The nineteenth-century book trade in Aberdeen, with primary reference to Lewis Smith.

Beavan, Iain

Abstract

The business career of Lewis Smith, retail and wholesale bookseller, stationer and publisher, is examined and analysed within the context of the nineteenth-century bookselling and related trades in Aberdeen. Chapter 1 examines current scholarly interest in the provincial book trade and acknowledges previous research on the 'trade' in north-east Scotland, particularly that of J. P. Edmond, W. R. McDonald and M. C. Head. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an historical context by surveying the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and offer the first of a number of quantitative analyses of the size of the local 'trade'. The agency links between the Aberdeen booksellers and the metropolitan centres of book production are emphasised throughout. Chapters 4 to 7 cover the years 1800-1852 and analyse the developing career of Lewis Smith - particularly his apprenticeship, his early years as an independent bookseller, the competition he faced, the three early magazines he published (and the adverse reaction of the local printers towards them), his pioneering role in the formation of the successful Aberdeen Booksellers' Society, and his initiative in establishing a role as a regional wholesale bookseller, particularly for the publications of W. & R. Chambers, and Charles Knight and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Chapter 8 examines the partnership of Lewis & James Smith (1853-62), wholesale booksellers, and 'all the most popular and cheap publications of the day' that the firm had available. The role and importance of the company within the local and regional 'trade' is given prominence. Chapter 9 evaluates the publishing activities of the company and emphasises the regionally innovative production of a number of highly successful and long-lived guidebooks. Chapter 10 discusses the legacy Lewis Smith left to his youngest son, who continued the business from 1880. The chapter concludes that the assessment of Smith's contemporaries can be supported, and that Lewis Smith's contribution as a publisher, but even more so as a wholesale bookseller, to the bookselling trade of the North-East of Scotland was indeed significant. The text is complemented by 22 appendices, inter alia a check-list of Lewis Smith imprints, a directory of the book trade to 1846, and a discussion on the significance of publishers' advertisements as evidential tools.

Citation

BEAVAN, I. 1992. The nineteenth-century book trade in Aberdeen, with primary reference to Lewis Smith. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2807299

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: May 23, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 23, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2807299
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2807299
• Award Date: Sep 30, 1992