ILLUSTRATIONS & FACSIMILES
| James Ballantyne (Photogravure) | [Frontispiece] | |
| PAGE | ||
| Kelso in 1797 | To face | [2] |
| First Page of First Issue of “Kelso Mail” | ” | [4] |
| Title—“An Apology for Tales of Terror” | [9] | |
| Title—“Memoirs of Joseph Boruwlaski” | [11] | |
| Playbill printed by James Ballantyne in Kelso | [13] | |
| Title—“Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” (Kelso, 1802) | [19] | |
| Title—“Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” (Edinburgh, 1803) | [23] | |
| St. John Street | To face | [24] |
| John Ballantyne (Photogravure) | ” | [42] |
| Sir Walter Scott, Bart. (Photogravure) | ” | [62] |
| Title—“Waverley” | [63] | |
| The “Great Unknown” | To face | [82] |
| A Page of the MS. of “Waverley” | ” | [96] |
| Old Wooden Press at Paul’s Work (Photogravure) | ” | [106] |
| Title—“Life of Napoleon Buonaparte” | [129] | |
| Corrected Page-Proof of “Life of Buonaparte” | [131] | |
| John Gibson Lockhart, LL.D. (Photogravure) | To face | [132] |
| Old Paul’s Work (Photogravure) | ” | [143] |
| Entrance to the Offices of Old Paul’s Work | [145] | |
| Window in Paul’s Work of the Present Day | To face | [156] |
| Desk used by Sir Walter Scott in Paul’s Work | [185] | |
| Sir Walter Scott’s Chair in Paul’s Work | [187] | |
THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
CHAPTER I
ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE
The History of the Art of Printing in Edinburgh shows periods of fluctuating progress—times of decadence and revival—at recurring intervals. These are found in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and towards the close of the eighteenth century another period of decadence seems to have arisen, although a few of the printers in the city strove to maintain the fairer traditions of the art and did good work. Among these it is interesting to note that the firms of Neill & Co., Pillans & Wilson, and Oliver & Boyd are survivors of that far-off time.
With the origin of the Ballantyne Press at Kelso in 1796, and its removal a few years afterwards to Paul’s Work in Edinburgh, a revival took place which inaugurated a new era for printing in Scotland. The advent of James Ballantyne was productive of great changes, as he helped to diffuse a taste for correct and elegant workmanship till then comparatively unknown. Curwen, in his “History of Booksellers,” referring to the high level of English typography, mentions the Ballantynes of Edinburgh as founding a press, the excellent work of which had gained the good-will of many authors and publishers both in Edinburgh and London.
