Author R.M Ballantyne was born in Edinburgh, into a well-known family of printers and publishers. The ninth of ten children, it wasn’t long after his birth that his father’s family business, ‘Ballantyne & Co.’ began to run into financial difficulties following a national banking crisis. With the future of the family business in dire straits, Ballantyne moved to Canada to live and work when he was just sixteen. Returning the Scotland following his father’s death in 1847, Ballantyne worked initially for a publishing house upon his return before concentrating on his own literary career. This book contains Ballantyne’s reminiscences on the book-making industry – so long a part of his family heritage – and is a fascinating account of the industry during the early to mid-19th century.