James Maidment

For the English footballer, see Jimmy Maidment.

James Maidment (1793, London - 1879, Edinburgh) was a British antiquary and collector. He passed through Edinburgh University to the Scottish bar, and was chief authority on genealogical cases.

Maidment's hobby was the collection of literary rarities. He edited and published editions of ancient literary remains including A Book of Scottish Pasquils, 1568-1715, a selection from the papers of the family of Boyd of Kilmarnock from the 16th and 17th centuries, state papers and miscellaneous correspondence of Thomas, Baron Melros (from the 17th century), letters and state papers during the reign of King James the Sixth, chiefly from the manuscript collections of Sir James Balfour of Denmylne, constitutions, charters etc. of the nunnery of Sciennes, 1512–88, and Scottish Ballads and Songs: Historical and Traditionary.

Maidment was also a poet and a friend of Sir Walter Scott. A collection of his poems is held at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas.[1]

Life

He was born in London about 1795; his father was a solicitor. Called to the Scottish bar in 1817, he soon took a high position as an advocate in cases involving genealogical inquiry, and was much involved in disputed peerage cases. He died in Edinburgh, 24 October 1879, and was buried in the Dean cemetery. He was an extensive collector, and the sale, in May 1880, of his library occupied fifteen days.[2]

Works

Maidment showed an early taste for antiquarian and historical research, and he became friends with Sir Walter Scott, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, and other men of letters. His publications were very numerous, though many were anonymous, and several were privately printed in small editions. He published generally with John Stevenson and his son Thomas George Stevenson. He edited works for the Bannatyne, Maitland, Abbotsford, and Hunterian Clubs, and for the Spottiswoode Society; and he was the main editor of John Kay's Edinburgh Portraits, 2 vols. 1837. One of his major works is the Dramatists of the Restoration,’ 14 vols. Edinburgh, 1877, in the editorship of which he was assisted by William Hugh Logan.[2]

Other compilations of Maidment's were:

His publisher, Thomas George Stevenson, compiled a bibliography of his works, Bibliography of James Maidment, Esq., advocate, Edinburgh; From the year M.DCCC.XVII to M.DCCC.LXXVIII. Edinburgh: Printed for private circulation, 1883 (A new ed. of his "Bibliographical list of the various publications by James Maidment ... 1817-1859." Edinburgh, 1859.) [2]

References

Attribution

External links

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