The Chepman and Myllar Press was the first printing press to be established in Scotland.Norman Macdougall, The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland, James IV, Tuckwell press, 1997, pp. 218. The press was founded in 1508 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore o ...

Walter Chepman Walter Chepman (died 1532) was a Scottish merchant, notary and civil servant active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Chepman served at the Scottish court during the reigns of James IV and James V. In partnership with An ...

and Androw Myllar, both burgesses of the Scottish capital. The two partners operated under a charter of

King James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

issued in 1507 which gave them a monopoly in printed books within Scotland.''Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 223 no. 1546. Very few products of the press are preserved today. Those that have survived largely intact are nine

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered booklet ...

s of

vernacular literature Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people". In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin nor Koine Greek. In this context, vernacular literature appear ...

known collectively as The Chepman and Myllar PrintsThe Chepman and Myllar Prints at the National Library of Scotland
/ref> and a Latin religious text known as The Aberdeen Breviary. The Aberdeen Breviary at the National Library of Scotland
/ref> Fragments of two other publications also exist. These were editions of The Wallace and The Buke of the Howlat. The press seems to have had a brief existence. The earliest surviving example of its work dates to 1508 and the latest to 1510. Chepman and Myllar's press is also referred to as The Southgait Press.

Historical context

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its kind, earlier designs ...

developed printing with moveable type in Germany in the decade after 1440. The new technology spread rapidly. Scots began to commission the printing of books in other countries. France, with its strong diplomatic and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

connection to Scotland, was favoured.

Foundation by Royal Charter

Patent of James IV to Chepman and Myllar

King James IV authorised the creation of a press in a proclamation of 15 September 1507. He charged his "beloved servants" Chepman and Myllar to "acquire and bring home a press with all accessories and skilled men required to use it". :' The King intended the press to publish books of laws, acts of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

, histories and religious texts. :'','' The King would determine "competitive prices" for the books. :' Chepman and Myllar were awarded a monopoly in print within Scotland. The commissioning of imported printed books would be prohibited. :' The charter then specifies a key purpose for the press: the production of

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

books with a distinctive Scottish character. These were intended to replace the service books of the English Use of Salisbury which was the rite commonly used throughout Scotland at the time. Eventually the importation of books of the English rite would be outlawed. :' The

Aberdeen Breviary The ''Aberdeen Breviary'' ( la, Breviarium Aberdonense) is a 16th-century Scottish Catholic breviary. It was the first full-length book to be printed in Edinburgh, and in Scotland. Origin The creation of the Aberdeen Breviary can be seen as one o ...

, compiled by the King's "traist counsalar" Bishop

William Elphinstone William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen. Biography He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Fac ...

of Aberdeen, is apparently an example of this policy.

Career of the Press

Androw Myllar was a bookseller who had supplied volumes to the King.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol.3 (1901), see index, p.458, 504.
/ref> He had also published books, printed at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the populatio ...

in 1505 and 1506. As such, he can be assumed to have had some knowledge of printing technology. Walter Chepman was a prosperous textile merchant who had supplied goods to the Crown and also carried out clerical duties at the Royal Court. It might be supposed that he provided the bulk of the capital for the enterprise. It is not known where or when Chepman and Myllar acquired their printing press and staff, but in the months following the Royal charter, they established themselves in the Southgait of Edinburgh,Jane E. A. Dawson, ''Scotland Re-formed'', The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Volume 6. Edinburgh University Press, 2007, p.81. now known as The Cowgate. Their earliest surviving publication dates to 4 April 1508. It not known when the press closed, but the latest surviving copies of the Aberdeen Breviary date to 1510.

Surviving Publications of the Press

The Chepman and Myllar Prints

The Chepman and Myllar Prints are nine of Chepman and Myllar's chapbooks bound into a single volume alongside two other pamphlets from Scotland in the sixteenth century. This volume was acquired by the

Advocates' Library The Advocates Library, founded in 1682, is the law library of the Faculty of Advocates, in Edinburgh. It served as the national deposit library of Scotland until 1925, at which time through an Act of Parliament the National Library of Scotland ...

of Edinburgh and is now held in the National Library of Scotland. The volume contains the following texts of Chepman and Myllar's press, all written in

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

, either Scots or English. :Book 1 :*"The Porteous of Nobleness". An anonymous Scots translation of

Alain Chartier Alain Chartier (1430) was a French poet and political writer. Life Alain Chartier was born in Bayeux to a family marked by considerable ability. His eldest brother Guillaume Chartier (bishop), Guillaume became bishop of Paris; and Thomas Chart ...

