William Blackwood (20 November 177616 September 1834) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

who founded the firm of

William Blackwood and Sons William Blackwood and Sons was a Scottish publishing house and printer founded by William Blackwood in 1804. It played a key role in literary history, publishing many important authors, for example John Buchan, George Tomkyns Chesney, Joseph C ...

Life

Blackwood was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 20 November 1776. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Edinburgh, and he followed his calling also in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for several years. Returning to Edinburgh in 1804, he opened a shop in South Bridge Street for the sale of old, rare and curious books. He undertook the Scottish agency for John Murray and other London publishers, and gradually drifted into publishing on his own account (later known as

), moving in 1816 to Princes Street. That same year, Blackwood convinced

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

to abandon

Archibald Constable Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer. Life Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie. In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to ...

as his Edinburgh publisher. Blackwood's first deal as publisher was the next novel in Scott's ''

Tales of my Landlord Tales of my Landlord is a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) that form a subset of the Waverley Novels. They were so called because they were supposed to be tales collected from the (fictional) landlord of the Wallace Inn at Gand ...

'' series. On 1 April 1817, the first number of the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'' was published, which on its seventh number became ''

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by publisher William Blackwood and originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'', but quickly relaunched as ''Blackwood's Edinbu ...

''. "''Maga''", as this magazine soon came to be called, was the organ of the Scottish

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

party, and round it gathered a host of writers. This included

John Neal John Neal (August 25, 1793 – June 20, 1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1 ...

, making ''Maga'' the first British literary journal to publish work by an American, and the publisher of the first history of US literature, Neal's series ''

American Writers The Lists of American writers include: United States By ethnicity *List of African-American writers *List of Asian American writers, List of Asian-American writers *List of Cuban American writers, List of Cuban-American writers *List of Egypti ...

'' (1824–25). In 1825 he published Neal's 1,324-page novel '' Brother Jonathan'' at a great financial loss. Their relationship fell apart shortly thereafter. In 1829, he wrote to his son William in India telling him that he was moving from Princes Street to 45 George Street as George Street was "becoming more and more a place of business and the east end of Princes Street is now like Charring Cross, a mere place for coaches". His brother Thomas bought 43 George and in 1830 Thomas Hamilton remodelled the entire frontage of the pair for the Blackwood Brothers. Thomas's shop operated as a silk merchant. At the end of his life, Blackwood was living at 3 Ainslie Place on Edinburgh's elegant Moray Estate in the West End. His bookshop was within easy walking distance, being located at 45 George Street. William Blackwood died in 1834 and is buried in an ornate vault in the lower western section of

Old Calton Burial Ground The Old Calton Burial Ground is a cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located on Calton Hill to the north-east of the city centre. The burial ground was opened in 1718, and is the resting place of several notable Scots, including philosoph ...

In fiction

The character Oakstick in ''John Paterson's Mare'',

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...

's allegorical satire on the Edinburgh publishing scene, is based on William Blackwood.Hunter, Adrian (ed.) (2020), ''James Hogg: Contributions to English, Irish and American Periodicals'',

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

, pp. 19-34 & 213;

Family

William Blackwood married Janet Steuart (1780–1849) on 29 October 1805. They had a large family. Most of his sons joined his publishing firm in some capacity. All are buried with him at the Old Calton Burial Ground except where stated: *Alexander Blackwood (1806–1845) *Robert Blackwood (1808–1852) *Major William Blackwood (1810–1861) came later into the publishing business after a military beginning. *Isabella Blackwood (1812–1897) *James Blackwood (1814–1871) *Thomas Blackwood (1816–1855) (buried in

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

) * John Blackwood (1819–1879) who took over editorship of ''Blackwood's Magazine'' (buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

) *Col Archibald Blackwood (1821–1870) adopted a military career, died in

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

in India. *Janet Blackwood (1823–1870), married Archibald Smith and moved to

(buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

)

References

External links

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, February, 1843
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, March, 1843
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, April 1843
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, May, 1843
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, June, 1843
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, January, 1844
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, April, 1844
at

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, July, 1844
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwood, William 1776 births 1834 deaths Burials at Old Calton Burial Ground Scottish booksellers Scottish magazine publishers (people) British magazine founders Scottish company founders Scottish printers Publishers (people) from Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish people 19th-century Scottish businesspeople

Life

In fiction

Family

References

Further reading

External links