James Alexander Mackay (21 November 1936 – 12 August 2007) was a prolific Scottish writer and

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

whose output of philatelic works was rivalled only by

Fred Melville Frederick John Melville (25 February 1882 – 12 January 1940)Schofield, Brian. ''Who Was Who in British Philately''. London: British Philatelic Trust, 2003, p.34. Online versiohere. was a British philatelist, prolific philatelic author and fo ...

. He was described by John Holman, editor of the '' British Philatelic Bulletin'', as a "philatelic writer without equal" but his reputation was damaged by a conviction for theft from the British Museum early in his career, which cost him his job there, and multiple accusations of plagiarism.

Early life and family

James Mackay was born in Inverness on 21 November 1936. He was educated in Glasgow, where he also attended the university. Later in life Mackay was awarded a Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degree by

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He married Renate.

Scottish posts

Interested in

stamps Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

and the

postal system The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

from an early age, he wrote two acclaimed histories of the Scottish posts; one limited to St. Kilda and, in 1978, his ''History of Scottish Postmarks, 1693–1978'', the definitive work on the subject. He became a prolific philatelic author, especially on English, Irish and Scottish

postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit ...

s and also produced popular Postal History Annuals and island series books. He wrote some 200 books and at least 10,000 articles. Mackay's interest in the postal history of St Kilda had been formed during his time stationed there during his army service in the 1950s.

Theft from the British Museum

In 1972 Mackay was dismissed from his job as an assistant keeper at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London after he was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing valuable proof stamps. He had pleaded guilty to five charges of stealing progressive proofs on loan from the

Crown Agents Crown Agents Ltd is a not-for-profit international development company with head office in London, United Kingdom, and subsidiaries in USA and Japan. Crown Agents fully owns Greenshields Cowie, a freight forwarding limited company incorporated in ...

from the Museum in 1965 and 1966 and was fined £1000. He had exchanged the proofs with dealer

Clive Feigenbaum Clive Harold Feigenbaum (1939–2007) was a colourful and controversial British businessman who was involved in a lifelong series of scandals in the world of philately. Particularly notable was the sale of "gold" stamps from Staffa and his role ...

for Winston Churchill-themed stamps.

Writing

He was the editor of ''The Burns Chronicle'' from 1976 to 1992, which under his stewardship reached a level of quality and diversity it has not achieved before or since. He then turned to biography, where he was less successful. Through the 1980s he worked on a biography of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

which was published in 1992 to favourable reviews and which won the Saltire Society Book of the Year Award. Subsequent biographies of

Allan Pinkerton Allan J. Pinkerton (August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to a ...

and

William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army ...

received more mixed reviews. 1996 saw the release of '' Michael Collins: A Life'', a work about the life of the famed Irish revolutionary which received excellent reviews. Mackay also wrote books under a number of different pseudonyms, including Ian Angus, William Finlay, Bruce Garden, Alex Matheson and Peter Whittington.

Accusations of plagiarism

In 1998, he published a biography of Alexander Graham Bell. It was on the market briefly before

Robert V. Bruce Robert Vance Bruce (December 19, 1923 in Malden, Massachusetts – January 15, 2008 in Olympia, Washington) was an American historian specializing in the American Civil War, who won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book '' The Launchin ...

published a damning indictment, detailing sustained plagiarism of his own work, ''Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude''. Far from being a little-known work, the latter had in fact been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. The indictment, published in the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world. Founded in 1884, the AHA works to protect academic freedom, develop professional s ...

's house journal, counted instances of plagiarism on 80 per cent of the pages published. Mackay paid his publishers to withdraw the book from circulation, and Bruce agreed not to sue. Mackay then published a biography of

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

, the founder of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. While initially well received, and the subject of flattering reviews in the trade press, it was soon discovered that it was practically a copy of what those same reviews had marked as the last work on the man, that by

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

in 1942. That biography too had won the Pulitzer. Columbia University history professor David Armitage was quoted in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as saying that the book was "a spectacular and sustained act of plagiarism." Despite these accusations, Mackay continued to be commissioned to write articles for the philatelic press, and it has been said that almost the entire text of some editions of ''Stamp & Coin Mart'', a popular British magazine, were written by him.

