Alexander Hay Japp (26 December 1836 – 29 September 1905) was a Scottish author, journalist and publisher.
Born at Dun, Angus, on 26 December 1836,[1] he was youngest son of Alexander Japp, a carpenter, by his wife Agnes Hay. After his father's early death, the mother and her family moved to Montrose, where he was educated at Milne's school. At seventeen Japp became a book-keeper with Messrs. Christie and Sons, tailors, at Edinburgh. Three years later he moved to London, and for two years was employed in the East India department of Smith, Elder and Co.[2]
Returning to Scotland in poor health, he worked for Messrs. Grieve and Oliver, Edinburgh hatters, and in his leisure in 1860–1 attended classes at the university in metaphysics, logic, and moral philosophy. He became a double prizeman in rhetoric, and received from Professor William Edmondstoune Aytoun a special certificate of distinction; but he did not graduate.[2]
At Edinburgh Japp associated with young artists, including John Pettie and his friends. Turning to journalism, he edited the Inverness Courier and the Montrose Review. Having settled in London in 1864, he joined The Daily Telegraph for a short time. While writing for other papers, he acted as general literary adviser to the publishing firm of Alexander Strahan (later William Isbister &Co.), and assisted in editing their periodicals: Good Words, Sunday Magazine (from 1869 to 1879), and The Contemporary Review from 1866 to 1872, while Henry Alford was editor. He also assisted Robert Carruthers in the third edition of Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature.[2]
In October 1880, Japp started as a publisher, under the style Marshall Japp and Co., at 17 Holborn Viaduct; but bad health and insufficient capital led him to make the venture over to T. Fisher Unwin in 1882. From that year to 1888 he was literary adviser to the firm of Hurst and Blackett. From 1884 till 1900 he lived at Elmstead, near Colchester, where he cultivated his taste for natural history. After three years in London he finally settled at Coulsdon, Surrey, in September 1903. There, busy to the last, he died on 29 September 1905, and was buried in Abney Park cemetery. He was made LL.D. of Glasgow University in 1879, and in 1880 was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[2]
Japp's interest in Henry Thoreau brought him the acquaintance of Robert Louis Stevenson. The two men met at Braemar in August 1881, and Japp's conversation attracted Stevenson and his father. Stevenson read to Japp the early chapters of Treasure Island, then called The Sea Cook, and Japp negotiated its publication in Young Folks. Subsequently Stevenson and Japp corresponded on intimate terms; and Japp's last work, Robert Louis Stevenson: a Record, an Estimate, and a Memorial (1905), was the result of their contacts.[2]
Japp was versatile and prolific writer, writing under pseudonyms such as "H. A. Page", "A. F. Scot", "E. Conder Gray", and "A. N. Mount Rose" as well as in his own name. In his own name he issued in 1865 Three Great Teachers of our own Time: Carlyle, Tennyson, and Ruskin, which Ruskin found perceptive. He issued a selection of Thomas de Quincey's Posthumous Works (vol. i. 1891; vol. ii. 1893) and De Quincey Memorials: being Letters and other Records here first published (1891).[2]
As "H. A. Page" he published:[2]
Japp tried many genres. Under a double pseudonym he issued in 1878 Lights on the Way (by "the late J. H. Alexander, B.A.", with explanatory note by "H. A. Page"), which was semi-autobiographical fiction. There followed:[2]
Japp married twice:[2]
There were seven children of the first marriage.[2]