DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY
MYLLAR, ANDROW (fl. 1503–1508), the first Scottish printer, was a burgess of Edinburgh and a bookseller, but perhaps combined the sale of books with some other occupation. On 29 March 1503 the sum of 10l. was paid by the lord high treasurer ‘to Andro Millar for thir bukis undirwritten, viz., Decretum Magnum, Decretales Sextus cum Clementinis, Scotus super quatuor libris Sententiarum, Quartum Scoti, Opera Gersonis in tribus voluminibus.’ Another payment of fifty shillings was made on 22 Dec. 1507 ‘for iij prentit bukis to the King, tane fra Andro Millaris wif.’ The first book on which Myllar's name appears is an edition, printed in 1505, of Joannes de Garlandia's ‘Multorum vocabulorum equiuocorum interpretatio,’ of which the only copy known is in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. It has a colophon which states that Androw Myllar, a Scotsman, had been solicitous that the work should be printed with admirable art and corrected with diligent care. The second book is the ‘Expositio Sequentiarum,’ according to the use of Sarum, printed in 1506, the copy of which in the British Museum is believed to be unique. The last page contains Myllar's punning device, representing a windmill with the miller ascending the outside ladder and carrying a sack of grain upon his back. Beneath is the printer's monogram and name. These two books were undoubtedly printed abroad. M. Claudin, who discovered them, and Dr. Dickson have ascribed them to the press of Laurence Hostingue of Rouen; but Mr. Gordon Duff has produced evidence to show that they should rather be assigned to that of Pierre Violette, another printer at Rouen.
It was probably due to the influence of William Elphinstone [q. v.], bishop of Aberdeen, who was engaged in preparing an adaptation of the Sarum breviary for the use of his diocese, that James IV on 15 Sept. 1507 granted a patent to Walter Chepman [q. v.] and Androw Myllar ‘to furnis and bring hame ane prent, with all stuff belangand tharto, and expert men to use the samyne, for imprenting within our Realme of the bukis of our Lawis, actis of parliament, croniclis, mess bukis, and portuus efter the use of our Realme, with addicions and legendis of Scottis sanctis, now gaderit to be ekit tharto, and al utheris bukis that salbe sene necessar, and to sel the sammyn for competent pricis.’
Chepman having found the necessary capital, and Myllar having obtained the type from France, probably from Rouen, they set up their press in a house at the foot of Blackfriars Wynd, in the Southgait, now the Cowgate, of Edinburgh, and on 4 April 1508 issued the first book known to have been printed in Scotland, ‘The Maying or Disport of Chaucer,’ better known as ‘The Complaint of the Black Knight,’ and written not by Chaucer but by Lydgate. This tract consists of fourteen leaves, and has Chepman's device on the title-page, and Myllar's device at the end. The only copy known is in the library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh.
Bound with this work are ten other unique pieces, eight of which are also from the Southgait press, but two only of all are perfect, ‘The Maying or Disport of Chaucer’ and ‘The Goldyn Targe’ of William Dunbar. Four of the tracts bear the devices both of
