Robert Freebairn was appointed Printer to the Queen for Scotland on 11 August 1711 in Edinburgh. He later printed for the ‘Pretender’s Army’ at Perth in 1715.
OTD 8 August 1857
8 August 2024 by
On 8 August 1857, there was a major fire in James’s Court, off the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh’s Old Town, in which the printing works of H & J Pillans was destroyed.
OTD 30 July 1938
30 July 2024 by
The first edition of the Beano was published on 30 July 1938, by D C Thomson of Dundee.
OTD 6 July 1907
6 July 2024 by
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 2024 by
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
25 March 2024 by
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
16 February 2024 by
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 9–10 July 2024. Details of the call for papers are on the Centre for Printing History and Culture website. Please submit abstracts of 200–250 words by February […]
Printing Historical Society grants 2024
31 January 2024 by
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
29 August 2023 by
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
29 July 2023 by
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 […]
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