The bloggers
Lauren Forbes,
Cataloguer
Lauren worked on the archive until September 2009, and sorted the vast amount of correspondence in the archive. Some letters were from well-known names, such as Neville Chamberlain and Mary Somerville, but many are from unknown correspondents. There is a generous smattering of bishops, archbishops, lords and ladies – not to mention letters from around the world, such as India, Iraq, New Zealand, America, to name but a few.
Daniel Gray, Cataloguer
Dan was a cataloguer on the archive until September 2009. He worked mainly on the Byron papers. These include poetry, prose, correspondence, bits of curtain and the odd piece of sea monster. He also listed the Murray family papers – a fascinating resource for charting the evolution of this great publishing house.
Stephen Rigden, Cataloguer
Stephen is arranging, numbering and creating the catalogue descriptions for the contents of the John Murray Archive. He's often busy deciphering 19th century handwriting and creating transcriptions of these for this website. Stephen also flags up any fascinating tidbits of correspondence he comes across for the blog.
John Cam Hobhouse on biographers
Extract from MS.42297 : observations on John Galt's biography of Lord Byron
Not only a would-be poet, but an infidel too!
Letter, 23 April 1875, of the Reverend Whitwell Elwin to John Murray III condemning the 'poetry' of one Wilfred Blunt.
In remembrance.
Obscured by the long shadows cast over the John Murray Archive by the great and the good are many whose lives were not such that we should have reason to know of them : of whom, indeed, we would seem to know almost nothing at all beyond a name on a letter. However, even these people have their stories. Often a few details and a keen curiosity may be combined rewardingly to allow at least some part of their stories to be told.
Such has been the case with a young chap called James Hewitt of whom the Archive holds two charming, but otherwise unremarkable, letters.
My colleague Lauren came upon the letters as she was undertaking the task of merging the three series of the letters to the various John Murrays. Ordinarily she had only time to look for the addresser's name on each letter to ensure that it was in the correct alphabetical sequence, before moving on to the next letter to repeat the same, and so on and so forth.
Hewitt, however, had signed the first of his letters to John Murray :
The statement of his tender years caused Lauren to pause to read the brief letters. Master Hewitt had written to the publisher to acquaint him with a mistake that he had noticed in a Latin textbook. He wrote :
Such precociousness! Would not the publisher have smiled broadly, perhaps he even laughed aloud, in admiration of the cleverness of the boy? That his reaction was one of appreciation is confirmed by a note that he scribbled in the top right-hand corner of the letter :
The gift of a copy of Aesop's Fables was generous. It was also apt, as young Hewitt was to prove himself to have been rather more impish than virtuous in his observations on Latin. Whether it was old Aesop who, as he has done so often, served as a guide to the wayward, or whether Hewitt was embarrassed by the gift, he wrote again to Murray:
As if to prove himself a truly reformed character, he continued :
Lauren was delighted by the letters and showed them to her colleagues. It was suggested that she should show them to her line manager who, having "some Latin", and being never without an editor's sharpened red pencil protruding threateningly from the top pocket of his jacket, would undoubtedly enjoy the content of the letters.
A suggestion that had been slightly mischievous in intent proved to have been inspired. The line manager soon picked over the few concrete details of the letters.
One of his personal interests happened to be the Great War and so looking at the letters he began to wonder : "Hewitt wrote the letter in 1898 when he was ten. By the time of the Great War ... he would probably have served? If so, did he survive?".
What had begun as a cheerful appreciation of the temerity of youth had become a more sober enquiry.
The line manager continued to consider the first letter, noting the address. "Gatehouse, N.B. [North Britain]? ... Kirkcudbrightshire, of course. Now, his father was an honourable - see, the boy gives his address 'co the Honble. W.J. Hewitt '... To the stud book!."
Lauren was puzzled. "The stud book?" she questioned.
"Yes! Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage ... over there", he replied waving his hand in the direction of a book press. "If his father was an honourable he'll be in Debrett's, and being in it we'll know who his sons were."
Witnessing the peculiar workings of an archivist's mind was indeed fascinating! He was soon perusing the entry for "Lifford", under which title he found exactly what he was looking for : "The Viscount Lifford, Evelyn James Hewitt ... James, 2nd Viscount ... James, 3rd Viscount ... James 4th Viscount ... William James, J.P. Kirkcudbrightshire and Fife, heir presumptive ... That's the father, W. J. Hewitt and ... yes! his son was James Francis , Lieutenant 1st Battalion Scottish Rifles. Born 23 January 1888 - which would have made him ten years old in 1898! ..." He paused. "Killed in action 26 October 1914".
Hewitt was 26 years old when killed. He is commemorated on the Ploegstreet Memorial in Belgium. His brother William, a Lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots, was also killed in action, a fortnight before his brother. He was just 22.
Gentle distinction.
[1 October 1862.] Letter of "Helen Dufferin" to John Murray III in which she explains the reason for having to style herself "Helen, Lady Dufferin" on the proposed title page to her work, "Lispings from Low Latitudes, or, Extracts from the Journal of the Hon. Impulsia Gushington".
