William Blackwood

Returning to Edinburgh in 1804, he opened a shop in South Bridge Street for the sale of old, rare and curious books.

[1] That same year, Blackwood convinced Walter Scott to abandon Archibald Constable as his Edinburgh publisher.

"Maga", as this magazine soon came to be called, was the organ of the Scottish Tory party, and round it gathered a host of writers.

[9] William Blackwood died in 1834 and is buried in an ornate vault in the lower western section of Old Calton Burial Ground.

The character Oakstick in John Paterson's Mare, James Hogg's allegorical satire on the Edinburgh publishing scene, is based on William Blackwood.