, two learned printers of Scotland, were, it is supposed, natives
, two learned printers
of Scotland, were, it is supposed, natives of Glasgow,
and passed their early days in obscurity. Ingenuity and
perseverance, however, enabled them to establish a press
from which have issued some of the finest specimens of
correct and elegant printing which the eighteenth century has produced. Even Bodoni of Parma, or Barbou of
Paris, have not gone beyond some of the productions from
the press of Robert and Andrew Foulis. It would b
highly agreeable to trace the progress of these ingenious
men, but their history has been neglected by their
countrymen, and at this distance little can be recovered. Robert Foulis began printing about 1740, and one of his first
essays was a good edition of Demetrius Phalereus, in 4to.
In 1744 he brought out his celebrated immaculate edition,
of Horace, 12mo, and soon afterwards was in partnership
with his brother Andrew. Of this edition of Horace, the
sheets, as they were printed, were hung up in the college
of Glasgow, and a reward was offered to those who should
discover an inaccuracy. It has been several times reprrnted at Glasgow, but not probably with the same fidelity.
The two brothers then proceeded in producing, for thirty
years, a series of correct and well printed books, particularly classics, which, either in Greek or Latin, are as remarkable for their beauty and exactness as any in the
Aldine series. Among those classics we may enumerate
J. “Homer,
” 4 vols. fol. Gr. 2. “Herodotus,
” 9 vols.
J2mo. 3. “Thucydides,
” 8 vols. 12mo. 4. “Xenophon,
” 8 vols. 12mo. 5. “Epictetus,
” 12mo. 6. “Longiniis,
” 12mo. 7. “Ciceronis Opera,
” 20 vols. 12mo.
%. “Horace,
” 12mo and 4to. 9. “Virgil,
” I3mo. 10.
' Tibullus and Propertius,“12mo. 11.
” Cornelius Nepos,“3 vols. 12mo. 12.
” Tacitus,“4 vols. 12mo. 13.
11 Juvenal and Persius,
” 12mo. 14. “Lucretius,
” 12mo.
To these may be added a beautiful edition of the Greek
Testament, small 4to; Gray’s Poems; Pope’s Works;
Hales of Eton, &c. &c. &c.