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CHAP. PAGE

PAGE

FIRST PAGE OF FIRST ISSUE OF "KELSO MAIL" " 4

TITLE--"AN APOLOGY FOR TALES OF TERROR" 9

TITLE--"MEMOIRS OF JOSEPH BORUWLASKI" 11

PLAYBILL PRINTED BY JAMES BALLANTYNE IN KELSO 13

TITLE--"MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER" 19

TITLE--"MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER" 23

JOHN BALLANTYNE " 42

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART. " 62

TITLE--"WAVERLEY" 63

A PAGE OF THE MS. OF "WAVERLEY" " 96

OLD WOODEN PRESS AT PAUL'S WORK " 106

TITLE--"LIFE OF NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE" 129

CORRECTED PAGE-PROOF OF "LIFE OF BUONAPARTE" 131

OLD PAUL'S WORK " 143

ENTRANCE TO THE OFFICES OF OLD PAUL'S WORK 145

DESK USED BY SIR WALTER SCOTT IN PAUL'S WORK 185

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S CHAIR IN PAUL'S WORK 187

THE BALLANTYNE PRESS

ORIGIN OF THE HOUSE

The History of the Art of Printing in Edinburgh shows periods of fluctuating progress--times of decadence and revival--at recurring intervals. These are found in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and towards the close of the eighteenth century another period of decadence seems to have arisen, although a few of the printers in the city strove to maintain the fairer traditions of the art and did good work. Among these it is interesting to note that the firms of Neill & Co., Pillans & Wilson, and Oliver & Boyd are survivors of that far-off time.

With the origin of the Ballantyne Press at Kelso in 1796, and its removal a few years afterwards to Paul's Work in Edinburgh, a revival took place which inaugurated a new era for printing in Scotland. The advent of James Ballantyne was productive of great changes, as he helped to diffuse a taste for correct and elegant workmanship till then comparatively unknown. Curwen, in his "History of Booksellers," referring to the high level of English typography, mentions the Ballantynes of Edinburgh as founding a press, the excellent work of which had gained the good-will of many authors and publishers both in Edinburgh and London.

In the prospectus of the paper given in No. 1, April 13, 1797, there occurs this paragraph: "In the Miscellany we present to the Public, it shall be our endeavour to combine amusement with information. Literary speculations, poetical productions of merit, extracts from popular works, and interesting anecdotes, shall occasionally be called in to relieve the more important details, which they shall not, however, in any instance be suffered to supersede. In this department of our undertaking, we hope from the arrangements we have made, to be able to furnish to the Public a species of entertainment, which will be a source of innocent and agreeable relaxation, while it will afford an opportunity for those of our young countrymen who are partial to the lighter species of literature, to indulge the excursions of their fancy, and ascertain, without abusing their time, how far they may be qualified to succeed in pleasing the Public."

For the purposes of the new paper James Ballantyne had to make several journeys--first to London, to arrange for correspondents, and also to Edinburgh and Glasgow, in order to obtain type and other printing appliances--Glasgow at that time having one of the best type-foundries in the country.

In October 1799, when Walter Scott was returning from a ballad-hunting raid through Ettrick Forest and Liddesdale, he stayed at Rosebank in Kelso for some days, and the school friends again met. Scott had recently published translations of the German ballads of B?rger--"Lenore" and "The Wild Huntsman,"--through the publishing house of Manners & Miller of Edinburgh. This little book had been well received in Scotland, but had gained no general acceptance in the south. It had led, however, to a correspondence with a few who were interested in ballad lore, especially with Matthew Gregory Lewis , who was then engaged upon a similar work called "Tales of Wonder," but who had delayed its progress in such a way as to cause considerable annoyance to Scott and to others who had promised their aid. In the meantime it happened that, while Scott was at Rosebank, James Ballantyne called one morning and asked him to supply a few paragraphs on some legal question of the day for his newspaper. Scott complied, and, carrying his manuscript to the printing-office, took with him also some ballads of his own composition designed to appear in "Monk" Lewis's collection of "Tales of Wonder." "With these, especially the 'Morlachian fragment after Goethe,' Ballantyne was charmed. Scott talked of Lewis with rapture; and, after reciting some of his stanzas, said: 'I ought to apologise to you for having troubled you with anything of my own, when I had things like this for your ear.' 'I felt at once,' says Ballantyne, 'that his own verses were far above what Lewis could ever do, and though, when I said this, he dissented, yet he seemed pleased with the warmth of my approbation.'"

