Robert Freebairn was appointed Printer to the Queen for Scotland on 11 August 1711 in Edinburgh. He later printed for the ‘Pretender’s Army’ at Perth in 1715.
OTD 8 August 1857
8 August 2025 by
On 8 August 1857, there was a major fire in James’s Court, off the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh’s Old Town, in which the printing works of H & J Pillans was destroyed.
OTD 30 July 1938
30 July 2025 by
The first edition of the Beano was published on 30 July 1938, by D C Thomson of Dundee.
OTD 6 July 1907
6 July 2025 by
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.
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.
OTD 22 January 1935
22 January 2025 by
The Edward Clark Wing of Heriot-Watt College was officially opened by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Sir Godfrey Collins (of the Glasgow printing firm) on 22 January 1935. It had been newly refurbished with up-to-date equipment for training apprentice printers under the terms of Edward Clark’s will.
OTD 28 December 1804
28 December 2024 by
On 28 December 1804 Alexander Keith Johnston, of the Edinburgh map-printing firm, W & A K Johnston, was born.
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