Follow this link for the text of the FNL Lecture given by John R Murray VII in 2006.
The John Murray Archive is one of the world's most significant literary and cultural archives. With more than 150,000 items, it contains letters, manuscripts and journals from some of the greatest writers, politicians and scientists from 1768 to 1920. Edinburgh-born publisher John Murray [I] started the collection when he set up his business in London in the late 18th century.
Murray moved to London in 1768 establishing a publishing and bookselling business that would continue until 2002. Seven successive generations of the Murray family headed the publishing business from London, initially from 32 Fleet Street, before moving to 50 Albemarle Street in 1812. The papers in this collection from the years just before the establishment of the publishing house until circa 1930.
The publishing house produced books that covered a wide range of genres, including travel and exploration, poetry, novels and biography. In addition, the house of Murray were involved in other publishing ventures, such as the ill-fated newspaper endeavour, 'The Representative', and the much more successful and highly influential 'Quarterly Review', as well as producing the 'Navy Lists' for the Admiralty. The John Murray Archive covers the progress of the business from the 1760s until the early 20th century. The records reflect the activities of the publishing house and the wider world in which it functioned.
Included is a substantial amount of correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, of and to a variety of authors, editors, illustrators, printers and other publishers. This correspondence includes details of the business of the publishing house, as well as a wealth of personal information.
Material relating to some of the most prominent Murray authors forms a significant portion of the archive. This series is known as the 'author papers' and include letters, photographs, drafts, manuscripts, proofs and other related material of well-known figures such as Jane Austen, Isabella Bird Bishop, Charles Darwin, Sir Charles and Elizabeth Eastlake, David Livingstone, William Gladstone, Sir Austen Henry Layard, Sir Walter Scott and Sir William Smith.
The archive contains original MSS of works by Murray authors and extensive files of correspondence, letters and journals. Authors include Lord Byron, David Livingstone, Charles Darwin, Jane Austen, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus, Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, Herman Melville, Washington Irving and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with artists such as J M W Turner providing illustrations for Murray books.