Not to be trusted then?
Toronto, 26 July 1837. Letter of Francis Head to John Murray II.
The "scrap", a cutting from a newspaper, has been pasted to the letter and reads :
Head was in Canada as the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. The letter has as a postscript the rather matter of fact comment :
... as you do!
A final blog - one of my favourite letters
Among the countless 'general' letters to the firm of Murray, is one written in 1909 from an aspiring novelist. This is quite common - many people wrote saying, basically, 'please publish my book!'. If they received a courteous rejection, they often wrote again, pleading their cause, and insisting their work be reconsidered. Not so this young woman. There is just one letter from her, but the content makes clear that her manuscript has been turned down.
Her response is humble, elegant and utterly charming. She realises that her first attempt was unlikely to be published, and is not surprised at its return. However she goes on to say that Murray's ending words have truly encouraged her, that she will keep writing, and will hope for success in the future.
Her name? I recognised it at once, as the writer of many poems & stories I read as a child and greatly enjoyed - Eleanor Farjeon.
Do authors have consciences?
John Murray III certainly had his doubts about that. Writing to fellow publishers Messrs Mosley & Sons in 1854, he warns them they need to set up cast-iron agreements to guarantee that authors won't take any 2nd or subsequent editions of their books elsewhere. No doubt speaking from bitter experience he remarks:
What's in a name?
I'm checking the transcription of David Livingstone's Analysis of the Language of the Bechuanas, and I came across a familiar sounding word. He's listing endings and the meanings they give to words:
No doubt this name has other meanings in other languages, as happens with words, but I quite like this one, it has something of humility in it, a quality its namesake seems to reflect.
A poet's worth
What can a poet do for local tourism? Arthur Patchett Martin (1851-1902) was an Australian poet & literary editor who was born in England and returned there later in his life. There are 3 letters of his in the archive, 2 written from the Isle of Wight, no doubt a favoured holiday spot. Along with the letters is a press-cutting of a letter he wrote to the Editor of Vectis, presumably a periodical associated with the island. The letter concerns his (Martin's) suggestion that Cliff Green on the island should be called Keats' Green, as Keats stayed there briefly at one point. I like the way he makes his case!
I had a quick check on Google, and it seems his argument won the day.
Come to Edinburgh for a walk on the wild side
More from James Nasmyth, reminiscing about walks with his father around Scotland's capital:
More "city" is now visible from the top of Arthur's Seat, but this description remains absolutely true today...
An honest politician?
I'm trying to identify some unknown correspondents within the archive - some have used a pseudonym, or just given their initials, and some letters are unsigned. One such 'unknown' is a small plain postcard sent to Murray from Torquay in April 1921, and signed 'E. P.' The handwriting is a little unclear, but the correspondent has sent some writing to Murray and the postcard is sent in pleasure at the publisher's positive response. The writing must have been connected with politics, as E.P. finishes with the brief remark:
Discuss...
The decorousness of the French language.
Letter of William Knapp, editor of the works of George Borrow, to John Murray, sharing perhaps just a little too much information!
Things to do after a hard night's drinking: no. 256 - go for a 7 mile walk?
Alexander Nasmyth the artist (1758-1840) became a good friend of Robert Burns, and is best known for his portrait of the Bard. They shared a deep love of nature, and Nasmyth reported an incident which he felt showed Burns' heartfelt appreciation for nature's beauties - he also believed it disproved the common view that Burns, once in convivial company, liked his drink a bit too much. The story is given with vivid description in the manuscript of James Nasmyth's autobiography (son of Alexander):
- Alexander Nasmyth, Burns and some friends have admittedly been enjoying a drink or two in an Edinburgh tavern:
So, fair enough, he liked a party - but nature still came first!
"The shadow of a shade" - Mary Shelley seeks entry to the House of Commons.
MS.42291. 19 February [1825]. A delightful letter of Mary Shelley to John Cam Hobhouse requesting his assistance in allowing her access to hear a debate in the House of Commons.
In the last paragraph of the letter Shelley comments briefly on the recently published "Narrative of Lord Byron's last journey to Greece. Extracted from the journal of Count Peter Gamba" (London : John Murray, 1825).
To be published or to "blush unseen"?
Letter of Harriot Georgina Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, to John Murray.
Lady Dufferin's journal was published by John Murray in 1889 under the title :
"Our viceregal life in India. Selections from my journal 1884-1888".
Some reference! Some servant!
A typescript copy of an "Extract from a letter of Lord Dufferin" in which he outlines the virtues of his most trusted servant, Frederick Nowell. Unfortunately, the addressee of the letter is not recorded.
Wordsworth on genius.
30 January 1833. A comment from a letter of William Wordsworth to Miss Kinnaird.
Gladstone condemned. The nude considered.
MS.42171, ff. 99v.-100r.
Lady Elizabeth Eastlake to Sir Austen Henry Layard, 25 May 1885.
Commenting upon the effects of Gladstone's second government, Lady Eastlake writes :
On a lighter subject, Lady Eastlake remarks upon a discussion in 'The Times' concerning the issue of the nude in art.
