Alexander Cruden (1) (1699–1770)

Cruden was
born in Aberdeen in 1699 and took his degree there.
Disappointed in love in his early twenties he began to show
disturbing signs of insanity (his biographer Chalmers says that
'it is doubtful whether this operated as a cause or as a
consequence') and was confined to an asylum for a short time. He left Aberdeen in 1722 and after working for some years as a tutor set up shop in London as a bookseller and 'corrector of the
press', or proofreader, obtaining in 1735 the title of Bookseller
to the Queen. He began work on his Concordance in 1736, and
had it ready for publication in little more than a year. However,
his patroness Queen Caroline, to whom he was looking to
defray the expenses of publication, promptly died, and Cruden
had to sell up. This, together with an emotional tangle with a
widow, led to a further bout of insanity. He was placed in an
asylum in Bethnal Green, from which he managed to escape in
spite of being chained to the bedstead. His bookselling days
were over, but after a while he resumed working as corrector
of the press, and continued thus until his death. The second edition of his Concordance was dedicated to King George III. This concordance has not been out of print since 1737.