William Jerdan

William Jerdan was born at Kelso in Scotland, the son of small landowner. He attended a private school, studied law as a clerk at Edinburgh and London (1801), and was Writer to Signet in Edinburgh (1804). In 1806 Jerdan began a long career as a journalist at the Aurora, followed by stints at the Morning Post and the Sun. In 1817 he was editor of the Literary Gazette, where he remained until 1850 and in which capacity he knew many writers. The Literary Gazette was the first to publish "Barry Cornwall" and "L.E.L" Jerdan was made F.S.A. in 1826 and was granted a civil list pension in 1853.

TEXT RECORDS:

1818Night-Dreams — Life Dreams.

PUBLICATIONS:

The jubilee: a poem on the fiftieth anniversary of His Majesty's accession to the throne. 1810.
Six weeks in Paris; or, a cure for the gallomania. 3 vols, 1817.
Personal narrative of a journey over-land from the bank to Barnes, by way of Piccadilly, Knightsbridge ... and other countries west of London. 1829.
National portrait gallery of illustrious and eminent personages of the nineteenth century; with memoires. 5 vols, 1830-34.
Illustrations of the plan of a National Association for the Encouragement and Protection of Authors, and Men of Talent and Genius. 1839.
The autobiography of William Jerdan: with his literary, political, and social reminiscences and correspondence during the last fifty years. 4 vols, 1852-53.
Men I have known. 1866.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Scottish
Presbyterian

Kelso School
Fellow of Society of Antiquaries

clerk
journalist
editor
poet
antiquary

The Literary Gazette
Quarterly Review
The Morning Post
The Satirist
Friendship's Offering
Literary Souvenir
The Amulet
The Keepsake
The Gem
The Iris
Juvenile Keepsake

William Harrison Ainsworth
Bernard Barton
George Canning
Rev. George Crabbe
Rev. George Croly
Allan Cunningham
William Thomas Fitzgerald
William Gifford
Felicia Hemans
Thomas Hood
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
John Macken
William Maginn
Henry Neele
Bryan Waller Procter
William Read
Joseph Snow
John Taylor Esq.
Horace Twiss
Alaric Alexander Watts

REFERENCE:

DNB; not NCBEL.

Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); William Maginn, "Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters: William Jerdan, Esq." Fraser's Magazine 1 (June 1830) 605-06 [portrait]; Robert Chambers, revised Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (1832-35; 1870); Jerdan, Autobiography (1852-53); Men of the Time (1856); Charles Rogers, Modern Scottish Minstrel (1855-57); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Ralston Inglis, Dramatic Writers of Scotland (1868); Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921); Robert W. Duncan, "William Jerdan and the Literary Gazette" (dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1955); Prance, Companion to Charles Lamb (1983).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for William Jerdan:

1.	1826  Henry Crabb Robinson, 5 June 1826; Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence (1870; 1872) 2:21.
2.	1826  Y. Z., "Will's 'Proper Word.' To the Editor of the Examiner" The Examiner (17 December 1826) 812.
3.	1830 ca.  Allan Cunningham to William Jerdan, 1830 ca.; William Jerdan, Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 4:301-02.
4.	1830  T. A., "Rejected Epigrams: offered to, but not accepted by, the Editor of a Weekly Publication" The Examiner (15 August 1830) 522.
5.	1830  William Maginn, "Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters: William Jerdan, Esq., Editor of the Literary Gazette" Fraser's Magazine 1 (June 1830) 605-06.
6.	1854  Robert Shelton Mackenzie, Note in Noctes Ambrosianae, ed. Mackenzie (1854) 3:67n.
7.	1871  S. C. Hall, "William Jerdan" in A Book of Memories: Great Men and Women of the Age, from personal Acquaintance (1871) 283-86.
8.	1873  Henry Fothergill Chorley, in Autobiography, Memoirs, and Letters (1873) 1:107.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Jerdan:

1.	1855  Charles Rogers, in Modern Scottish Minstrel (1855-57) 5:30-31.
2.	1868  Ralston Inglis, in Dramatic Writers of Scotland (1868) 58.
3.	1883  William Bates, after William Maginn; Maclise Gallery (1883; 1898) 1-4.
4.	1897  Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921) 2:85.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1852  Rev. William Beloe:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:182-83.
2.	1852  Rev. William Lisle Bowles:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 1:151n.
3.	1852  Thomas Campbell:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 4:11-13.
4.	1852  George Chalmers:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:99-100.
5.	1852  Rev. George Croly:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 3:268-69.
6.	1852  Allan Cunningham:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:161-62.
7.	1852  William Maginn:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 3:83.
8.	1852  William Read:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:236.
9.	1852  Joseph Snow:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 4:401-02.
10.	1852  Charles Swain:   William Jerdan, In Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:41.
11.	1852  John Taylor Esq.:   William Jerdan, In Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:70-75.
12.	1852  Horace Twiss:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 2:287-88.
13.	1852  Alaric Alexander Watts:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 4:9-10.
14.	1852  Dr. John Wolcot:   William Jerdan, in Autobiography of William Jerdan (1852-53) 1:142-43.
15.	1866  Rev. William Lisle Bowles:   William Jerdan, in Men I have Known (1866) 24-25.
16.	1866  Isaac D'Israeli:   William Jerdan, in Men I have Known (1866) 179-80.
17.	1866  Charles Dibdin:   William Jerdan, in Men I have Known (1866) 172-73.