Cirrus@Austlit

James Edmond was born in Glasgow and migrated to New Zealand in 1878, moving to Queensland in 1882, where he joined the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin before moving to the Sydney Bulletin, where from 1892 he was financial editor, leader writer, dramatic critic and later sub-editor, before succeeding J.F. Archibald as editor in 1903.

During this period his short stories and sketches won him the reputation of leading humorist of his day. His work appeared in the Bulletin anthology, A Golden Shanty (1890) under his own name and that of 'Titus Salt.' In 1913 Edmond issued his own collection, A Journalist and Two Bears, which included tales, sketches and verse. Colin Roderick finds him at times reminiscent of Mark Twain, but considers him 'an important link in the chain of Australian humour,' as well as an influence on the many writers he advised and edited.