The Society of Bookbinders in Edinburgh was formed in 1814, as a relief society for sick and unemployed members. On 5 March 1822 the name changed to the Union Society of Edinburgh Journeyman Bookbinders. The Society continued for 50 years, remaining independent of the Bookbinders’ Consolidated Union until September 1872 when the two organisations amalgamated […]
‘Unfinished business’: Print Networks 2024
This year’s Print Networks conference, Unfinished Business: Progress, Stasis and New Directions in the study of the Book Trade since Peter Isaac, will be held at Newcastle University on 9–10 July 2024. Details of the call for papers are on the Centre for Printing History and Culture website. Please submit abstracts of 200–250 words by February […]
Printing Historical Society grants 2024
The Printing Historical Society is currently inviting applications for research grants under their annual grant scheme. The total amount available this year is £3,000, and the deadline for submissions is Friday 22 March 2024. Eligibility and application details are on the Society’s Grants page.
OTD 25 January 1817
The first ever edition of The Scotsman, or Edinburgh Political and Literary Journal was produced on Saturday, January 25 1817, from premises in Edinburgh’s High Street. It was originally published weekly, and became a daily newspaper in 1850. The proprietors announced that their ‘first desire is to be honest, the second is to be useful’.
OTD 19 January 1757
Thomas Ruddiman was born near Banff in 1674, son of a farmer, and was educated at the local grammar school and at Aberdeen University. After a period as a private tutor, and as the schoolmaster at Laurencekirk, he moved to Edinburgh in 1700 to become the assistant librarian at the Faculty of Advocates. He was […]
OTD 15 January 1826
Founded in Kelso in 1796, James Ballantyne was founded 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, […]
Conference on printing by subscription
Booking is now open for Pre-paid Printing: a conference organised by the Baskerville Society on the role of private funds and public subscribers in the issuing and circulation of printed matter, to be held at Winterbourne House and Garden at the University of Birmingham on September 14 and 15, 2023. For more details see the […]
Talk by Helen Williams
As part of the National Trust for Scotland’s Gladstone’s Land Lecture Series, the Trust’s Honorary Secretary, Helen S Williams will be giving a talk on August 31 on Edinburgh’s Print Workers and their Organisations. Printers had a tradition of collective organisation: the typographical societies, which later became the print unions, operated as welfare organisations for […]
Print Networks 2023
The annual Print Networks / CPHC Symposium takes place in partnership with St Bride Library in London on 19 July 2023 The theme this year is ‘Print networks between London and the regions, looking at looks at physical and metaphorical book trade connections between London and the regions from the early modern to the present. […]
Edinburgh Printmakers’ Family Print Club session on letterpress
The Edinburgh Printmakers Family Print Club session on 25 June is on letterpress printing and simple bookmaking. For more details and how to book, see the Edinburgh Printmakers website.