The unusual printing and publishing arrangements of Hugh Miller (1802–1856)

Abstract

John Johnstone was an Edinburgh printer and publisher, from 1849 in partnership with Robert Hunter. In 1839, Johnstone and the printer Robert Fairly established a separate firm, Johnstone & Fairly, to publish the Witness, a newspaper edited by the geologist Hugh Miller. The firm became Miller & Fairly in 1844 when Miller bought out Johnstone's share. The editorial office was in the High Street. The steam-powered printing office was in Horse Wynd, in the former gatehouse of Minto House and later also in the former house of the physician Dr John Clerk of Listonshiels. Johnstone's own publishing business specialized in religious and ecclesiastical works. Nevertheless, Miller chose that firm to publish The Old Red Sandstone (1841), and later books, until the firm ran into financial trouble in the mid-1850s, and Miller placed The testimony of the rocks (1857) with Shepherd & Elliot of Edinburgh. Miller's original choice of Johnstone was perhaps to protect the reputation of Miller and the Witness when geology was often regarded with suspicion on religious grounds. It may also have given Miller more creative freedom. Miller & Fairly printed many, but not all, impressions of Miller's books for Johnstone and other publishers. This was to Miller's, and Miller's heirs', presumed double profit as copyright holder and printer, with implications for his relationships with publishers. Miller's dual role may help explain his reluctance to resign the newspaper's editorship even at the cost of his health and life.