Robert Foulis (printer)

Robert Foulis (20 April 1707 in Glasgow – 2 June 1776 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish printer and publisher.

Robert Foulis was born the son of a maltman. He was apprenticed to a barber, but was encouraged to become a publisher by Francis Hutcheson who was impressed by his ability. After spending 1738 and 1739 in England and France in company with his brother, Andrew, who had been intended for the church and had received a better education, Robert set up a publishing business in 1741 in Glasgow, and in 1742 acquired his own press. He bought type from the renowned type-maker and punch-cutter Alexander Wilson. In 1743 he was appointed printer to the Glasgow University. In the same year he produced the first Greek book published in Glasgow, namely the De Elocutione by Demetrius Phalereus. It was also offered in Latin.

Soon he went into partnership with his brother. Their press published books in English, Latin, Greek, French and Italian that were noticeable for their quality. Indeed, the brothers were sometimes referred to as "the Elzevirs of Britain." They spared no pains, and Robert went to France to procure manuscripts of the classics, and to engage a skilled engraver and a copper-plate printer.

Among authors whose works were published by the Foulis press were Homer, Horace, Milton and Thomas Gray. The Homer, for which John Flaxman's designs were executed, is perhaps the most famous production of the Foulis press. Famous as well, the 12mo edition of Horace was long, but erroneously, believed to be immaculate: though the successive sheets were posted in the university and a reward offered for the discovery of any inaccuracy, six errors at least, according to Thomas Frognall Dibdin, escaped detection; three of those were found by Duke Gordon.

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