The Foulis Exhibition

Downloaded from THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. (HOUGH constituted so recently as 21 st February, 1912, the Glasgow http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ 1 Bibliographical Society found itself (strong enough before the end of that year to organise an exhibition illustrative of the life and work of the brothers Foulis, the venture being suggested by the fa<5l that 23rd November, 1912, was the bicentenary of the birth of Andrew, the junior member of the firm. The exhibition was intended as the Society's at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 tribute to two eminent sons of Glasgow who have been strangely neglected, and was made the occasion of an attempt to bring together material, manu- script and printed, that would ultimately be used in compiling an adequate biography of the brothers and a complete bibliography or their press. The authorities of the University of Glasgow readily granted the necessary accommodation, and on 12th April, before a Large gathering, the exhibition was opened with an address on the Foulises by the President of the Society, Mr. David Murray, LL.D.1 That the exhibition should have been held in the University was appropriate on various grounds. 1 The address, illustrated and much extended, has been issued in Yolume form by Messrs. James MacLehose & Sons, Glasgow. THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. 307 The brothers, when young men, were more or less regular students in its classes. Robert began business as a bookseller in 1739, probably in the premises ' within the College' from which, two years later, he published a book having that address Downloaded from in the imprint. In 1743, a few months after he had set up a press of his own, he was appointed official printer to the University. At his interview with the College authorities he exhibited * speci- http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ mens of his printing,' and its quality was * found such as he deserves well to be encouraged.' On this appointment additional premises within the precincts of the University were probably assigned for the accommodation of his printing-office, and that privilege was further extended ten years later when the brothers instituted their Academy of the Fine Arts. Throughout the whole of their pro- at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 fessional career the Foulises were in close touch with the University teachers. Professors Rosse, Muirhcad, Moor and Richardson employed them to print their writings, or edited books issued from their press. Some took a more intimate part in correcting proofs, and in acting as their literary advisers. Dr. Alexander Wilson, to whose skill as a typefounder the Foulises owed much, became the University Professor of Astronomy during their lifetime. The close connection thus maintained between the printers and the professorial staff was highly creditable to all. It was specially to be commended in the College authorities. ' It would always be a subject of pride to the University,' said Principal Sir Donald MacAlister from the* chair at the opening of the exhibition, ' that in the 3o8 THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. eighteenth century, while it maintained its place as a centre of intellectual life and activity, it also gave real encouragement and shelter to the practical arts that subserve letters and science, and that under its patronage there worked James Watt, Downloaded from the philosophical instrument maker, the brothers Foulis, printers and engravers, and Wilson, the ingenious and original typefounder.' Since the death of Robert Foulis two attempts http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ have been made to write an account of his life. The eleventh Earl of Buchan, who, as Lord Cardross, had been a student in the Foulis Academy of Art, made extensive collections for a work that was to have been issued 'for the benefit of the family of Robert Foulis, printer,' then in poverty ; but the book was never written. Many of the manuscripts brought together by Buchan are still at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 in existence, and the contents of others are known through copies. Much of that material fell into the hands of William James Duncan, a banker in Glasgow, and was utilised by him in the prepara- tiqn of his ' Notices and Documents Illustrative of the Literary History of Glasgow.'1 There is general agreement that Duncan let slip a .great opportunity. He overlooked sources that would certainly have yielded much information; and though he compiled a goodly list of the productions of the Foulis press, he showed little skill either as a biographer or as a bibliographer. A number of the documents that had passed through the hands of both Buchan and Duncan were placed at the disposal of the committee for 1 Presented to the Maitland Club by W. J. Duncan's father. THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. 309 exhibition, and from these, and a scries of family deeds which also were on view, much additional information on the personal history of the Foulises has been procured. As yet, however, it has been Downloaded from found impossible to trace the family beyond Andrew Faulds,1 father of the printers. There is a sugges- tion that he sprang from a Fifeshirc county family, but no corroboration can be found for the state- ment. Andrew Faulds first appears combining http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ the business of a barber with that of a maltster and the keeper of a change-house. There is evidence that he was a man of some substance. His chief premises seem to have been at Glasgow Cross, then the centre of the city. In 1717 he acquired by purchase a maltkiln in St. Enoch's Wynd, near the spot where St. Enoch Station now stands; and at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 eighteen months later added to the utility of the premises by buying the yard that stretched from it to the public green behind. Andrew Faulds died in 1742. By his will made in 1738 he left his whole possessions to be divided equally among his four sons, Robert, Andrew, James, and John; his two daughters, Mary and Jean, both of whom were by this time dead, had received their portions as * tochers' on their marriages. Of his sons, James took out University classes in divinity, and ended his days as a clergyman in America. John succeeded to his father's business. He married, and more than one of his sons left for the colonies. 1 The name varied in spelling, its form being largely determined by the caprice of those who wrote it. The printers early fixed it for themselves according to the spelling that has been given to their name ever since. 3io THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. A daughter, Margaret, married a shoemaker in Glasgow named James Couper; their descendants are still to be found in the city and its neighbour- hood. Andrew, the printer, died unmarried. Downloaded from Robert was twice married. One of his daughters became the wife of Archibald M'Lauchlan, an artist; another married Robert Dewar, foreman printei in her father's employment. His only son, Andrew, died without issue. No trace of any http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ living descendant of Robert Foulis has been found. II. For purposes of classification the exhibition was divided into five sections: I. Printing in Glasgow, 1638-1742. II. The Foulis Press. at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 III. Alexander Wilson, Typefounder. IV. Personalia. V. The Foulis Academy of Arts. Printing was introduced into Glasgow in 1638, but it was not till 1661 that a press was per- manently established in the city. For the first century of its existence its produces did not rise above the mediocrity that characterised the publi- cations of the time; sometimes they fell below it. Part of the cause of the inferior printing was the oppressive measures adopted against the trade by Andrew Anderson after his appointment as King's Printer in 1671, and by his widow when she succeeded to the benefits of the grant. The Glasgow press, however, had not long to endure the restrictions, for in 1683 Robert Sanders, then printer to the city, bought a share in the monopoly, THE FOULIS EXHIBITION. 311 and was thereafter free from interference. It cannot be said that the security he attained improved the quality of his printing. The tendency indeed was always downwards, and when the eighteenth century opened, printing in Glasgow Downloaded from was almost as poor as it could be. Neglect of his business by the younger Sanders and the increasing trade of the city gave an opportunity for setting up several rival presses, none of which, however, http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ did anything to raise the standard. The only printer who appears to have been impressed with the necessity of improved workmanship was Robert Urie, but he was not long enough in the field to make his influence felt. When Robert Foulis began business, accordingly, almost any advance he could make was sure to be marked. That he did not merely produce better work, but at once at University of California, San Fransisco on March 16, 2015 stepped into the position of a first-rate printer, is therefore all the more remarkable, and constitutes no little part of the debt due to him. During the first century of its printing activity, the books produced in Glasgow were either school manuals or volumes that appealed to the religious and ecclesiastical interests of the people. The demand for them was not great. For the first eighty years sufficient work could be found for only one city printer.1 Several of the early books arc of more than passing interest.

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