RABAN 400
  • Home
  • Digital Exhibition
    • Who was Edward Raban
    • Raban Revisted
    • Raban's Circle
    • Perth Assembly
    • Arrival in Aberdeen
    • Ornaments and Devices
    • Raban and the Bear
    • The Townes Armes
    • Time of Turmoil
    • Elusive to the end
    • Legacy
    • Raban at St Andrews
    • Theses Philosophicae
    • Poeticall Recreations
    • Raine from the clouds
    • First blast of the trumpet
    • A silver watchbell
    • Prognostications
    • Raban's Psalter
    • Funerals and Epitaphs for Bishop Patrick Forbes
    • Duplyes
    • Solemn League and National Covenant
    • Antidote agaynst Poperie
    • The Old Roman Catholick
  • Events
    • Printing Workshops
  • Printing Workshops
  • Raban Family
  • Up Close Day

The Circle and Connections of Edward Raban

​Edward Raban arrived in St Andrews from Edinburgh in June 1620 and left before Whitsun 1622.  He was appointed as University College printer, operating from Kirke-Wynde under the sign of A.B.C.  In his brief time in St Andrews, he printed some 13 books, including four by Archibald Symson, two by Robert Baron, one by Andrew Melvill. He also printed two written in his own hand: resolution against drunkenness and The Pope’s New Years gifts.  The prospect of larger and more regular employment, encouraged by the influence of Dr Robert Baron, and promises of support by the universities and civic authorities induced him to move to Aberdeen.

Andro Hart
Printer and bookseller in Edinburgh
(d1621)

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Andro Hart was the principal printer and bookseller in Edinburgh at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He lived and worked in premises on the north side of the High Street, and imported books from the Continent on such a scale that books in Edinburgh were as “gude-chaip as they are sold in London”.  His 1610 edition of the Geneva Bible was the second to be printed in Scotland.  His work was renowned for its accuracy and for its distinctive bindings.  He used ‘A heart’ monogram.  His association with Raban in Edinburgh between 1616 and 1618 was hitherto unknown.

James Cathkin
Printer in Edinburgh

Cathkin was a printer in Edinburgh and sometime associate of Andro Hart.  He left an intriguing account of his ‘interrogation’ by the Privy Council about the circumstances surrounding the printing and distribution of the Perth Assembly. 
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Dr Robert Baron
Theologian at St Andrews and Aberdeen
(1596-1639)

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Baron graduated from the University of St Andrews in 1613. In 1619, he entered the ministry and took charge of the parish of Keith, succeeding Patrick Forbes (below). In October 1624 he was translated to Greyfriars in Aberdeen. On 21 December 1625, he was appointed the first Professor of Divinity at Marischal College. He opposed the National Covenant of 1638 through preaching and writings. He was one of the “Aberdeen Doctors”.

Patrick Forbes of Corse
Bishop of Aberdeen
(1564-1625)

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Patrick Forbes was educated at both Glasgow and St Andrews Universities.  He was initially a puritanical preacher but declined to be ordained.; eventually only doing so in 1612 after the death of his friend John Chalmers who had urged him to be his successor as Minister of Keith.  He believed bishoprics were unnecessary and was reluctant to  become Bishop of Aberdeen but was elected as such in March 1618. He was instrumental in enticing Raban to Aberdeen.  Raban printed the Funeral Epitaphs for Forbes with his own entitled ‘Raban’s Regrate’.
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David Melvill
Bookseller in Aberdeen
(d1643)

David Melvill (sometimes given as Melvin) was Raban’s closest associate in Aberdeen.  He was a stationer and bookseller in the Broadgate, a business which passed to Raban after Melvill’s death.  Raban was supported financially by Melvill. Melvill’s brother, Andrew, was Master of the Song (Music) School in Aberdeen.  
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William Brewster
Printer in Leiden and Pilgrim Father
(1566-1644)

William Brewster was an English Puritan who fled to Holland, first in Amsterdam and then settling in Koorsteeg in Leiden.  From 1616, he partnered with Thomas Brewer printing religious books which were banned in England. ​In 1618, this ‘Pilgrim Press’ is believed to have printed De regimine Ecclesianae Scoticanae by David Calderwood..  In April 1619, they are also said to have printed Calderwood’s Perth Assembly which provoked the ire of King James VI.  The Dutch refused to hand Brewster over to England.  In 1620, he sailed on the Mayflower for the Americas and became one of the leaders of the Plymouth Colony.


Johannes Sol
Printer in Leiden
(1591-1618/19)

Sol is a source of mystery.  It has been suggested he had a hand in printing the Perth Assembly and that he is the ‘Master’ killed in a printed accident which Raban describes in his work ‘Resolutions against Drunkenes’. It has been said Sol’s pregnant widow fled with Raban to Scotland..  There are, however, many problems with these accounts particularly descriptions of Raban being Sol’s ‘apprentice’ as he was, by this time, already established in Edinburgh.  

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The Perth Assembly >

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Raban 400 is a partnership involving Robert Gordon University, the University of Aberdeen Special Collections, Peacock & the Worm, and Aberdeen City Council Library and Information Service. It has been made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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  • Home
  • Digital Exhibition
    • Who was Edward Raban
    • Raban Revisted
    • Raban's Circle
    • Perth Assembly
    • Arrival in Aberdeen
    • Ornaments and Devices
    • Raban and the Bear
    • The Townes Armes
    • Time of Turmoil
    • Elusive to the end
    • Legacy
    • Raban at St Andrews
    • Theses Philosophicae
    • Poeticall Recreations
    • Raine from the clouds
    • First blast of the trumpet
    • A silver watchbell
    • Prognostications
    • Raban's Psalter
    • Funerals and Epitaphs for Bishop Patrick Forbes
    • Duplyes
    • Solemn League and National Covenant
    • Antidote agaynst Poperie
    • The Old Roman Catholick
  • Events
    • Printing Workshops
  • Printing Workshops
  • Raban Family
  • Up Close Day