Printers, Booksellers, Bookbinders and Stationers, 1780-1883 by Dr Jean Barclay The early 19th century saw a revolution in the art of printing as the wooden hand presses with moveable type that had been in use since Gutenberg and Caxton`s time in the 15th century gradually became mechanised. Then wooden presses were replaced by iron `screw` presses like the Stanhope press of 1800 which could print 480 pages an hour. By the mid-19th century hand presses were being replaced by steam-powered rotary presses allowing printing to be done on an industrial scale. Lithographic printing in which a flat stone or metal plate was used with grease applied to images to attract the ink while the rest was ink-repellent, enabled complex illustrations to be reproduced. These developments boosted the printing industry. At the end of the first 300 years of printing there were 39 printing towns in Scotland but in the 19th century another168 were added. Among a new generation of printers were the Millers of Haddington, Dunbar and Dunfermline and John Miller and his son, John, printers, booksellers, bookbinders and stationers, were a familiar presence in Dunfermline for nearly 60 years. John Miller, After a water colour by Henry Gilbert John Miller senior was born in Dunbar in September 1780 to John Miller and Mary Deans, who only survived the birth by a few hours. His father died when he was nine and he was brought up by his half-brother George, a printer and bookseller in Dunbar and Haddington….
The Masons’ Marks on Rumbling Bridge
In his article on Thomas Tuckett, Road Surveyor, George Robertson asked if anyone had any knowledge concerning the initials and masons’ marks on the inscribed stone on Rumbling Bridge. Recently, George was contacted by a reader who has solved the puzzle. Read what he learned in “The Masons’ Marks on Rumbling Bridge, An Answer!”
How to Behave in Church
Jean Barclay has been searching through the archives and has discovered an interesting article written in the 19th Century. “Proper decorum to be observed in the Church especially during Divine Service” by David Birrell gives us perhaps a different and amusing view of behaviour in church in those times.
A Seafaring Adventure
“The Jessie Thoms of Limekilns and the May Queen: A Seafaring Adventure” by Jean Barclay The content of the Dunfermline Monthly Advertiser was generally fairly routine, but in September 1858, the editor published a communication he had received from Lerwick, Shetland, which was out of the ordinary, a tale of daring on the high seas. The ship involved in this adventure was the Jessie Thoms and the crew of nine consisted of Captain John Monro, the master, his father, Andrew, the owner, as `super-cargo – and six men and a boy. The Limekilns sailors were no strangers to long distances and on this voyage the Jessie Thoms was sailing from Archangel in Russia to Liverpool (1). Brig ‘Jessie Thoms’ of Limekilns (Captain JohnMonro) Entering The Harbour of Malta, 1854from `Limekilns and Passagium Regimae’ Edinburgh1929 According to John Monro, at 4 am on Sunday September 5th, when the Jessie Thoms lay between the islands of Faroe and Foula, he was on deck when he spotted through a glass a ship about four miles away, with a signal of distress flying halfway down from the peak and apparently drifting. They immediately made sail and bore down on the ship, noticing as they came near another vessel coming from the west which passed round the stern of the stricken ship and went on its way, rendering no assistance. Receiving no reply when they hailed the drifting ship, John Monro with three men and the boy launched a boat and boarded her. They found the ship…
Thomas Henry Tuckett and the puzzle of the Inscribed Stone
This article was inspired by an inscribed stone on the side of the road bridge at Rumbling Glen. George Robertson was intrigued and his investigation has resulted in a brief biography of the man those name is recorded there, “Thomas Tuckett and the Puzzle of the Inscribed Stone”. This interesting article also gives us an insight into the life of a successful professional in the mid 19th Century and of how the roads were maintained in those days.