David Robertson

David Robertson (1795–1854) was a Scottish bookseller, now known for his publication of the early Whistle Binkie anthologies. Life The son of a farmer, Robertson was born in the parish of Kippen, Perthshire. He received an education in his native district, and in 1810 was apprenticed to William Turnbull, bookseller in Trongate, Glasgow. In 1821 appeared a pseudonymous work Three Nights in Perthshire by Percy Yorke Jr., written by Robertson's friend Thomas Atkinson. The pair had made a visit to Perthshire, the historical county: they went to the Trossachs, now in the Stirling council area, as is Kippen. The younger Atkinson, a Glaswegian, at this point was working for Brash & Reid, booksellers, where he had been an apprentice. The book is a fictionalised account of their visit to Loch Ard and the farm Ledard there, run by the Macfarlane family, who included Donald Macfarlan(e) MD of Ledard (died 1857). On the death of Turnbull in 1823, Robertson carried on the business for seven years, in partnership with Atkinson. In 1830 the partnership was dissolved, and Robertson opened new premises in a different part of Trongate. In 1842 his portrait, painted by Sir Daniel Macnee, was publicly presented to him.