It happened also that Hughes, Ballantyne's chief workman, had been trained in one of the foremost printing-houses of the time, and was capable of using his materials to the best advantage; and this, joined to James Ballantyne's excellent taste in the selection of type, contributed to the production of the ballads in a style of typographical perfection worthy of the most eminent printers before him.

In the beginning of 1894 a copy of this very limited edition of the "Apology" was advertised at a moderate price by a bookseller in London. It was immediately purchased by an Edinburgh bookseller, who had a higher opinion of its value than his London brother. This copy bore an inscription in James Ballantyne's handwriting, of which the following is a slightly reduced facsimile--

Evidently, however, John Murray had given it away some time after, as it shows the further enrichment of the poet Campbell's book-plate pasted on the title-page. The book is rare, and, till this copy was discovered, the only one known to exist was that at Abbotsford. It consists of seventy-six pages and a title, and from a printer's point of view deserves the high praise bestowed upon it--having meadows of margin, wide leading, good spacing and colour.

In chronological order another Kelso book falls to be noticed here, before we come to the important time of the association of Scott and Ballantyne with the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border." The reproduced title shows it to be the life of Count Boruwlaski, a celebrated dwarf, who died in 1837 at Durham, in the ninety-ninth year of his age. The book, a copy of which is at Paul's Work, bears the date of 1801, and must of course have been issued during the dwarf's lifetime. In a letter to Mr. Morritt, soon after the publication of "Waverley," Scott has the following humorous reference to the Count:--"I am heartily glad you continued to like 'Waverley' to the end. The hero is a sneaking piece of imbecility; and if he had married Flora, she would have set him up upon the chimney-piece, as Count Boruwlaski's wife used to do with him."

REMOVAL TO EDINBURGH

The "Apology" having proved thoroughly satisfactory to Scott, he wrote to Ballantyne: "I have been for years collecting old Border ballads, and I think I could, with little trouble, put together such a selection from them as might make a neat little volume to sell for four or five shillings. I will talk to some of the booksellers about it when I get to Edinburgh, and if the thing goes on, you shall be the printer." Ballantyne was delighted with the proposal; and the result of this venture changed the whole course of his fortunes, as well as those of his friend and patron.

The "neat little volume" alluded to grew into the "Border Minstrelsy," the editor being fortunate enough to arouse the interest of many scholars and antiquaries, who gave him valuable help in the work. The first two volumes were printed and issued by Ballantyne in 1802, and bore the Kelso imprint . The edition consisted of eight hundred copies, fifty of which were on large paper. It was disposed of in the course of the year; and the terms of publication having been that Scott should receive half the clear profits, his share amounted to ?78, 10s. When the book appeared, the obscure imprint of "Kelso" was regarded with wonder by connoisseurs of typography, who had probably never heard of such a place, and were astonished at the specimen of handsome printing this provincial town had produced: it was received with the exclamation, "What a beautiful book!" The editor's name did not appear on the title-page, but was appended to the Dedication to the Duke of Buccleuch. A third volume of the "Minstrelsy" followed in 1803, and was published along with a reprint of the first two volumes. It had Edinburgh on the imprint.

In consequence of the publication of the "Minstrelsy," the Kelso printer soon acquired a more than local fame, and was in general request in the publishing world. He was therefore induced, towards the end of 1802, to remove to Edinburgh, and he commenced there his long and distinguished career as a book printer, "with two presses and a proof one." He adopted at first the designation of the Border Press. This was for a short time in premises in the neighbourhood of Holyrood, and then again in Foulis Close, Canongate; but in 1805 he removed to better accommodation at Paul's Work, where, according to one of Scott's letters , he had "established a hall, equal to that which the genie of the lamp built for Aladdin in point of size, but rather less superbly furnished, being occupied by about a dozen of presses." In another letter to Ballantyne, Scott says, "I am glad you have got some elbow-room at last."

Paul's Work, at North Back of Canongate, under the shadow of the Calton Hill and near the foot of Leith Wynd, had been rebuilt in 1619, on the site of an earlier religious foundation, for the reception and entertainment of twelve poor men, under the name of the Hospital of Our Lady, with a chapel or altar dedicated to St. Paul; and it must also have had some connection with the police of the city. The accounts of the Town Treasurer and of the Dean of Guild are preserved in almost unbroken series from 1552 to the present time. Many of the entries are very quaint, and throw light on the social conditions then prevailing in Edinburgh. Several items illustrating the rough justice of those days, arranged under "discharge extraordinar," and one referring to Paul's Work, may be given:--

"Item, the day of 1554, for takin of ane greit gebet furth of the nether tolbuith and beiring of it to the hecht of the Dow Crag, to haif hangit hommill Jok on, and down bringing of it agane to Sanct Paullis Wark xij?

