Arrival in AberdeenEdward Raban arrived in Aberdeen from St Andrews in early June 1622. He came by boat with his wife, Janet Johnstone, son Edward, household effects, printing press and materials, landing at the ‘herborie’ opposite the foot of Shiprow.
It is uncertain where he was originally housed and started work but we know that his rent for the first year was paid by David Melvill, a Burgess and bookseller. David Melvill was a significant supporter of Raban who printed most of his books. They were also close families with Edward and his second wife, Janet Ailhouse, being a witnesses of the baptism of the children of Melvill’s brother. |
Raban was enticed to Aberdeen by a more attractive business proposition than pertained at St Andrews. Bishop Patrick Forbes and the soon to be Provost Sir Paul Menzies of Kinmundy had applied for and obtained a patent from James VI and I which formalised the role of the Town’s official printer, in 1621. It is also thought that Dr Robert Baron, who Raban knew from St Andrews, was instrumental in encouraging the move. Baron was soon to take up a position as the first Professor of Divinity at Marischal College and became one of the ‘Aberdeen Doctors’.
There was a strong ‘book culture’ in Aberdeen in the 16th and early 17th centuries prior to the arrival of Raban. Aberdeen at this time had two seats of higher learning: Kings College and Marischal College, each with libraries.
Significant libraries had existed for many centuries in a number of the religious houses across the North-East such as Kinloss, or the Carmelite Friary in Aberdeen. Many members of the gentry like, William Forbes of Tolquhon, collected ‘good’ libraries in the last quarter of the 16th century. The printed books circulating at the time amongst the clergy and academics were sourced from further afield – Paris, London, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen based writers had to get their works printed, largely in Edinburgh and London. The Aberdeen book trade developed from the early 17th century with David Melvill being the main stationer and bookseller prior to Raban’s arrival. |
Raban set up his printing office and produced his first book in July (Theses), just a few short weeks after his arrival. 1622 was a very productive year with five produced in St Andrews before Whitsun and 8 in Aberdeen including a hornbook, Adagia, William Dunbar’s The merri Historie of the Thrie Friers of Bowicke, and, what would become the first Almanack, Prognostications for 1623.
Appointment as Town Printer
The Town Council approved his appointment as official Printer for the Town Council and the two universities, Kings College and Marischal College in November 1622. The role came with a salary of 40 pounds Scots a year. The Town provided a building to house the family and the printing office with a rent equivalent to his salary. He supplemented his income from a charge on school children – 8d quarterly for pupils of the grammar, music, and English Schools, in lieu of the printing and supply of schoolbooks. One of Raban’s roles was to print the labels that were pinned to the felons’ chest before they underwent punishment:
….print the Papers that is preened on the bristis of thes that Stand on the Scaffold”. |
Under the sign of the Townes Armes
The two storied edifice on the north side of Castlegate, built in 1613-14, was described as the ‘touns fortuitous above the meal mercat’. The ground floor was occupied by a meal mill, the family lived on the first floor, and the printing office was in the attic. This building was occupied by Raban and his successors as Town Printers until the 1770s, all operating under the sign of the Townes Armes. The public stocks were attached to the front of the building and the Tolbooth and gallows in clear view. Not much is known of Raban’s working arrangements other than that initially he was very productive, and mention is made of an assistant. It is highly likely that the assistant was his son Edward working as an apprentice. His second son John would also have become an apprentice as did his daughter Elizabeth’s future husband, Gavin Milne. As was normal at the time both of Edward’s wives would have assisted – printing was a family business in these times. Latterly, James Brown, his successor was almost certainly trained by Raban.
Raban’s output of material ebbed and flowed over the years heavily influenced by outside events including the deaths of Bishop Forbes in 1635, that of Robert Baron in 1639 and, most influentially, David Melvill in 1643 whose shop in the Broadgate he inherited, enabling him to live up to his self-proclaimed label of the 'Laird of Letters'. |