Death

Mackay died on 12 August 2007 at the age of 70 in Glasgow.Prolific writer on philatelic subjects and biographer of Burns
Scotsman.com (retrieved 4 November 2007)

Publications

Philatelic

*''St Kilda; Its Posts and Communications'', 1963, 73p. *''The Tapling Collection of Postage Stamps and Telegraph Stamps and Postal Stationery'', British Museum, 53 pp, 1964 *''The World of Stamps:thematic essays on recent new issues'' London: Johnson, 1964, 220p. *''Tristan Da Cunha: Its Postal History and Philately'', 72 pp, Mackay & Crabb, 1965 *''Commonwealth Stamp Design 1840-1965'', British Museum, 32 pp, 1965 *''Malta - The story of Malta and her stamps'', Philatelic Publishers, 96 pp, 1966, *''Great Britain: the story of Great Britain and her stamps'' London: Philatelic Publishers, 1967, 158p. *''Make Money with Stamps'' by Bruce Garden (pseudonym). London: Philatelic Publishers, 1967, 61p. *''Money in Stamps'', Johnson Publications, 240 pp, 1967, *''Learn about stamps'' by Bruce Garden (pseudonym). London: Philatelic Publishers, 1968, 61p. *''The Story of Éire and Her Stamps'', Philatelic Publishers, 1968 *''Cover Collecting - A Collecta Guide to First Day & Other Covers'', Philatelic Publishers, 1968 *''East Africa: The Story of East Africa and Its Stamps'', Philatelic Publishers, 192 pp, 1970, *''New Encyclopedia of Stamps'', IPC Magazines, 1970 *''Airmails, 1870-1970'', Batsford, 216 pp, 1971, * ''The World of Classic Stamps; 1840-1870'', New York: Putnam, 1972. *''The Dictionary of Stamps in Colour'', Michael Joseph, 296 pp, 1973, * ''Stamps, posts, and postmarks'', by Ian Angus (pseudonym). London: Ward Lock, 1973. , 128p. *''An Illustrated History of Stamp Design'' by William Finlay (pseudonym), Peter Lowe, 187 pp, 1974, *''Encyclopedia of World Stamps, 1945-1975'', Lionel Leventhal Ltd, 160 pp, 1976, *''Scottish Postmarks 1693-1987'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 68 pp, 1978 *''The Circular Name Stamps of Scotland'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1978 *''The Skeleton Postmarks of Scotland'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1978 *''The Floating Post Offices of the Clyde'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1979, 40p. *''English and Welsh Postmarks Since 1840'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1980, 254pp. *''Stamp Collecting'', Park Lane Press, 80pp, 1980 *''British Post Office Numbers 1924-1969'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 50 pp, 1981 *''Telegraphic Codes of the British Isles, 1879-1924'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 90 pp, 1981 *''The Parcel Post of the British Isles'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 232 pp, 1982 *''Registered Mail of the British Isles'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 395 pp, 1982 *''Irish Postmarks Since 1840'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 222 pp, 1982 *''The Guinness Book of Stamps: Facts and Feats'', Enfield: Guinness Publishing, 225 pp, 1982, ; 2nd Edition, Guinness Publishing Ltd, 225 pp, 1989, *''Official Mail of the British Isles'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 349 pp, 1983 *''Scottish Twin-Arc Postmarks with Stampers Numbers 1894-1963'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1983, 53p. *''The Postal History of Glasgow'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1984 *''Surcharged Mail of the British Isles'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1984, 138 pp *''British Stamps'', Longman, 247 pp, 1985, *''Dátstampái Rubair na bhFo-Oificí an Phoist in Éirinn'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1985 , 96p. *''Sub Office Rubber Datestamps of Ireland'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1985 , 68p. *''Sub Office Rubber Datestamps of Scotland'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1985 , 63p. *''Postal History of Dumfries'', 1986, self-published, 120 pp, *''Sub Office Rubber Datestamps of England and Wales'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1986, *''English Provincial Krags (Machine Cancellations)'', 1987 *''Irish Slogan Postmarks 1918-1986'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 1987 , 69p. *''Postmarks of England and Wales'', J.A. Mackay: self-published, 352 pp, 1988, *''Under the Gum – Background to British Stamps 1840–1940'', Limassol: James Bendon, 1997, , 536p. *''Philatelic Terms Illustrated'', Stanley Gibbons Limited, 4th edition, 2003, 173 pp, *''The World Encyclopedia of Stamps and Stamp Collecting'', 2005, Lorenz Books, 256 pp, *''1800 Stamps of the World: A Stunning Visual Directory of Rare and Familiar Issues, Organized Country by Country with over 1800 Images of Collectables from up to 200 Countries'', Southwater, 160 pp, 2007, *Postal History Annual 1979 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1979 *Postal History Annual 1980 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1980 *Postal History Annual 1981 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1981 *Postal History Annual 1982 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1982 *Postal History Annual 1983 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1983 *Postal History Annual 1984 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1984 *Postal History Annual 1985 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1985 *Postal History Annual 1986 J.A. Mackay: self-published 1986

