Section One - PORTRAITS

1.
Andrew Bell, bookseller, printseller and engraver, Edinburgh, fl. 1754- 1800.

This is John Kay's caricature of one of the geniuses behind the second edition ( 1776) of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Andrew Bell was famous not only for his tiny body and enormous nose, but also for his engraving skills and publishing enterprise. The other figure is William Smellie, scholar printer and friend of Robert Bums (see: Item 11 ).
Ref. Kay, John, Original portraits, Edinburgh, 1877.
2.
John Baskerville, typefounder and printer, Birmingham, London and Cambridge, 1705-1775.

England's greatest printer in the eighteenth century, Shenstone said of his work and that of Foulis: "Baskerville's impressions are more striking to the eye, either on account of his Ink, his Paper or his Type; yet at the time, it may be doubted whether the Scotch editions will not be deemed the best for use."
Refs. Gaskell, P., John Baskerville, a bibliography, Cambridge, 1959; Pardoe, F., John Baskerville of Birmingham. London, 1975. The engraving in this exhibit is from the latter .
3.
Robert Dodsley, bookseller, publisher, poet and dramatist, London. 1703-1764.

Dodsley was a friend of both Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. His bookshop was at Tully's Head in Pall Mall. "A generous friend, an encourager of men of genius, who acquired the esteem and respect of all who knew him" (Isaac Reed). This is Ravenet's engraving of Reynolds' portrait used as frontispiece for the second edition of Dodsley's Trifles published by James Dodsley, Robert's brother, partner and successor.
Ref. Straus. R., Robert Dodsley, poet, publisher and playwright, London, 1910.
4.
Alexander Donaldson, printer and bookseller, Edinburgh and London. fl. 1749-1794.

Donaldson, who was publisher of the Edinburgh Advertiser, dominated the trade in Scottish reprintings of English classics, and was one of the key figures in breaking the London booksellers' monopoly on the reprint trade. The engraving is from the standard reference: Skinner, R.T., A notable family of Scots printers, Edinburgh, 1927.
5. Francis Hayman, artist, engraver, book illustrator. London. 1708-1776.

Hayman's Falstaffian personality and great talent dominated London book illustration. He did the designs for Richardson's Pamela (1742) and for Hanmer's Oxford Shakespeare. He was a friend of both Johnson and Garrick.
Ref. Hammelman/Boase, Book illustration in eighteenth century England. New Haven, 1975. The photograph is from a self-portrait.
6. Joseph Johnson, bookseller and publisher in London, 1738-1809.

The most important of the dissenting publishers of the late eighteenth century, Joseph Johnson, a man of Baptist origins, was publisher and patron of radical writers. He was publisher of Cowper, E. Darwin, Priestley, Thomas Paine, etc. The photograph is from an engraving of Moses Haughton's portrait.
Ref. Maxted, I., The London book trades 1775-1800, London, 1977.
7. George Miller, bookseller, publisher, Dunbar, fl. 1771-1789.

Miller is an excellent example of the kind of provincial tradesman who dominated the trade outside London in the last decade of the eighteenth century .He was a pioneer in the area of circulating and "itinerating" libraries .
Ref. Couper, W.M., The Millers of Haddington, Dunbar and Dunfermline, London, 1914.
8. John Murray I, bookseller and publisher in London, 1745-1793.

John Murray I, the founder of the Murray dynasty, is a prime example of the wandering Scots who played such an important part in London publishing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Others include William Strahan, Andrew Miller and Thomas Durham. John MacMurray, who later renamed himself John Murray, bought the business of William Sandby, No.32 Fleet St. He was the father of John Murray II, "the Anax of Publishers" (Byron).
Ref. Courthope, W.J., "Memoir of John Murray", Quarterly Review, 1891.
9. James Pillans, printer and publisher in Edinburgh, fl. 1780-1830.

Pillans was the founder of the still extant Edinburgh printing firm of Pillans and Wilson. The Pillans family were Presbyterian seceders and their early publishing catered to the needs of their co-religionists. They have now been general printers for 215 years.
Ref. (Anon.), A printing house of old and new Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 1925.
10. Thomas Ruddiman, printer, bookseller, librarian, scholar; 1674-1757.

Ruddiman was the outstanding Scottish scholar printer. Boswell seriously considered writing his life but, unfortunately, the biography was finally written by the verbose Chalmers (1794). The portrait is from Chalmers' Life.
Ref. Duncan, D., Thomas Ruddiman, a study of Scottish scholarship of the early eighteenth century, Edinburgh, 1965.
11. William Smellie, printer, scholar and bon vivant in Edinburgh, fl. 1740-1795.

William Smellie was a printer of immaculate editions of the classics, compiler of the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, translator of Buffon, and a close friend of Robert Burns. The portrait is from Kerr's tedius two-volume Memoirs, Edinburgh. 1911.
12. James Tytler, printer, poet, chemist, surgeon, political agitator, hack journalist and balloonist, Edinburgh and Salem, Mass. , 1745-1803.

Tytler's eventful career is summed up by Sir James Fergusson in his Balloon Tytler. London, 1972.

Andrew Bell and William Smellie; a Caricature by John Kay.
Item No.1; see also No.11