Glasgow Courant: The first newspaper printed in Glasgow

As part of Doors Open Day 2025 the Mitchell Library Special Collections department will be showcasing a selection of ‘Glasgow Firsts’. These are early printed items that are important to the history of Glasgow including the first history of the city and the first newspaper. This blog is part of a mini series to accompany the items on display.

As mentioned in the previous post on The protestations of the Generall Assemblie, the first book printed in Glasgow, the first Glaswegian printing press arrived in Glasgow 130 years after printing was established in Scotland. Glasgow’s first newspaper didn’t wait nearly as long – the first ‘modern’ Scottish newspaper, The Edinburgh Gazette, was published in 1699 [1], and Glasgow’s first newspaper, The Glasgow Courant, was published in 1715.

The newspaper ran three times a week for 67 issues, ending in May 1716, and changed its name to The West Country Intelligence partway through its publication[1]. It was sold for three half pence to the person on the street, though subscribers would only pay a penny, and the back page contains the following message:

“its hoped this Paper will give Satisfaction to the Readers, and that they will Encourage it by sending Subscriptions for one Year, half Year or Quarterly…where they shall be served at a most easie Rate.”

Though it may seem odd to the modern eye, the Courant has no headlines and very few adverts. One such advert confirms that the University of Glasgow would be accepting students that year, and another is a notice regarding a young man who had stolen a horse, a firelock and a pair of pistols, with a guaranteed reward of 5 Guineas to anyone who apprehended him!

Other adverts included ‘good black or speckled soap… served by Robert Luke, Manager of the Soaperie of Glasgow at reasonable rates’, and a new book bindery in Ayr.

The majority of the newspaper, however, concerned foreign affairs, and the first issue of the Courant begins with a message from Milan, originally printed in the Evening Post in London. Reprinted quotations from ‘written letters’ published in British circulating newsletters were also often included; some of these letters concerned Parliamentary proceedings, which were otherwise not permitted to be printed by a newspaper.

War was another frequent mention, noting the general unrest spreading through Europe, and the much closer to home Jacobite Rising of 1715 which ended the first week the Courant was published.  

There are two known full runs of the original newspaper, one held at the Mitchell Library and the other at the University of Glasgow.

It has recently been digitised in full by National Library of Scotland, as part of their Scotland's News programme. This is a selection of printed newspapers from the 18th to 20th centuries from across Scotland. Drawn from collections at the National Library of Scotland and Scottish public libraries, together they cover a range of newsworthy events both locally and internationally.

Fully digitised Glasgow Courant and West-Country Intelligence - 1715-1716

The title page of the Courant is set out like a contemporary book title page, with no headlines or columns of text. We can see the imprint at the bottom of the page that states where the newspaper could be bought, namely at the ‘Printing House in the Colledge’ (referring to the printing press at the University of Glasgow) ‘and at the Post-Office’.[1] There is no stated name of a printer, however the ornate monogram of a D and G (that to the quick glance appears to be a fancy drawing) on each cover refers to the initials of Donald Govan, the named Printer to the University. The ‘R.T.’ mentioned in the imprint is the enterprising Robert Thompson, then Post Master of the Glasgow Post Office.

Like the Protestations title page, we can see font size, italics, and capitals used to differentiate different lines of text, and also to showcase the skill of the printer.

Read the other blog in this series: The protestation of the Generall Assemblie: The first book printed in Glasgow