John Murray the elder was one of the founding sponsors of the London evening newspaper The Star in 1788.[3]
He was succeeded by his son
John Murray II, who made the publishing house important and influential. He was a friend of many leading writers of the day and launched the Quarterly Review in 1809. He was the publisher of
Jane Austen, Sir
Walter Scott,
Washington Irving,
George Crabbe,
Mary Somerville and many others. His home and office at 50
Albemarle Street in
Mayfair was the centre of a literary circle, fostered by Murray's tradition of "four o'clock friends", afternoon tea with his writers.
Murray's most notable author was
Lord Byron, who became a close friend and correspondent of his. Murray published many of his major works, paying him over £20,000 in rights. On 10 March 1812 Murray published Byron's second book, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which sold out in five days, leading to Byron's observation "I awoke one morning and found myself famous".
On 17 May 1824 Murray participated in one of the most notorious acts in the annals of literature. Byron had given him the manuscript of his personal memoirs to publish later on. Together with five of Byron's friends and executors, he decided to destroy Byron's manuscripts because he thought the scandalous details would damage Byron's reputation. With only
Thomas Moore objecting, the two volumes of memoirs were dismembered and burnt in the fireplace at Murray's office.[4] It remains unknown what they contained.
His son Sir John Murray V (1884–1967), grandson John Murray VI (John Arnaud Robin Grey Murray, known as Jock Murray; 1909–1993)[7][8] and great-grandson John Murray VII (John Richmond Grey Murray; 1941–) continued the business until it was taken over.
In 2002, John Murray was acquired by
Hodder Headline, which was itself acquired in 2004 by the French conglomerate
Lagardère Group. Since then, it has been an imprint under Lagardère brand
Hachette UK.[9]
In 2015, business publisher Nicholas Brealey became an imprint of John Murray.[10]
John Murray archive
The John Murray Archive was offered for sale to the nation by John Murray VII for £31 million and the
National Library of Scotland has acquired it, including the manuscript of
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. On 26 January 2005, it was announced that the National Library was to be given £17.7m by the
Heritage Lottery Fund towards the £31.2m price offered by John Murray on condition the Library digitise the materials and make them available. The
Scottish Government agreed to contribute £8.3m, with the Library setting a £6.5m fundraising target for the remainder.[11][12][13][14][15]
1768 – John MacMurray, a former lieutenant of the Marines, buys a bookselling business at 32 Fleet Street. He changes his name to Murray and uses his naval contacts to build up a thriving business
1836 – The first guide books, Murray's Handbooks, published by John Murray III
1849 – A groundbreaking observational study on the
Sikhpeople is published.[18] This comprehensive account arguably foreshadowed the
British Empire's first large-scale attempt at using the scientific method to civilise populations; this methodological approach later became known as
Eugenics.
1857 –
David Livingstone's Missionary Travels, published – one of the many great 19th-century publications of exploration from John Murray
1865 – Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries; and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858–1864 by
David and
Charles Livingstone published[19]
1871 –
Edward WhymperScrambles Amongst the Alps in the Years 1860–69, The first ascent of the
Matterhorn in 1865
1912 – June, Published Behind The Night Light by
Nancy Price, which was reprinted in June 1912, September 1912 and January 1913.
1921 – An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by
Ernest Weekley published[20]
1934 –
Julius KugyAlpine Pilgrimage (1st edition (English) 1934), Klugy's literary masterpiece on the
Julian Alps of Slovenia as translated by H. E. G. Tyndale (Henry Edmund Guise Tyndale)
1938 –
Daniele Varè's biography The Laughing Diplomat is published
1958 –
John Betjeman's Collected Poems published and has sold over two million copies to date
2003 – The first new acquisition since the company became part of Hodder Headline (now Hachette), A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, becomes a perennial and controversial bestseller
2004 – Rebirth of the John Murray fiction list with
Neil Jordan's Shade
2012 – Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by
Artemis Cooper shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, the Waterstone's Book of the Year Award and the National Book Awards Biography of the Year [citation needed]
^John Treadwell Nichols (1812).
"(Printers and booksellers)". Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. Vol. 3. London: Printed for the author, by Nichols, Son, and Bentley.
OCLC1138961.
Keighren, I. M.; Withers, C. W. J.; Bell, B. (2015). Travels into print: exploration, writing, and publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859. The University of Chicago Press.