Arguably the most significant item in our display Robert Burns and Kilmarnock’s Literary Heritage is the title page of one of the books printed by Peter McArthur in Kilmarnock in 1780. McArthur was the first printer in Ayrshire, and it is widely believed that his printing press was taken over by John Wilson in 1782.
The book above was sold by John Wilson, who had set himself up as a bookseller in Kilmarnock in 1780. Another Peter McArthur book in our collections – A Sermon preached at Kirkconnell, Saturday June 24, 1780 upon the dispensing of the Lord’s Supper by John Dun, Minister at Auchinleck – simply states on the imprint ’Kilmarnock: Printed by P. McArthur, 1780′. This might suggest it was the earlier book, and the first book printed in Ayrshire. As far as we know, we have the only known copy of this book.
When Silverwood P7 pupils were preparing for the display and researching the collections, we discussed the issues of handling and photographing such rare and important books. The pupils were able to see the original of the book above and were delighted that it could be photographed for the display.
Peter McArthur appears to have printed his last book in Kilmarnock in 1781, before moving to Paisley. Interestingly, John Wilson’s first book Gospel Sonnets contains the imprint ‘Kilmarnock: printed by J. Wilson, for P. M’Arthur, Paisley’. Thereafter, Wilson printed old and new works, religious pamphlets and eventually, original poetry, from his premises at Star Inn Close, near Kilmarnock Cross. A few years after printing the monumental Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Wilson moved to Ayr in 1790. However, there is a fanastic working replica of Wilson’s press in Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute, alongside an original copy of the Kilmarnock edition.
Oddly, no other printer worked in Kilmarnock until almost 15 years later when H. and S. Crawford began producing pamphlets and cheap editions of religious texts and poetry in c1805. From then on, Kilmarnock continuously produced literature of various kinds (and various quality) for a period of more than a century.
Lots of information on John Wilson is detailed in some excellent recent articles by Patrick Scott, available on the Robert Burns Lives! website – http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/frank/burns_lives151.htm. There is also a sample of East Ayrshire’s collections relating to John Wilson on Future Museum.