Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier

Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier was a Scottish publishing company based in the national capital Edinburgh.

It produced many hundreds of books mainly on religious and biographical themes, especially during its heyday from about 1880 to 1910. It is probably best remembered for its memorable ‘Famous Scots Series’ with their distinctive red and gilt covers. Forty-two of them were published from 1896 to 1905 and many have been reprinted recently by other publishers. The firm also published the works of Annie S. Swan, a very popular writer in her time. It existed in some form from 1807 to 1968. It was incorporated as ‘Oliphants Ltd’ in 1915 and taken over by the publishers, Marshall, Morgan & Scott in 1946. Oliphants Ltd was voluntarily liquidated without debt in 1968.

William Oliphant: The firm originated with William Oliphant (1773–1842) as a bookseller in 1807. He had been apprenticed with William Creech, the publisher of Robert Burns’ poems and began his publishing business in 1818 with juvenile books. He was apparently still selling books as there exists a catalogue of 1823 which offers a variety of religious books for sale. In 1830, Oliphant took his sons into partnership and the firm was renamed ‘W. Oliphant & Sons’. William Oliphant died in 1842 and he was succeeded by his son William (1807–1860) who continued the business successfully till 1858 when ill-health forced him to take on two partners, Robert Anderson and Thomas Robertson, who ran the business under the name of 'W. Oliphant & Co.'

In 1880, Thomas Robertson retired and John Scott Ferrier took his place. The firm was then named ‘Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier’ although Robert Anderson was head of the firm and the Oliphants were no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the firm. William Oliphant III (1866–1884) went to Canada and died there, although his son, Walter Oliphant II (1867–1933) remained in Edinburgh as a solicitor of the Supreme Courts in Scotland. During this latter period, the firm had a showroom at 100 Princes Street, and offices and a warehouse (with bookbinding) at 29-37 St. Mary Street, Edinburgh. Its London office was at 21 Paternoster Square.

Robert Anderson (1830–1901) lived all his life in Edinburgh and had an intimate knowledge of the publishing industry in Edinburgh. In 1891, he gave a talk to the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society on 'Reminiscences of Edinburgh Booksellers of My Early Days, Forty-eight Years Ago'. After his death in 1901, the firm began its slow decline and, apparently, no more works in the "Famous Scots Series" were commissioned. The last of them was published in 1905.

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