James Watson (c. 1664 – 1722) was a Scottish printer, bookseller and founder of several Scottish newspapers, coming from a long line of printers. Unafraid of controversy in his printing he was in court multiple times and imprisoned at least once.[1]
Watson's collection of ancient poetry, the Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scottish Poems (1706), helped to launch Scotland's eighteenth century Scots Vernacular Revival, influencing Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns and Walter Scott.[2]
Watson's History of Printing (1713) is also seen[who?] as a milestone in printing history.[citation needed]
- ^ A Dictionary of Printers and Printing: C H Timperley.
- ^ Freeman, F.W. (1984), Robert Fergusson and the Scots Humanist Compromise, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1 - 22, ISBN 0852244746