In 1858 he became editor of two weekly periodicals, the 'Leisure Hour' (founded in 1852) 1853, 1894, 1904 and 'Sunday at Home' (founded in 1864) till 1895. 'Boy's Own Paper' and the 'Girl's Own Paper' were founded in 1879 and edited under his direction.

Works

• Essay on cruelty to animals, 1839 external source
• Across the Ferry (1871). external source
• Ireland in 1872: a Tour of Observation, with Remarks on Irish Public Opinion (1873)
• Plea for mercy to animals, 1875 [https://archive.org/details/pleaformercytoan00macaiala
• What Great Englishmen have said concerning the Papacy, 1878 (reissued as 'Witness of Great Englishmen,' 1900).
• All True: Records of Peril and Adventure by Sea, 1879 (new edit. 1880).
• History of Scotland: from Agricola's invasion to the union of the crowns. by Alexander Whamond, 1880 contr. external source
• Vivisection, Scientifically and Ethically Considered in Prize Essays, 1881 external source
• Sea Pictures drawn with Pen and Pencil, 1882 (new edit. 1884), a work praised highly by Ruskin.
• Doctor Johnson: His Life, Works & Table Talk, 1884 external source
• Gray Hawk: Life and Adventures among the Red Indians, 1883 (reissued 1909), a story founded on fact.
• Stirring Stories of Peace and War by Land and Sea, 1885 (new edit, illustrated in colour by George Soper, 1910).
• Victoria, R.I.: Her Life and Reign, 1887 (5 portraits).
• From Middy to Admiral of the Fleet: the Story of Commodore Anson retold, 1891. https://archive.org/details/frommiddytoadmir00macarich
• Speeches and addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888, as editor (1889) (transcription project)
• Strange yet true, n.d. external source
• Poems on various subjects, in Scots and English, n.d. external source

Works about Macaulay

• In: The lives of British historians by Eugene Lawrence, 1855 vol 1, vol 2
• "Macaulay, James," in Dictionary of National Biography Second Supplement, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., (1912) in 3 vols.