DIRECTORY OF THE LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTERS OF SCOTLAND, 1820-70

There is little doubt that the remarkable history of printing in Britain was considerably enriched by the largely unheralded contributions made by the 19th century lithographic printers of Scotland. Published over 200 years after Aloys Senefelder's discovery of the lithographic process in 1798, this is the first detailed investigation of the development of lithographic printing in Scotland. The nationwide listing of its practitioners between 1820 and 1870 is the result of more than six years' research by David Schenck. It is probable that a 'Plan shewing Proposed Lines of Railway from the Coal Field of Midlothian to the Rivers Tweed and Leeder', printed by John Robertson of Edinburgh from an 1821 survey by the engineer Robert Stevenson was the earliest plan to be reproduced in Scotland by lithography. The printers whose names appear in this Directory were active in commercial jobbing works such as circulars, business forms, invitations, display cards and funeral notices etc. which had been drawn on stone by skilled calligraphers, and in smaller businesses this was frequently the work of the lithographer himself. Schenck worked for over half a century in the typesetting and photolithographic equipment industry, and his great grandfather started a printing business in Edinburgh in 1842 that lasted nearly 140 years. Here he traces the first 50 years of the new lithographic printing process in the country, identifying over 700 practitioners in alphabetical order and providing as much as in known about dates, addresses, works and periods of activity. This work is also a valuable guide towards Scotland's contribution to this artistic period. First edition 1999. An Edinburgh Bibliographical Society occasional publication. With a note on dates on prints, maps and plans, comparison charts and clear headers for each of the listings. Large softback, 124 pages. 19 x 24.5cm.