| Sumario: | The article focuses on the Publishers' Crash of 1826, a financial disaster in Britain that devastated major booksellers and publishers in England and Scotland, including Archibald Constable and Company, Hurst, Robinson and Company, Thomas Cadell the Younger, and James Ballantyne. This collapse was linked to the broader Bank Crisis of 1825 and notably implicated Sir Walter Scott, who had guaranteed large unsecured debts of these firms. The article draws on previously unpublished correspondence between William Blackwood, founder of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, and his son Alexander, who was working in London, providing a detailed, contemporaneous account of the crash’s unfolding and its impact on the publishing industry. The letters reveal the financial turmoil, the involvement of key figures, and the strategic responses of surviving publishers like Blackwood’s firm. This correspondence offers valuable insight into the crisis from the perspective of insiders navigating the collapse.
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