#stationer

The Scottish publisher Archibald Constable died on July 21st 1827.

Born in Carnbee, Fife, 1774, the son of the Factor to the Earl of Kellie. Constable moved to Edinburgh to work for a bookseller 1788 aged 14, In 1795 he started his own business selling books and soon entered the world of publishing, with premises on the Royal Mile. 

Constable quickly gained a reputation for innovation and editorial independence, having bought the Scots Magazine , which is still going, and was selected as publisher of the Edinburgh Review. Archibald Constable was able to attract all of the major authors of the time, including author Sir Walter Scott  and poet and songwriter Robert Tannahill. 

Almost single-handed Constable brought Edinburgh to the fore as a publishing centre, which almost replaced London as the most significant in Britain. Constable purchased the rights to the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1812 and his company continued to publish this for several decades. 

Things turned sour though in 1826 when Constable suffered insolvency, brought on by the collapse of his London agents, which also bankrupted fellow publisher James Ballantyne and plunged Sir Walter Scott into debt. But he quickly bounced back, launching Constable's Miscellany, a low-cost review of art, literature and science. 

He had accurately predicted the appeal of mass-market literature, one of the most significant developments of the 19th century, but died before he saw its success. 

Archibald Constable died of an oedema on this day in 1827, he is buried in Old Calton Burial Ground. 

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