12/02/2026
On this day in 1739, Scotland launched what would become the oldest magazine in the world still in publication. An incredible 286 years later, it’s still running.
Inside a small printing shop in Edinburgh, the very first edition of The Scots Magazine rolled off the press.
It cost just sixpence and promised to cover the “affairs of the nation”, at a time when news travelled by horse and cart, and photography hadn’t yet been invented (that was still 87 years away).
When the first issue was read aloud in Edinburgh coffee houses, Bonnie Prince Charlie hadn’t yet launched the ’45 Rising. The French Revolution was still half a century away. Australia, Canada, Germany and Italy didn’t even exist as nations.
The Scots Magazine predates The Times by nearly a century. It’s older than the USA, trains, photography, electricity, flight, and every modern form of media that came after it.
It has covered everything from the Jacobite rebellions to two world wars, and made the leap into the digital age without missing a beat.
A reminder that while the world changes constantly, some things in Scotland are simply built to last. 📖🏴
