On 6 July 1907 the Strathearn Herald in Crieff was printed for the first time on the newly-installed Cossar Patent Flat Bed Web Newspaper Printing Machine. The installation had been supervised by its inventor, Tom Cossar of Govan, and it produced every issue until its final run on 28 March 1991. This machine is now […]
OTD 11 June 1825
11 June 2025 by
11 June 1825 The first issue of The Glasgow Looking Glass was published by John Watson in Glasgow. It pioneered the use of the relatively new lithographic printing process, and has been described as the world’s first comic.
Harry McIntosh of Speedspools
9 June 2025 by
The Trust is sorry to annouce that Harry McIntosh of Speedspools, Edinburgh, known for his typesetting services over the last 60 years, died on 30 May 2025, and would like to offer their sympathy to his family and friends.
OTD 20 April 1707
20 April 2025 by
Robert Foulis was born on 20 April 1707. He and his brother Andrew established the Foulis Press, printer to the University of Glasgow, which was known for the high quality of its output .
OTD 10 April 1878
10 April 2025 by
The printing works of Thomas Nelson & Sons at Hope Park Crescent was destroyed by fire on the night of 10 April 1878. The firm were allowed to set up temporary works on the Meadows which their new factory at Parkside was being built. Columns at the east end of Melville Drive were erected by […]
OTD 4 April 1508
4 April 2025 by
Scotland’s first printers, Walter Chepman and Andro Myllar, completed printing John Lydgate’s poem The Complaint of the Black Knight, at their press in Edinburgh’s Old Town.
St Bride’s Wayzegoose 2025
15 March 2025 by
The annual St Bride Foundation Wayzegoose will take place on Sunday 27th April 2025, from 11:00 — 16:00. Explore numerous stalls selling letterpress supplies, type and ornaments, paper, printed items, second-hand books and type specimens and there will of course be cake! For more details see the St Bride Foundation website.
OTD 5 March 1822
5 March 2025 by
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 […]
OTD 28 February 1803
28 February 2025 by
Memorial of the Edinburgh Compositors to the Court of Session. This was a request from the compositors of Edinburgh that they be allowed to convene a meeting: the Combination Acts were in force at the time, preventing workmen from acting together to improve their conditions. Permission was granted and a request for an increase in […]
Association of European Printing Museums conference, September 2025
5 February 2025 by
The Centre for Printing History & Culture and Winterbourne House, University of Birmingham, will be hosting the Association of European Printing Museums annual conference 3–5 September 2025. They invite proposals investigating the relationship between printing history and the heritage sites that are custodians of the material evidence of print (deadline 31 March 2025). For more […]
SPRAT is grateful for support from The Watson Foundation