Constable, Archibald (1774–1827)

Scottish bookseller and publisher. He bought the copyright of the Scots Magazine in 1801, published the Edinburgh Review from 1802, and purchased the copyright and stock of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1812, launching Constable's Miscellany the same year. He published Walter Scott's first original work in 1805 and most of Scott's prose works from 1813 to 1826, but in 1825 the business crashed, losing about £250,000 and involving Scott in heavy losses.

Constable was born in Carnbee, Fife, and was apprenticed to an Edinburgh bookseller in 1788. He managed the Edinburgh Review for 24 years, and indirectly founded the publishing firm of Constable and Company.