James Fraser (1804-1841) was a Scottish publisher, now known particularly for his association with

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

Life

Fraser's background was an

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

family, and he carried on business at 215

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

, London. Fraser published many books, among them Thomas Carlyle's '' Hero Worship''. The story of the dealings between the author and "the infatuated Fraser, with his dog's-meat tart of a magazine", was told in J. A. Froude's biography of Carlyle. Fraser had one illegitimate son with a woman named Mary West. James Fitzjames Fraser West was born in 1833. He received medical tuition and practiced as a surgeon at Queen's Hospital,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. On 3 August 1836

Grantley Berkeley The Honourable George Charles Grantley FitzHardinge Berkeley (10 February 1800 – 20 February 1881), known as Grantley Berkeley, was a British politician, writer and sportsman. Background and education Berkeley was the sixth son of Frederick Be ...

assaulted Fraser, after the publication of criticism of his novel ''Berkeley Castle''. Cross actions were tried on 3 December, on the part of Fraser for assault, and Berkeley for libel. The damages for the assault were £100, for the libel £2. Fraser died 2 October 1841 at

Argyll Street Argyll Street is a street in the Soho district of Central London. It links Great Marlborough Street to the south to Oxford Street in the north and is connected to Regent Street to the west by Little Argyll Street. Historically it was sometimes w ...

, London, after a lingering illness.

''Fraser's Magazine''

Fraser published ''

Fraser's Magazine ''Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country'' was a general and literary journal published in London from 1830 to 1882, which initially took a strong Tory line in politics. It was founded by Hugh Fraser and William Maginn in 1830 and loosely direc ...

'' from February 1830, so-called in fact after the barrister Hugh Fraser who had founded it with William Maginn; Fraser himself referred to it as "The Town and Country". Among the contributors to the magazine were Thomas Carlyle,

William Makepeace Thackeray William Makepeace Thackeray ( ; 18 July 1811 – 24 December 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator. He is known for his Satire, satirical works, particularly his 1847–1848 novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'', a panoramic portra ...

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots language, Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a ...

,Hunter, Adrian (ed.) (2020), ''James Hogg: Contributions to English, Irish and American Periodicals'', Edinburgh University Press, p. xx, Francis Sylvester Mahony,

Thomas Love Peacock Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels ...

, J. A. Froude, William Allingham, and other well-known writers. After Fraser's death it fell to his successor, G. W. Nickisson, whose name first appeared on it in 1842. Five years later it was transferred to John William Parker, and it continued under the same name to October 1882, when it was superseded by '' Longman's Magazine''. The ''Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters'' came out in ''Fraser's Magazine'' between 1830 and 1838, comprising 81 portraits, mainly by Daniel Maclise, with text by Maginn. In 1833 a quarto volume containing 34 of the portraits was issued, and in 1874 the complete gallery was republished for the first time. The portraits were reduced in size and the literary matter increased in ''The Maclise Portrait Gallery'', by William Bates, with 85 portraits, London, 1883.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, James 1804 births 1841 deaths 19th-century Scottish publishers (people)