Scottish Islands Postal History Series

:*No. 1: Harris & St Kilda J.A. Mackay: self-published 80 pgs :*No. 2: The Uists & Barra J.A. Mackay: self-published 57 pgs :*No. 3: Lewis J.A. Mackay: self-published 62 pgs :*No. 4: Skye and the Small Isles J.A. Mackay: self-published 70 pgs :*No. 5: Arran & Cumbrae J.A. Mackay: self-published 39 pgs :*No. 6: Bute J.A. Mackay: self-published 38 pgs :*No. 7: Orkney & Stroma J.A. Mackay: self-published 64 pgs :*No. 8: Shetland J.A. Mackay: self-published 70 pgs :*No. 9: Mull, Iona, Coll & Tiree J.A. Mackay: self-published 37 pgs :*No. 10: Islay, Jura and the other Argyll Isles J.A. Mackay: self-published 39 pgs :*No. 11: Scottish Islands Supplement & Catalogue J.A. Mackay: self-published 64 pgs :*No. 12: Isle of Wight J.A. Mackay: self-published 112 pgs

Biographies

*''Vagabond of Verse: Robert Service - a Biography'', Trafalgar Square, , 1996 *''

: The First Private Eye'', John Wiley & Sons, Somerset, NJ, , 1997 *''Michael Collins: A Life'', Trafalgar Square, , 1997 *''Alexander Graham Bell: A Life'', John Wiley & Sons, Somerset, NJ, , 1998 *''

: Brave Heart'', Mainstream, , 1995 *''The Man Who Invented Himself: a Life of Sir

Thomas Lipton Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet (10 May 18482 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup ...

'', Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh , 1998

Robert Burns

*''The Complete Letters of Robert Burns'', 1987, Alloway Publishing, 862 pp, *''The Complete Works of Robert Burns'', 1988, Hyperion Books, 704 pp, *''Burns A-Z: the Complete Word Finder'', 1990, (self published), 774 pp, , *''Burns: A Biography of Robert Burns'', 1992, Mainstream Publishing, 672 pp, *''Robert Burns, the Complete Poetical Works'', 1993, Alloway Publishing Ltd, 640 pp, *''Burns, A Biography'', 2004, Alloway Publishing Ltd, 749 pp,

Other subjects

*''Antiques of the future; a guide for collectors and investors'', 1970, Universe Books, 208 pp, *''Glass Paperweights'', Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, 1973, 136 pp, *''The Animaliers: A Collector's Guide to the Animal Sculptors of the 19th & 20th Centuries'', Dutton, 1973, 160 pp, *''Dictionary of Western Sculptors in Bronze'', 1973, Antique Collector's Club, 1977, 414 pp, *''Coins: Facts and Feats'', 1993, Spink & Son Ltd, 276 pp, *''Clans and Tartans of Scotland'', 2000, *''Glasgow's Other River : Exploring the Kelvin'', 2000, Fort Publishing Ltd, 240 pp, published under pseudonym Alex Matheson, *''Soldiering on St Kilda'', 2002, Token Publishing Ltd, 180 pp, *''The St Kilda Steamers'', 2006, The History Press Ltd, 192 pp,

References and sources

Notes Sources *John Holman, ''Obituary: James Alexander Mackay: Philatelic writer without equal'', Gibbons Stamp Monthly, October 2007, p. 16.

External links

* ''Stamp & Coin Mart''
James A. Mackay papers, 1963-2002Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, James A 1936 births 2007 deaths People from Inverness British philatelists Writers from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish historians Criminals from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow People associated with the British Museum Scottish biographers British people convicted of theft 21st-century Scottish historians Philatelic authors 20th-century British biographers 21st-century British biographers