About 4,500 printer's proofs from William Davison's printing shop in Alnwick are held by Northumberland Archives, providing a unique glimpse into the social and economic life of a provincial town and its rural hinterland in the first half of the 19th century. They also vividly illustrate the development of more decorative advertising techniques at a time when the national economy was expanding. This on-line exhibition includes a very small sample from the Davison Collection. You can also own a part of Davison's work by purchasing a tea towel from our gift shop!

There was a huge increase in the popular demand for printed material at the beginning of the 19th century. Davison's publications included volumes of poetry, school and guide books, as well as trade advertisements, billheads, labels and election leaflets. He is known to have collaborated with Thomas Bewick to illustrate some of his publications. His newspaper, The Alnwick Mercury, Northumberland Advertiser, and Entertaining Miscellany was first published in 1854,
and continues to the present day as The
Northumberland Gazette.