Walter Ruddiman (1719 – 6 June 1781) was a Scottish printer,

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

proprietor based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. Born in Alvah, near Banff, in the North-East of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, he was the youngest son of the farmer James Ruddiman (c. 1680 – c. 1739) and nephew of the printer, scholar and librarian

Thomas Ruddiman Thomas Ruddiman (October 167419 January 1757) was a Scottish classical scholar. Life He was born on a farm near Boyndie, three miles from Banff in Banffshire, where his father was a farmer. He was educated locally, then studied at the Univer ...

(1674–1757) whose business was also based in Edinburgh. Walter Ruddiman moved to Edinburgh sometime shortly after 1745 and was eventually admitted as a burgess of the city on 11 September 1754. Around the same time he also married Janet Bradefute with whom he had four children, Thomas, John, Walter and Janet. Ruddiman's most important publishing venture was his '' Weekly Magazine'', established (through its first issue) on 7 July 1768. It was a weekly broadsheet which commercially described itself as a digest of "all the Magazines, Reviews, Newspapers, &c. published in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

..being a Register of the Writings and Transactions of the Times"; a description that allowed Ruddiman to avoid the

stamp duty Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). A physical revenu ...

carried at that time by newspapers but not by literary periodicals. The magazine was a great success in Edinburgh and further afield with a circulation of around 3000 copies per week throughout the 1770s. Ruddiman's eldest son, Thomas (1755–1825) became a partner in April 1772. Between 1771 and 1774 the ''Weekly Magazine'' notably carried new poetry by the young poet

Robert Fergusson Robert Fergusson (5 September 1750 – 16 October 1774) was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and c ...

and the popular reaction to his work, especially that in Scots, prompted Ruddiman and his son to publish the first general edition of Fergusson's writing, ''Poems by Robert Fergusson'', which appeared in January 1773. Ruddiman's magazine also featured poet

John Mayne John Mayne (1759–1836) was a Scottish printer, journalist and poet born in Dumfries. In 1780, his poem ''The Siller Gun'' appeared in its original form in ''Ruddiman's Magazine'', published by Walter Ruddiman in Edinburgh.

's poem on ''Hallowe'en'' in 1780.Robert Chamber
The life and works of Robert Burns, Volume 1
Lippincott, Grambo & co., 1854 In the later 1770s, the ''Weekly Magazine'' was brought to the notice of the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...

for carrying news articles, making it liable for tax. As a result, in 1777, Ruddiman created a new distinct title, '' Ruddiman's Weekly Mercury'', for news and the ''Magazine'', which became free of news content, became non-liable for stamp duty. In December 1779, from the 47th volume, it was retitled the ''

Edinburgh Magazine, or, Weekly Amusement Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

''. Although these developments had the effect of splitting the readership in terms of circulation, the aggregate of the sales for both publications remained solid in the region of 3 to 3.5 thousand. Ruddiman's wife predeceased him by five years and they are both buried in Edinburgh's

Greyfriars kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

. Their son Thomas inherited his father's business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddiman, Walter 1719 births 1781 deaths Scottish magazine publishers (people) 18th-century Scottish newspaper publishers (people) Scottish printers Scottish book editors People from Banff, Aberdeenshire Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard