Raban retired in 1649 and was succeeded by James Brown as Town Printer. James Brown, does not act as his own bookseller. Brown died in 1661 and the following year John Forbes the elder and his son John the younger are appointed to the post. John Forbes senior was a stationer and probably looked after the bookselling part of the business with his son as printer. They bought Brown’s press and equipment from his widow. They still operated from the same premises and under the same sign.
John Forbes the elder had originally been the town’s stationer first appearing in the Treasurer’s account for the burgh in 1656-57. It is the younger Forbes, however, who applied and gained the position of printer. On appointment of printer in 1662 the Forbeses were granted ‘a dwelling house an printing offie free of rent’. The title page of Forbes’ third work reveals the locations as ‘above the Meal-Market, at the sign of the Townes Armes’.
John Forbes the elder had originally been the town’s stationer first appearing in the Treasurer’s account for the burgh in 1656-57. It is the younger Forbes, however, who applied and gained the position of printer. On appointment of printer in 1662 the Forbeses were granted ‘a dwelling house an printing offie free of rent’. The title page of Forbes’ third work reveals the locations as ‘above the Meal-Market, at the sign of the Townes Armes’.
Margaret Cuthbertson:
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In 1747, James Chalmers starts printing Aberdeen’s Journal, precursor of what would become The Press and Journal. The first issue was dated 29 December 1747 – 5 January 1748. It was a single sheet, folded to give four pages. The printing monopoly ended in 1752 and Francis Douglas & William Murray set up a press in the Broadgate in competition with James Chalmers. They printed material by writers including Addison, Beattie, Bossuet, Pope, and Voltaire. Douglas wrote several works himself, notably “Rural Love, a tale in the Scots, printed and published in 1759. They also publish the Aberdeen Intelligencer.
