James Ballantyne founded his printing firm in Kelso in 1796. Archibald Constable, Scott’s publisher, commissioned Ballantyne to print his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, which led to the firm’s move to Edinburgh in 1802. After setting up near Holyrood, they moved to Foulis Close in the Canongate before settling in Paul’s Work, north back of Canongate, at the foot of Calton Hill.
Ballantyne’s had a good reputation for high quality work and combined this with a very large output of books: Scott’s Waverley was a great success and brought the Paul’s Work plant to capacity production. The relationship between Ballantyne, Scott and Constable was too close, however, and when Constable’s collapsed in 1826 both James Ballantyne and Scott were also bankrupted.

Tags: Edinburgh | on this day | printers

On 28 December 1804 Alexander Keith Johnston, of the Edinburgh map-printing firm, W & A K Johnston, was born.

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On 19 December 1904 the Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch moved from Cockburn Street to newly built premises on North Bridge, now the Scotsman Hotel.

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Edward Clark, son of Robert Clark of the Edinburgh printing firm R & R Clark, was born on 11 December 1862. On his death in 1926, he left funds to support the teaching of printing in Edinburgh, including funding a collection of books for the use of the students. The Edward Clark Collection is in the care of Edinburgh Napier University.

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Patrick Neill founded the company which was to become Neill & Co on 7 December 1749 in Edinburgh. It occupied premises in Old Fishmarket Close off the High Street for many years.

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The Edinburgh stationery and printing firm of George Waterston & Sons was established on 6 December 1752. Originally sealing wax manufacturers, the company soon moved into stationery production .

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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’.

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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.

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On 15 September 1507 James IV granted Walter Chepman and Andro Myllar a licence to set up a printing press in Edinburgh.

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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.

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