's "Breviaire des Nobles". A guide to courtly manners. :Book 2 :*"Golagrus and Gawain". An anonymous chivalric romance. :*"Rhyme Without Accord". A work of

John Lydgate John Lydgate of Bury (c. 1370 – c. 1451) was an English monk and poet, born in Lidgate, near Haverhill, Suffolk, England. Lydgate's poetic output is prodigious, amounting, at a conservative count, to about 145,000 lines. He explored and esta ...

's. :Book 3 :* Eglamour. An anonymous chivalric romance. :*"Balade". A fragment of an anonymous ballad. :Book 4 :* Dunbar's "The Golden Targe" An allegory of love. :Book 5 :*'"De regimine principum bonum consilium" or "Ane Buke of Gude Counsale to the King". A commentary on statecraft. :Book 6 :*Lydgate's

The Complaint of the Black Knight ''The Complaint of the Black Knight'' is a poem by the English monk John Lydgate. One edition is the oldest surviving book printed in Scotland that displays the printing date: 4 April 1508 (see 1508 in poetry). In 2010 it was chosen by UNESCO ...

. :*"When by Divine Deliberation". A short religious poem. :Book 7 :* The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. :* Henryson's "The Praise of Age". :*"Device, Prowess and eke Humility." A fragmentary anonymous poem. :Book 8 :*Henryson's

Orpheus and Eurydice The ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice (, ''Orpheus, Eurydikē'') concerns the fateful love of Orpheus of Thrace for the beautiful Eurydice. Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope. It may be a late addition to the Orpheus myt ...

. :*"The Want of Wise Men." A short anonymous moral piece. :Book 9 :*Dunbar's "The Ballade of Lord Bernard Stewart". The same volume contains two other Scottish booklets from the Sixteenth Century. :Book 10 :* Dunbar's The Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo,

Lament for the Makaris "I that in Heill wes and Gladnes", also known as "The Lament for the Makaris", is a poem in the form of a danse macabre by the Scottish poet William Dunbar. Every fourth line repeats the Latin refrain '' timor mortis conturbat me'' (fear of deat ...

and "The Testament of Mr Andro Kennedy". :*"Kynd Kittok". Erroneously ascribed to Dunbar. :Book 11 :*"A Gest of Robin Hood". A ballad of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depi ...

. The prints have a page height of approximately 15 cm and include the woodcut devices of Myllar and Chepman. The National Library of Scotland speculates that these chapbooks may have been test-pieces for the press. Their sale would also have provided a source of income for the new enterprise.

The Aberdeen Breviary

The

or "Brevarium Aberdonense" is the largest surviving product of Chepman and Myllar's press.The Aberdeen Breviary at Edinburgh University Library.
/ref> Produced between 1509 and 1510, it is a substantial Latin text consisting of two volumes printed in black and red. Breviaries are handbooks intended to guide priests in conducting Catholic religious ceremonies. They include a

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters wer ...

and prayers to mark particular festivals and saints' days. The content of breviaries varied across Catholic Europe, with the English Salisbury or Sarum Rite dominant throughout the British Isles. The Breviary was compiled by Bishop

of Aberdeen and aimed to give the rituals of the Scottish Church a character distinctive from that in England and its dependencies. More than seventy of the saints honoured by it are identified with Scotland.Norman Macdougall, The Stewart Dynasty in Scotland, James IV, Tuckwell press, 1997, pp. 262–263. As such, it forms part of the policy set out in the charter which established the press; :''that in tyme cuming mess bukis, manualis, matyne bukis and portuus bukis efter our awin Scottis use, and with legendis of Scottis sanctis, be usit generaly within al our Realme alssone as the sammyn may be imprentit and providit.'' Copies of the Aberdeen Breviary survive, in varying degrees of completeness, at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

, The National Library of Scotland,

The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

and a private collection.

Fragments

Fragmentary remains of two further publications survive whose

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands ...

matches that of the Chepman and Myllar press. These were

Blind Harry Blind Harry ( 1440 – 1492), also known as Harry, Hary or Henry the Minstrel, is renowned as the author of ''The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace'', more commonly known as '' The Wallace''. This wa ...

's The Wallace and Holland's The Buke of the Howlat. The fragments of 'The Wallace' are preserved at Glasgow's

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

and

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambr ...

. The fragment of 'The Howlat' is kept at Cambridge.