James Johnson (1753? – 26 February 1811) was a Scottish engraver, publisher and music seller known for his connection with the songbook ''

The Scots Musical Museum The ''Scots Musical Museum'' was an influential collection of traditional folk music of Scotland published from 1787 to 1803. While it was not the first collection of Scottish folk songs and music, the six volumes with 100 songs in each collected ...

'' and the poet Robert Burns.

Life

Johnson was born in the Ettrick Valley, the third of four children to Bessie Bleck and James Johnstan, a herdsman. He may have been trained to become an engraver under James Reed of Edinburgh. He was a prolific engraver of music and made the plates for over half the music printed in Scotland from 1772 to 1790. His early engravings were done on copper and included ''Six Canzones for Two Voices'' (1772), ''A Collection of Favourite Scots Tunes … by the Late Mr Chs McLean and other Eminent Masters'' (c1772) and ''Twenty Minuets'' (1773) by

Daniel Dow Daniel Dow (1732 – 1783) was a traditional Scottish fiddler, composer, teacher and concert organizer and one of the first musicians to publish music specifically for bagpipes. He is credited as both Daniel and Donald, both acceptable translatio ...

. In 1786 he became

burgess __NOTOC__ Burgess may refer to: People and fictional characters * Burgess (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Burgess (given name), a list of people Places * Burgess, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Burgess, Missouri, U ...

of Edinburgh. On 2 July 1791 he married Charlotte Grant, daughter of the writer Lauchlan Grant. They had a son, James, baptised on 13 September 1792, who appears not to have survived to his majority. He opened a music shop, Johnson & Co., in 1790 in the

Lawnmarket The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

in Edinburgh which was continued after his death until 1815 as Johnson & Anderson by his apprentice John Anderson. He died in Edinburgh on 26 February 1811 and a public appeal was made for support for his widow in March 1819.

''The Scots Musical Museum''

Johnson had a plan for a two-volume collection of Scottish, Irish and English songs, when he met Robert Burns. The nature of the project then changed: its scope was restricted to Scottish songs, and the number of volumes rose to six, produced from 1787 to 1803. The success of the conception was not matched by financial security for Johnson. Burns contributed 184 pieces; some were original, including many of his best-known lyrics, and others were alterations of or derived from old ballads. Prefaces to some of the volumes were by Burns, who in effect edited the work. Johnson tried pewter plates to cut down the production costs. Burns produced an interleaved version of the ''Museum'' of the first four volumes for Robert Riddell.

Notes

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, James 1753 births 1811 deaths Scottish engravers Scottish publishers (people) Scottish musicologists