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A REPUTATION FOR EXCELLENCE
A History of the Glasgow Printing Industry
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Part Three - Expansion
The 1740s saw great changes in the Glasgow book trade. In that decade
eight presses, some admittedly short-lived, were founded, two newspapers
began publication, and Alexander Wilson and John Baine brought their
type foundry from St Andrews to Camlachie, only a mile from the
city. Of the presses, the two most important were those of Robert
and Andrew Foulis and Robert Urie. Robert Foulis was born in 1707.
In 1720 he was apprenticed as a barber and in 1727 established himself
in that trade. In 1739 he set up business as a bookseller with premises
within the University and two years later he turned his attention
to publishing. His first books were printed on his behalf by Robert
Urie and Co., and probably also by Alexander Miller, but in 1742
he began printing on his own account. In the following year he was
appointed printer to the University. About 1746 he was joined by
his younger brother, Andrew, the firm becoming Robert and Andrew
Foulis and so continuing until the deaths of the brothers, Andrew
in 1775 and Robert in 1776.
The books produced at the Foulis press present a startling contrast
with those of its Glasgow contemporaries, with the exception of
the press of Robert Urie. Apart from a few of the early works, they
are completely devoid of ornament, printed in jet black ink with
good type on good-quality paper. They are accurate in composition
and register and have title-pages of absolute simplicity. While
other printers turned out works that appealed to the common people,
the Foulis press published chiefly classical books in Latin, Greek,
English, French, Spanish and Italian. The volumes which were produced,
particularly in folio, put the press in the forefront of European
printing. In addition to printing and the subsidiary activities
of binding, bookselling and literary auctioneering, the Foulis brothers
involved themselves in the field of art. An academy of art, first
projected by Robert Foulis in 1738, took shape in 1753 when, on
23 October that year, the University of Glasgow agreed to ‘proposals
for teaching designing in the new University... and allow the room
under the north part of the new library for a place in which to
teach scholars’ .At first there were five teachers, of whom
P. A. Aveline was chief. The first picture copied was ‘The
supper at Emmaus’ by Titian and the first engraving done by
Aveline from a painting of the Duke of Argyll by Allan Ramsay. The
Academy was never a financial success. Its growth was slow, expenses
were always in excess of income and the number of students fluctuated.
Among the more distinguished students were David Allan, Robert Paul
and James Tassie. The Academy ceased to exist in 1775, probably
soon after the death of Robert Foulis.
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Volume 2 published 1994
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