Edinburgh

Cabinet 18

Printing came relatively late to Scotland. In the early months of 1508, Andrew Myllar and Walter Chepman completed the earliest known printed book, The Complaint of the Black Knight, dated 4 April.

After Edinburgh, printing came to St Andrews in 1552, then Stirling in 1571, and then Aberdeen in 1622.

The engraving on display depicts the late 17th century printing house of Andrew Symons, who operated at Cowgate, some 100 yards from the old Myllar and Chepman printery at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd.

High quality printing and internationally renowned publishing continues in Edinburgh today.

Daniel Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time. Vol. II. Edinburgh: Hugh Paton, 1848.