Black Adam

Black, Adam, publisher, was born in 1784 in Edinburgh, apprenticed as a bookseller for five years, and after serving two years as an assistant in London, started for himself in 1808 in Edinburgh, where with his nephew he founded the house of Adam and Charles Black. In 1827, after Constable's failure, the Blacks purchased the copyright of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and in 1851 the copyright of Sir Walter Scott's novels - two ventures that brought fame and fortune to the firm. Adam Black took a keen interest in local and general politics, and after serving twice as Lord Provost in his native city, represented it in Parliament from 1856 to 1865 in the Liberal interest. His death occurred January 24, 1874.