 29 March 2024. For full details of opening times and how to get there see the NTS website.

Unfinished business: Print Networks 2024

This year’s Print Networks conference, Unfinished Business: Progress, Stasis and New Directions in the study of the Book Trade since Peter Isaac, will be held at Newcastle University on 910 July 2024. Details of the call for papers are on the Centre for Printing History and Culture website. Please submit abstracts of 200250 words by February […]

Printing Historical Society grants 2024

The Printing Historical Society is currently inviting applications for research grants under their annual grant scheme. The total amount available this year is £3,000, and the deadline for submissions is Friday 22 March 2024. Eligibility and application details are on the Society’s Grants page.

Conference on printing by subscription

Booking is now open for Pre-paid Printing: a conference organised by the Baskerville Society on the role of private funds and public subscribers in the issuing and circulation of printed matter, to be held at Winterbourne House and Garden at the University of Birmingham on September 14 and 15, 2023. For more details see the […]

Talk by Helen Williams

As part of the National Trust for Scotland’s Gladstone’s Land Lecture Series, the Trust’s Honorary Secretary, Helen S Williams will be giving a talk on August 31 on Edinburgh’s Print Workers and their Organisations. Printers had a tradition of collective organisation: the typographical societies, which later became the print unions, operated as welfare organisations for […]

Print Networks 2023

The annual Print Networks / CPHC Symposium takes place in partnership with St Bride Library in London on 19 July 2023 The theme this year is ‘Print networks between London and the regions, looking at looks at physical and metaphorical book trade connections between London and the regions from the early modern to the present. […]

Edinburgh Printmakers Family Print Club session on letterpress

The Edinburgh Printmakers Family Print Club session on 25 June is on letterpress printing and simple bookmaking. For more details and how to book, see the Edinburgh Printmakers website.