Spreading the Word: Scottish Publishers and English Literature 1750-1900, Transactions, American Philosophical Society (Vol. 109, Part 2)

A disproportionate number of the great publishing houses of the English—speaking world — —Blackie, Blackwood, Collins, Constable, Macmillan, Millar, Murray, Nelson, Smith and Elder, Strahan — were founded after the Treaty of Union in 1707, by men, often of humble origin, from “north of the border” (Scotland). Many of the now classic English writers of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries were personally encouraged by the men running these companies, nearly all of whom were also committed, for...