Number 96-98

Please note all dates are approximate.

If you have any further information, documents, photos or memories about this shop let us know in the comments section at the bottom or on Annan The History Town Group Facebook page.

If you click/tap on a photo it will enlarge that photo and give you the pictures as a slideshow.

Oct 2023 © P Russell

As far back as 1855 Council Valuation Rolls show a House, Shop, Printing Office & Garden on the High Street (no number given) occupied by a William Cuthbertson. Above the doors there is a bust of William Cuthbertson with intertwined initials and his year of birth and death.

William John Cuthbertson actually started his bookselling and printing business in Annan in 1832 and published the first Annan Observer newspaper in 1857 known as The Annan Observer and Annandale Monthly Advertiser and it originally appeared as a monthly title for its first four years.

The company has gone through a few different name changes reflected in the adverts below but has always been a strong presence on Annan High Street.

In 1875 it was renamed The Annandale Observer and Advertiser and kept that name until adopting its present title in 1971.

We are told that locals called the shop Cubbies when the front office sold stationery supplies.

In the early 70s they also used number 102 as a stationery shop after being occupied by RBS and before the Cumberland B Soc joined the High Street

1964 ROM picture of a parade in the previous year

The adverts below is just a small selection but shows the changes in name of the business and the services offered to the town over the years.

1902 D Watt Guide

1908 Annandale Observer - essential supplies for musicians

1908 Annandale Observer - most newspaper/book shops ran libraries as well

1908 Annandale Observer - they must have forgotten to keep a copy for the archives
and wanted to buy back a copy

1908 Annandale Observer - all your printing needs

1908 Annandale Observer - supplies for scholars . . .

. . . and jam makers

1911 Annandale Observer - supplies of Diaries in January . . .

. . . and special Christmas cards in December. . . . .

. . . Fashionable notepaper for your letters . . .

. . . and a posh pen to write the letters. . . .

. . . the latest best seller and all your printing needs . . .

. . . including the long awaited results of Best in Show.

These more 'recent' adverts help chart the development of printing processes, the addition of drawings, computer clip art, logos, mission statements, colour printing and business name changes down the years. Also interesting to see telephone numbers get longer !!