|
|
A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Aberdeen and Northern Counties Printing
Industry
1 2
3
4
5
6 7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
161718192021
2223242526272829303132
Meanwhile, back in 1895, The Aberdeen
Free Press office was seriously damaged by fire. As a con-sequence
of subsequent reorganisation, part of the firm was transferred to
a site in Rosemount and this became known as the Rosemount Press.
The Aberdeen University Press Ltd, registered as a public company
in 1900, was formed to acquire the business of Arthur King &
Co. It had as its first chairman Professor (later Sir) William Ramsay
of the Chair of Humanity at King’s College, Aberdeen. John
Thomson remained as a director until his death in 1911.
From its beginning, the Press (widely known by its initials AUP)
specialised in difficult typesetting, including foreign languages
and mathematical work. Among its most notable productions are Bibliotheca
Lindesiana, the catalogue of the Haigh Hall Library of the Earl
of Crawford and Balcarres, and catalogues of the Mingana Collections
of Middle Eastern manuscripts.
The founders could not possibly have foreseen the many changes the
Press would be subjected to throughout this century, particularly
from 1932 onwards. In that year the AUP amalgamated with the Rosemount
Press and in 1949 a further acquisition was the business of William
Jackson (Aberdeen) Ltd, a bookbinding firm which began in 1855.
In 1953 the firm John Avery & Co Ltd was added. This company
of general printers, which owned the Greyfriars Press in King Street,
had begun printing in the early 1840s, becoming a limited company
in 1884. Then in 1966 the business of Edmond & Spark, stationers
and book-binders, of early nineteenth century origins, merged with
the AUP.
In 1970, the AUP was to find itself taken over by the British Bank
of Commerce. In that year John Mime, The Central Press (Aberdeen)
Ltd, became a wholly owned subsidiary of the AUP, as did C. Cornwall
& Sons Ltd with its subsidiary the White Heather Publishing
Co Ltd two years later.
The main office and printing works of the AUP were originally in
Upperkirkgate and from 1932 they also occupied the works of the
Rosemount Press at Farmers Hall. In 1963 Farmers Hall was extended
to accommodate the entire Press, and a further extension was added
in 1973 to house the business of the Central Press and Cornwalls.
In 1978 AUP became a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Maxwell’s
Pergamon Press, but in 1988 the print and publishing divisions were
divorced. The former became part of the British Printing and Communications
Corporation while the latter became part of the Maxwell Macmillan
Publishing Corporation as Aberdeen University Press Limited (Publishers).
AUP Ltd (Publishers) had a short life when it was revealed the assets
of the company had become entangled with the failure of Robert Maxwell’s
publishing empire following his death in 1992. It was discovered
that AUP Ltd (Publishers) had accrued debts of over one million
pounds and, as a consequence, the company was put into administration
in 1992 and ceased trading. In 1993 TAUPIA Ltd (The Aberdeen University
Press in Administration) was formed, but later went into formal
liquidation and was finally wound up in 1996.
The AUP was not alone in having a century of change. In 1876 the
Chalmers brothers had sold their newspaper, plant and premises to
form the North of Scotland Newspaper and Printing Co Ltd. This enabled
them to commence daily publication of The Aberdeen Journal to match
that of The Free Press which began publishing daily in 1872.
The rivalry between the two newspapers intensified with the introduction
of their evening papers in 1879. This had the effect of saturating
the market and in 1884 the Journal went into liquidation. It reconstituted
itself to free capital but this would not have been sufficient to
save it if it had not been for a legacy of £10,000 left by
John Chalmers to invest in the Journal’s future.
|
|
Volume 3 published 1996
Buy a
copy of the illustrated book?
Download a PDF (8MB)
|
