Colin Macfarquhar (1744/5 – 2 April 1793)[1][2] was a Scottish bookseller and printer who is most known for co-founding Encyclopædia Britannica with Andrew Bell, first published in December 1768.
[2][5] His formal education ended when he was apprenticed to a printing firm and achieved the status of a master printer in 1767.
[5] On 13 December 1767 Macfarquhar married Jane whose father, James Scruton, was an accountant in Glasgow.
[2] Macfarquhar opened a printing shop in Edinburgh one or two years after getting married.
[5] The first edition of Britannica was sold at his printing office in Nicolson Street.