Item, for cords to bynd and hang him with, viij?

Item, the feird day of Fabruar 1554, for cordis to bind Nicoll Ramsay quhill he wes hedit, vj?

Item, the samyn day, for cords to hang the man that brint Lord James' cornis, viij?"

Subsequent to Reformation times the building fell into decay, but was reconstructed and again occupied about 1619-1620 by certain Dutch manufacturers and weavers from Delft. It was decorated over the doorway with the city arms and the legend, "GOD ? BLISS ? THIS ? WARK, 1619." We next find it converted into a hospital for the wounded soldiers of General Leslie's army, during the skirmishes which preceded his defeat at Dunbar, and thereafter it was used as a penal workhouse or bridewell. Portions of the grounds and buildings were cleared away about the middle of the eighteenth century by James Macdowall, a merchant of Edinburgh, who here erected a street of dwelling-houses under his own name. At the east end of the street there was also an entrance to the printing-house. The whole district--houses and everything thereabout--has undergone a complete change, the ground having been appropriated by the station and goods-sheds of the North British Railway. As a bridewell or house of correction Paul's Work is referred to in the "Heart of Midlothian," in the scene where Madge Wildfire is examined regarding her knowledge of Geordie Robertson and the Porteous Riot:--

"'But maybe, Madge, ye wad mind something about it, if I was to gie ye this half-crown?' said Sharpitlaw, taking out the piece of money.

"'That might gar me laugh, but it couldna gar me mind.'

"'That wad gar me greet,' said Madge, sobbing, 'but it couldna gar me mind, ye ken.'"

Paul's Work was also entered from the Canongate by the long, narrow, and steep Coull's Close, one of those lanes intersecting the towering structures of the High Street and the Canongate, so happily depicted in one sentence of "Guy Mannering": "Away walked Mr. Pleydell with great activity, diving through closes and ascending covered stairs, in order to attain the High Street, by an access which, compared to the common route, was what the Straits of Magellan are to the more open but circuitous passage round Cape Horn."

James Ballantyne lived close by at No. 10 St. John Street, which was entered by an archway from the Canongate, and led to South Back of Canongate. At the bottom of this street, within a couple of minutes from Holyrood, could be seen, quite near at hand, Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, and St. Anthony's Chapel and Well--a beautiful and romantic environment of the grey old northern capital. St. John Street, long after the Canongate had been deserted by its courtly occupants, continued to be the residence of a few of the rural and city gentlefolk. In this retired spot, only a few years previously, lived the eccentric Lord Monboddo, who is said to have anticipated the "evolution" theory. Lord Monboddo's daughter was one of the loveliest women of her time--the "fair Burnet" mentioned by Burns in his "Address to Edinburgh." A tenement at the top of the street contained the abode of Smollett when in Edinburgh. From its being a private street it was a quiet locality, and in those days was guarded by an ancient seneschal in faded uniform, who barred all passage to carriages and carts, except for the service of those who lived in the street.

THE BALLANTYNE BROTHERS

A favourite entertainment of Scott was the reciting or singing by John Ballantyne of the "Cobbler of Kelso." On one occasion, when Scott, Constable, and the Ballantynes were discussing at Abbotsford the arrangements for the publishing of "Rob Roy," at the end of the business Scott turned to John, and said:--

"'By-the-by, 'tis a long time, Johnny, since we have had the "Cobbler of Kelso."' Mr. Puff forthwith jumped up on a mass of stone, and seating himself in the proper attitude of one working with his awl, began the favourite interlude, mimicking a certain son of Crispin--at whose stall Scott and he had often lingered when they were schoolboys--and a blackbird, the only companion of his cell, that used to sing to him, while he talked and whistled to it all day long. With this performance Scott was always delighted: nothing could be richer than the contrast of the bird's wild sweet notes, some of which he imitated with wonderful skill, and the accompaniment of the Cobbler's hoarse cracked voice, uttering all manner of endearing epithets, which Johnny multiplied and varied in a style worthy of the Old Women in Rabelais at the birth of Pantagruel."

John's private residence was called Harmony Hall, a villa at Trinity on the Firth of Forth, surrounded by gardens, and about three miles distant from Paul's Work. Here he kept up an expensive style of living--in all things showing a great contrast to the sober and staid conduct of his brother James.

'Whose touch harmonious can remove The pangs of guilty power and hopeless love.'

I do not understand or care about fine music, but there is something in his violin which goes to the very heart."

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