James Watson (c. 1664 – 1722) was a Scottish printer, bookseller and founder of several Scottish newspapers, coming from a long line of printers. Unafraid of controversy in his printing he was in court multiple times and imprisoned at least once. Sir Walter Scott discusses Watson’s collection of ancient poetry, the Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scottish Poems, in Popular Poetry (part of Poetical Works). Robert Burns was also heavily influenced by Watson’s collection of old poems, both in content and presentation.