Ruari McLean Associates

Ruari McLean (b. 1917) has worked as a designer and typographer in all areas of the printing trade and is also the author of many books, including Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing (1963, new ed. 1972), The Thames & Hudson Manual of Typography (1980) and a biography of the typographer Jan Tschichold (1997). He succeeded Sir Francis Meynell as Typographic Adviser to the Stationery Office (1966-80). Together with George Rainbird he set up the book design and production firm Rainbird, McLean in 1951. Seven years later, when the partnership was dissolved, he was asked by the printer and publisher James Shand to start the art periodical Motif, working with his secretary and later partner Fianach Lawry (ne Jardine). McLean continued to accept freelance projects, and eventually Ruari McLean Associates came into being as a small company specialising in design and print production. They were originally based in London, first in Frith Street and later in Villiers Street, and then in 1973 moved to premises in Dollar, Scotland. By the late 1980s the company had become known as Fianach Lawry Associates.

From the guide to the Archive of Ruari McLean Associates, c. 1951-1980, (Reading University: Special Collections Services)