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500 Years of Scottish Printing

Celebrations took place in libraries across Scotland in 2008 to mark 500 years of Scottish printing. The College Library mounted a display of botanical, medical and local history books, all of which were printed in Scotland. Scotland’s first royal licence for printing was granted to Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar who set up their press in 1507, in what is now Edinburgh’s Cowgate. The first book to be printed by the pair was a poem by John Ludgate, ‘The Complaint of the Black Knight’ in April 1508. The only known copy of this belongs to the National Library of Scotland. There are various examples of Edinburgh printed works out on display including anatomical works by Albinus and John Bell but the main emphasis has been on works produce in Glasgow.

Printing arrived in Glasgow somewhat later when George Anderson established the city’s first printing press in 1638. The first medical book printed in Glasgow was Sylvester Rattary’s, Aditus Novus, which was printed by Andrew Anderson in 1658. Rattray was a member of the Faculty (now Royal College) of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The College Library possesses two copies of this book, as well as a later book by Rattray, Prognosis Medica.

Quality printing did not really exist in Glasgow until the establishment of the Foulis press in the mid 18th century which was set up by the brothers Robert and Andrew Foulis. The main output from their press was scholarly books and they soon gained a reputation for printing fine classical and literary works. The Academy of Fine Arts, the brainchild of Robert Foulis, is represented by two prints from “Early Views of Glasgow chiefly from the Foulis Academy of Art” which was published in 1913 to complement a special Foulis exhibition held in Glasgow that year.

Although the College Library is essentially a medical library there has always been a very strong tradition of collecting books relating to Glasgow and the West of Scotland. These books form the Glasgow Collection and various items belonging to it were included in the display including John M’Ure’s View of the City of Glasgow, 1736, considered to be the first attempt at a definitive history of the City. Also on display was an early Directory of Glasgow printed in 1789 by Nathaniel Jones and Regulations of the Towns Hospital which was established for the poor in Glasgow in 1733. The inmates were forced to put up with an unrelenting diet of gruel.

The Library and Archive holds manuscripts of various printed works and two of these were featured along with the published book. Robert Watt’s work on chincough or whooping cough was published by John Smith and Son in 1813. Two of the fatal cases he describes are those of his own children, both of whom he examined post- mortem. The other manuscript on display was that of the botanist Thomas Hopkirk whose Flora Glottiana was the book about the native plants of the Clyde area. This work, too, was published by John Smith and Son in 1813.

During the 19th century there was an increase in printing and publishing within Glasgow with the establishment of firms such as Blackie and MacLehose. Blackie archives from Glasgow University Archives were loaned for the display.

Money from the Baillies Institution, Glasgow provided the conservation required in order that certain items could be exhibited.