The foundation of the great publishing houses of London is co-temporary in date with the origin of the private banks and famous breweries; for, as in the case of these establishments, the connections requisite were so extensive, and the needful capital, to render venture a success, so large, that in many instances the present great publishing firms have been the work of three, in some cases even of five, generations. There have, of course, been isolated exceptions, as in the instance of Archibald Constable, of Edinburgh; but these rare cases, though often beneficial to the world at large, have seldom been individually successful.
John McMurray, the founder of the great London house of Murray, was born in Edinburgh about the year 1795, of very respectable parents, who not only gave him a good education, but enlisted for him the sympathies of Sir George Yonge, then an official in high favour. Through Sir George’s influence a commission was obtained in the Royal Marines, and in 1762, we find from the Navy List, that John McMurray joins his frigate full, probably, of hopeful anticipations of the promotion that sometimes came so speedily in the days of the old French wars. The Peace of Paris, however, was signed in the following year, and, spite of patronage and merit, McMurray was, in 1768, still a second lieutenant, and, in point of seniority, thirty-fourth on the list. Disgusted with a profession from which he could hope so little, and eager for a more useful career in life, in this same year he embraced an opportunity that seemed to give him a chance of exchanging the lounging idleness of Chatham barracks for the busy activity of London business, in a trade very congenial to his tastes, and not unaccompanied with hopes of solid emolument.
Among the friends he had made either afloat or at his Chatham quarters was William Falconer, who, a sailor boy “before the mast,” had in the very year of McMurray’s first entry into the service, published the beautiful poem of the “Shipwreck.” This poem attracted great attention, and the author was promoted to the more honourable than lucrative position of midshipman. Fellow-townsmen—and in those days blood was thicker than water—and in some degree fellow-students, for both were lovers of books, they became firm friends; and McMurray’s first thought, when the offer of a bookseller’s business was put before him, was to secure the aid of his literary friend in his new venture; and an interesting letter, still preserved, gives the history of his commencement as a bookseller. Addressed to “Mr. William Falconer, at Dover,” it runs as follows:—
“Brompton, Kent, 16th Oct., 1768.
“Dear Will,—Since I saw you, I have had the intention of embarking in a scheme that I think will prove successful, and in the progress of which I had an eye towards your participating. Mr. Sandby, bookseller, opposite St. Dunstan’s church, has entered into company with Snow and Denne, bankers. I was introduced to this gentleman about a month ago, upon an advantageous offer of succeeding him in his old business, which, by the advice of my friends, I propose to accept. Now, although I have little reason to fear success by myself in this undertaking, yet I think so many additional advantages would accrue to us both, were your forces and mine joined, that I cannot help mentioning it to you, and making you the offer of entering into company. He resigns to me the lease of the house; the goodwill ——; and I only take his bound stock, and fixtures, at a fair appraisement, which will not amount to more than £400, and which, if I ever mean to part with, cannot fail to bring in nearly the same sum. The shop has long continued in the trade; it retains a good many old customers; and I am to be ushered immediately into public notice by the sale of a new edition of Lord Lyttelton’s ‘Dialogues;’ and afterwards by a like edition of his ‘History.’ These works I shall sell by commission, upon a certain profit without risque; and Mr. Sandby has promised to continue to me, always, his good offices and recommendations. These are the general outlines; and if you entertain a notion that the conjunction would suit you, advise me, and you shall be assumed upon equal terms.
“Many blockheads in the trade are making fortunes; and did we not succeed as well as they, I think it must be imputed only to ourselves.... Consider what I have proposed, and send me your answer soon. Be assured in the meantime that I remain, dear Sir,
“Your affectionate and humble Servant,
“John McMurray.“P.S.—My advisers and directors in this affair have been Thomas Cumming, Esq., Mr. Archibald Paxton, Mr. Samuel Paterson, of Essex House, and Messrs. J. and W. Richardson, printers. These, after deliberate reflection, have unanimously thought that I should accept of Mr. Sandby’s offer.”
From some reason or other the offer was declined; perhaps, as Falconer’s biographer asserts, he was at this time (though absent for a while at Dover) living with his pretty little wife in an attic in Grub Street, toiling at his “Marine Dictionary,” and with no prospect of raising the money requisite for the partnership proposed; perhaps he had already accepted the pursership of the “Aurora” frigate. At all events, immediately after the publication of the third edition of his “Shipwreck,” which was to have contained some lines addressed to McMurray, which, in the hurry of departure were omitted, he sailed in the “Aurora” for India. The Cape was safely reached, but after leaving it the “Aurora” was never heard of again. Ship, crew, and passengers were all lost, and, through the untimely death of the author, the “Shipwreck” acquired a melancholy and almost prophetic interest, which speedily exhausted the third and many future editions.
In the meantime John McMurray had commenced bookselling in earnest. It was at a time when, through Wilkes and Bute, national feeling seems to have run very high, and to be a Scotchman was hardly a recommendation to a beginner, and we find that, though McMurray headed all his trade bills with a ship, as a proud testimony to his naval antecedents, he found it convenient to drop the Scotch prefix of Mc. The following copy of a trade card issued at the time is the first record we have of this alteration of title.
JOHN MURRAY (successor to Mr. Sandby),
Bookseller and Stationer,
At No. 32, over-against St. Dunstan’s Church,
in Fleet Street,
London.Sells all new Books and Publications. Fitts up Public or Private Libraries in the neatest manner with Books of the choicest editions, the best Print, and the richest Bindings.
Also,
Executes East India or Foreign Commissions by an assortment of Books and Stationary suited to the Market or Purpose for which it is destined; all at the most reasonable rates.
Murray found that Sandby’s connection at Fleet Street was a good one—Mr. William Sandby, indeed, could have been no ordinary bookseller, for his father was a prebendary of Gloucester, and his brother a master of Magdalen College, while he was accepted as partner in a wealthy banking firm—the trade were inclined to “back him up,” and he was able to extend his business considerably in India and Edinburgh, where he had many friends. The new edition of Lord Lyttelton’s “History” was brought out in stately quarto volumes, as befitted the rank of the author, and was completely issued in 1771–2, and, published “with a certain profit, without risque,” must have proved much more remunerative than the original “Henry II.” was to Sandby, who generously offered to pay for the author’s corrections, and who found to his cost that not a single line was left as originally printed.
Murray seems to have kept up his connection with Edinburgh, for in 1773 we find him London agent for the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, and in the following year, when it was proposed to separate the Magazine from the Review, Stuart writes to Smellie:—“Murray seems fully apprised of the pains and attentions that are necessary, has literary connections, and is fond of the employment; let him, therefore, be the London proprietor.” Murray consented to “take a share,” if his advice were attended to; but the scheme of a review came to nothing, and even the existing Edinburgh Magazine and Review died, in 1776, of a violent attack on Lord Monboddo’s “Origin of Language.” Murray offered his condolence in the following laconic note:—