В Шотландии открыта выставка, посвященная 240-летию типографии Джона Уилсона, издавшего Роберта Бернса

HE was the Ayrshire man who put Robert Burns on the literary map - and founded Scotland's oldest weekly newspaper. John Wilson was born in Kilmarnock on March 26 , 1758 - just a year before Burns himself entered the world, and he would end up heralded as a champion of the Scottish Enlightenment. The son of a shopkeeper, Wilson would go on to become Rabbie's first publisher, releasing Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (also known as the Kilmarnock Edition). Later, with his brother Peter, he became the founder of the Ayr Advertiser - or the 'Air Advertiser' as the masthead proudly proclaimed in August, 1803 - which is still going strong some 223 years later. John Wilson saw printing and the then fledgling newspaper industry as the future. He was in his early 20s when the first printing press in Ayrshire was set up by Peter McArthur in Kilmarnock. That business seemed to fail quickly, but Wilson saw an opportunity. It is believed he bought up their equipment and launched his own company around 1781, setting his presses three floors up in Star Inn Close, off Waterloo Street, Kilmarnock. The company printed religious books and poetry, as well as an edition of Milton's Paradise Lost. He also sold the books, as well as stationery from the building. Wilson's life would change forever when a young poet from Ayr entered the office a couple of years later. Robert Burns told him that his desire was to see his verse in "guid black prent". The poet's dream came true on July 31, 1786, when 612 copies of the first edition of the ‘Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ were printed in Kilmarnock. The work was a sensation across Scotland. One month later, Wilson had just 13 copies left. In 1790, he joined forces with his brother Peter to establish a new printing plant at 23 High Street in Ayr. Within a year, books appeared under the imprint of J&P Wilson. John continued his bookselling from Kilmarnock, where he would become a town councillor. The brothers then took the decision to launch a local newspaper for Ayrshire. In those days, there were few print titles around. The Aberdeen Journal - later merged to the Press and Journal - was founded in 1747, with the Glasgow Herald appearing in its original form from 1782. The Air Advertiser was first published on August 5, 1803 – and with the exception of two weeks during the 1926 General Strike, the paper has appeared every week since then. After a successful six years, Peter Wilson, suffering from poor health, sold up his stake in the paper to the Rev Hamilton. He died in Gilbraltar in 1810. John continued his work on the paper until his death in May 1821. He was buried in the Old High Kirk of his native Kilmarnock. In his will, he left his property to his three nieces and made an educational endowment for the poor children of the town. Now, to mark the 240th anniversary of John Wilson’s printing shop in Kilmarnock, a new exhibition in the East Ayrshire's Dick Institute is exploring the fascinating history of prints. Beginning with the the Kilmarnock Edition - there is a rare first edition on display - the exhibition highlights how print has been used to share ideas, stories and culture, both through text and imagery. Visitors can also discover a number of rarely displayed items, including the Kirk Session Book on loan from Mauchline Parish Church, featuring the signatures of Robert Burns and Jean Armour - the only known document in the world to contain both. To find out more about the exhibition, visit here. It will run until September 30 and entry is free.