Yes, he was. John Rae (1845-1915) - not to be mistook with John Rae
(1796-1872), the post-Ricardian economist -  the well-known journalist and
essayist, was either the biographer of Adam Smith (1895) or the author of
Contemporary socialism (second edition, Swan Sonnenschein and Co, London
1891; I owe the Italian trsl., Il Socialismo contemporaneo, issued in
1889, obviously taken from the first edition whose date I presently do not
know). In the preface, Rae informs that some chapters of the book had
appeared in such journals as the Contemporary Reviwew and the British
Quarterly. Chapter III on Marx is apparently a remake of the article cited
by Perelman (which I could not consult). Note that Contemporary socialism
is included by Marshall in the "draft list of books for the three papers
on economics in part I of the new Tripos" in economics (see Marshall's
letter to Edgeworth, 6 Oct. 1903, in J. K. Whitaker, ed., The
correspondence of A. Marshall economist, CUP, 1996, vol. III, 1903-1924,
p. 60).

Riccardo Faucci