William Collins, founder of the Glasgow printing and publishing house, was born.
OTD 15 September 1507
15 September 2024 by
On 15 September 1507 James IV granted Walter Chepman and Andro Myllar a licence to set up a printing press in Edinburgh.
OTD 29 August 1553
29 August 2024 by
John Scot completed the printing of the Catechism on 29 August 1553. It was the first book to be printed in St Andrews.
OTD 11 August 1711
11 August 2024 by
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.
SPRAT is grateful for support from The Watson Foundation