A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898

by Henry R. Plomer

Fig. 37.—Early Chiswick Press Devices.

Pickering died in 1854, and though Charles Whittingham the younger lived to the age of eighty-one, his death not taking place till 1876, he had retired from business in 1860. The business was afterwards acquired by Mr. George Bell.

In the English provinces Messrs. Clay, of Bungay, in Suffolk, have made for themselves a reputation both as general printers and more particularly for the careful production of old English texts; and Messrs. Austin, of Hertford, are well known for their Oriental work. But the pre-eminence certainly rests with the Clarendon Press at Oxford, whose work, whether in its innumerable editions of the Bible and Prayer-book, its classical books, or its great dictionaries, is probably, alike in accuracy of composition, in excellence of spacing and press-work, and in clearness of type, the most flawless that has ever been produced. Book-lovers have been known to complain of it as so good as to be uninteresting, but it certainly possesses all the distinctive virtues of a University Press.

If England has no lack of good printers at the present day, in Scotland they are, at least, equally plentiful.

The Ballantyne Press was founded by James Ballantyne, a solicitor in Kelso, with the aid of Sir Walter Scott. Ballantyne and Scott had been school-fellows and chums, and an incident in their school life recorded by Ballantyne aptly illustrates the characters of the two men. Ballantyne was studious but not quick, and often when he was bothered with his lessons, Scott would whisper to him, 'Come, slink over beside me, Jamie, and I'll tell you a story.' Although their roads lay apart for some years, while Scott was studying in Edinburgh and Ballantyne was carrying on the Kelso Mail, they met and renewed their friendship in the stage coach that ran between Kelso and Glasgow. Shortly afterwards, Ballantyne called on Scott, and begged him to supply a few paragraphs on legal questions of the day to the Kelso Mail. This Scott readily undertook to do, and when the manuscript was ready he took it himself to the printing-office, and with it some of the ballads destined for Lewis's collection then publishing in Edinburgh. Before he left he suggested that Ballantyne should print a few copies of the ballads, so that he might show his friends in Edinburgh what Ballantyne could do. Twelve copies were accordingly printed, with the title of Apologies for Tales of Terror. These were published in 1799, and Scott was so pleased with their appearance that he promised Ballantyne that he should be the printer of a selection of Border ballads that he was then making. This selection was given the title of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and formed two small octavo volumes, with the imprint, 'Kelso, 1802.'

Ballantyne's work, as shown in these volumes, was equal in every way to the best work done by Bensley and Bulmer at this time. Good type and good paper, combined with accuracy and clearness, at once raised Ballantyne's reputation. Longman and Rees, the publishers, declared themselves delighted with the printing, and Scott urged his friend to remove his press to Edinburgh, where he assured him he would find enough work to repay him for the removal. After some hesitation Ballantyne acquiesced in the proposal, and having found suitable premises in the neighbourhood of Holyrood House, set up 'two presses and a proof one,' and shortly afterwards, in April 1803, printed there the third volume of the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. From this time forward Scott made it a point that whatever he wrote or edited should be printed at the Ballantyne Press. The first quarto, the Lay of the Last Minstrel, was published in January 1805. The poem was printed in a somewhat heavy-faced type; but in other respects the typography left nothing to be desired. In the same year Ballantyne and Scott entered into partnership, Scott taking a third of the profits of the printing-office. So rapidly did James Ballantyne extend his business that in 1819 Scott, in a letter to Constable, says that the Ballantyne Press 'has sixteen presses, of which only twelve are at present employed.' In 1826 the firm became involved in the bankruptcy of the publishers Messrs. Constable. After this Ballantyne was employed as editor of the Weekly Journal, and the literary management of the printing-house. He died on the 17th January 1833. The firm is now known as Ballantyne, Hanson and Co., and admirably sustains its old traditions.

Another great Scottish printing-house, that of T. and A. Constable, was founded by Thomas Constable, the fourth son of Archibald Constable the publisher. He learned his art in London under Mr. Charles Richards, and on returning to Edinburgh, in 1833, he founded the present printing-house in Thistle Street. Shortly afterwards he was appointed Queen's Printer for Scotland, and the patent was afterwards extended to his son Archibald, the present titular head of the house. Some years later he received the appointment of Printer to the University of Edinburgh. Thomas Constable inherited and incorporated with his own firm the printing business of his maternal grandfather, David Willison, a business founded in the eighteenth century. The firm has always been noted for its scholarly reading and the beauty of its workmanship; and only the fact that this volume is being printed by it prevents a longer eulogy.

Among other Scottish firms who are doing excellent work mention may be made also of Messrs. R. and R. Clark of Edinburgh, who tread very closely on the heels of the Clarendon Press, and Messrs. Maclehose, the printers to the University of Glasgow. In America also there is much good work being done, that of Mr. De Vinne and of the Riverside Press, Cambridge, being of the very highest excellence.

In the history of English printing, the close of the nineteenth century will always be memorable for the brilliant but short-lived career of the Kelmscott Press.