Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Oliver & Boyd Limited
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1807-1990
History
Thomas Oliver (1776-1853), apprentice compositor to James Robertson, printer, Horsewynd; in 1801 he took George Boyd (died 1843) into partnership. Catalogues (1811-1841) for juvenile books. Also printed and sold abridged histories in fancy covers and songbooks. Apprentices: Hugh Sinclair, printer, Burgess 28 August 1828; John Thomson, printer, of Elbe Street, Leith, apprenticed 12 October 1812, Burgess 15 September 1840.
The business gained a reputation in medical publishing and educational text-books and was particularly strong in overseas markets; it was taken over by George and James Thin and John Grant in 1896; acquired by the Financial Times organisation in 1962; the publishing arm was later sold to Longman's (which became Longman Pearson); ceased operations in Edinburgh in 1990.
The archives of Oliver and Boyd are on deposit in the National Library of Scotland.