|
|
A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Perth Printing Industry
1 2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9
10
11 12
13
14 15
Perth
During the period of its short life in Perth, the press was operated
by an English printer with Jacobite sympathies, one Robert Freebairn,
who had fled Edinburgh after a failed attempt to capture Edinburgh
Castle. On the failure of the rebellion he escaped to the Continent,
returning surreptitiously to Edinburgh during the 1720s to reclaim
his post of King’s Printer. He died on 10 May 1747.
After Freebairn there appears to have been little or no printing
done in Perth until 1770 when George Johnston brought his press
to the town from Aberdeen. In dedicating his first publication,
Marchant’s Bloody Tribunal, to the Provost and Council of the
day, he claimed this was the first book to be printed in Perth.
His stay in the town was short-lived, however, due in no small measure
to the failure in 1774 of the Perth Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure
on which his business was so dependent. This octavo publication
of thirty-two pages consisted of political matters, general literature,
and notes on home and overseas events, and had been launched in
1772 by Robert Morison.
Robert Morison was born in 1722, the son of a bookbinder in the
town. For the greater part of his life he was a bookseller and postmaster,
but his entry into publishing in 1772 was to mark the beginning
of the Morison family era which brought great distinction to the
town. It is worthy of note that prior to this, in 1752, Morison
had started a circulating library on the model of several in Edinburgh.
Books were borrowed at one penny per night, or one shilling per
month.
Robert had two sons who entered the family busi-ness. The elder
son, James, born in 1762, entered the bookselling and publishing
side of the business and was an accomplished linguist. He was largely
responsible for a steady flow of publications and it is reckoned
that between 1773 and 1800 over forty titles passed through the
presses. Robert, who subsequently became a printer, was born in
1764. It has been suggested that Robert learned the art of printing
from George Johnston, but this is most unlikely as he was only ten
years of age when Johnston left Perth. If proof was needed of the
family’s entry into printing, this can be found from the title-page
of Cook’s Voyages. The imprint reads ‘Perth: printed by
R. Morison, jun-ior, for R. Morison & Son, booksellers, 1785’.
In 1788 an edition of Scottish Poets, described as the first uniform
edition, was issued. It was dedicated to the Earl of Buchan, a great
patron of literature and, with all his eccentricities, a remarkable
Scotsman. The issue is an attractive set of duodecimo volumes, illustrated
with steel engrav-ings. The Rev. James Scott, who wrote the article
on Perth in Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account, was informed
by James Morison that at this time (1794) his presses were producing
from 20,000 to 30,000 volumes per annum. In that year the University
of St Andrews appointed the Morisons in Perth to be their printers.
The Abertay Historical Society Publication, Pub-lishing in Perth
before 1807 by R. H. Carnie, describes in some detail many of the
titles produced and published by the Morisons and pays tribute to
the high standard of typography and the quality of the engraved
plates. Special mention is made of Seasons, published in 1793, and
evidence of the publishers’ own awareness of the high standard
achieved is contained in their statement:
In the present edition we have endeavoured to give it every recommendation
which can be derived from valuable engravings, beauty of paper,
elegance of type and correctness of printing. For we avow our honest
ambition to contribute, as far as traders in our department of business
can, to the Advancement of Literature and the progress of all the
Sister Fine Arts in our native country.’
In addition to eventually taking over the publishing side of the
business, James Morison established paper mills at Woodend, near
Almond Park, with his friend Henry Lindsay. It is said the mills
produced 9000 to 10,000 reams of printing paper and 7000 to 8000
reams of packing paper annually.
James Morison was married twice, first to a grand-daughter of Principal
Tullidelph of St Andrews, and second to Grace Lindsay, a sister
of his part-ner in the paper mills. William Morison, his son by
the first marriage, was born in 1780 but died at the age of 26.
His name is associated with the Encyclopaedia Perthensis, a work
in twenty-three quarto volumes. It is said that young Morison was
largely responsible for compiling this major work. The contents
can be best described by quoting its full title, viz ‘Encyclopaedia
Perthensis or Universal Dictionary of Knowledge: collected from
every source and intended to supersede all other English books of
reference. Illustrated with plates and maps. In 23 volumes, R. Morison,
Printer, Perth.’
|
|
Volume 3 published 1996
Buy a
copy of the illustrated book?
Download a PDF (8MB)
|
