Introduction
Rev John Sutherland Black FRSE LLD (1846–1923) was a Scottish biblical scholar and contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica and Dictionary of National Biography. He was a noted literary editor and amateur astronomer. In encyclopedic references he is usually just shown as J.S.B.
Life
He was born in Dunnikier near Kirkcaldy in Fife on 4 July 1846. He was the son of Rev James Black the local minister of the Secession Church.
He attended the Burgh School in Kirkcaldy. He then attended Edinburgh University receiving an MA and then LLD.
From 1878 to 1889 he was Assistant Editor for Encyclopedia Britannica (9th Edition). From 1894 to 1903 he was joint editor of the Encyclopedia Biblica. In the same period he was a major contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography.
From 1906 until 1916 he was Curator of records at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He died in London on 22 February 1923.
Works
- Dante illustrations and notes (1890) illustrated by Phoebe Anna Traquair
- The Life of William Robertson Smith (1906), with George William Chrystal
- http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Black%2C%20J.%20Sutherland%20%28John%20Sutherland%29%2C%201846-1923
- Maier, Bernhart (2009). William Robertson Smith: His Life, His Work and His Times. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 2–3.
Memberships
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Member of the Edinburgh Astronomical Institution.