The author in night-wear...
William Clowes & Sons was one of the printing firms used by Murray. I've happened upon an amusing letter from George Clowes to Murray, written in February 1839. There's obviously been an urgent request for a report by Sir Francis Head to be printed - he was a colonial governor, not long back from dealing controversially with problems in Canada. It seems there isn't a moment to lose... George Clowes writes:
A note at the top of the letter shows how 'pressing' this is:
You begin to see how he got the nickname 'Galloping Head'.
The art of self-description
There are quite a few letters in the archive from Walter Weston, who worked as a missionary in Japan and was also a keen mountaineer, becoming an authority on mountaineering there. He writes to Murray on 26th December 1895 with suggested wording for the announcement of his book on the Japanese Alps. He says:
The list isn't actually as bad as some, and he describes himself as:
He ends his letter:
- perhaps he was worried about too many mince pies?
"Brain-fag".
?23 August 1899. Isabella Bird Bishop writes to Murray during the process of preparing for publication "The Yangtze Valley and Beyond".
Sticks, stones, broken bones, names - and all that.
The Earl of Shrewsbury writing from Palermo in March 1846 to the Editor of "Murray's Handbook to France" :
The Ettrick Shepherd (again)
James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, is one of my favourite characters in the archive - he just tells it like it is! Here are a couple of excerpts from a letter written to Byron on 1st June 1814. Hogg thanks Byron for his contribution to a publication he was putting together, and admits:
Excellent! I hope Byron laughed at that, rather than taking offence. Meanwhile Hogg is complimentary about Murray, despite his trade:
He was quoted in this blog on 18th Jan last year as 'honest Hogg', and I have to agree...
David Livingstone, the American Civil War and a lady from Constantinople.
MS.42423, ff. 3-4. An interesting letter of Harriette Livingstone to David Livingstone. Harriette was the wife of Charles Livingstone, David's brother. Writing from New York on the 10th February 1865 she remarks on the American Civil War, in particular, making reference to Robert Livingstone, David's eldest son, who had taken up arms for the North.
Sadly, Robert Livingstone had actually died in a prisoner camp at Salisbury, North Carolina, on 5 December 1864. David Livingstone did not learn the fate of his son until June 1865.
Continuing the letter, Harriette comments on possible opportunities in the South for her husband after the war :
Of her brother-in-law she observes:
Blame the printer!
20 September 1899. On a post card to Hallam Murray Mrs. Bishop blames her printer unreservedly for introducing errors into the proofs of her work 'The Yangtze Valley and beyond':
An affronted author, a printer accused : evidently a situation requiring all the tact and diplomacy of the publisher. Hallam Murray, therefore, forwarded Mrs. Bishop's rather belligerent postcard direct to the printer!
On the 22 September 1899 the printer, William Brendon & Son, West Hoe, Plymouth, replied to Murray:
Did this answer quell Mrs. Bishop's ire? Only in part, for in a letter to Murray of 29 September she comments :
but she continues :
The publisher's thoughts enflamed?
3 May 1860. The Rev. Whitwell Elwin writes to Murray from Booton Rectory, Norwich.
An honest man
Anthony W Thorold (1825-1895) became Bishop of Winchester, and his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography says that he liked to travel for recreation. This favoured hobby shows in his letters where he often reminds Murray of a kind promise Murray made to lend or give him the travel handbooks for the countries he planned to visit. One letter, written in July 1869 (before he became a bishop), thanks Murray for the Handbook to Yorkshire, given for a different reason:
Sounds good Bishop material to me!
Saints and sinners : on the character of women.
11 September 1881. Lady Eastlake to Austen Henry Layard
The young lady, the would-be artist and the Lord Chancellor.
7 August 1874. A letter of Lady Eastlake to Austen Henry Layard.
What of the dashing young gentleman?
Praise for the Queen of Science
I've just come across the letters of Allen Thomson (1809-1884), anatomist & embryologist. In one letter to Murray, dated 29th May 1835, he comments on the second edition of Mary Somerville's book (Connexion of the physical sciences):
The Bridgewater treatises had been commissioned in the will of the 8th Earl of Bridgewater, Francis Henry Egerton (1756-1829), who directed that 1000 copies should be written and published of a work 'On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation'. Among the eight scientists/philosophers chosen to write the treatises were physician Peter Mark Roget (also of Roget's Thesaurus fame) and geologist William Buckland.
Not to the liking of the editor.
11 May 1865. Whitwell Elwin to John Murray commenting upon an unnamed and unfortunate dramatist.
Reviewers reviewed
On the 3 August [1860] Charles Darwin wrote to John Murray expressing his thanks on having received a copy of the 'Quarterly Review'. Murray had sent the issue because it included a review of Darwin's 'On the origin of species'. Whilst having been unconcerned by the way that the article had challenged his theory, there having been 'hardly any malice' in the review, Darwin did allow himself the following gentle comment upon those who made it their business to write reviews:
A life in the day of...
As I think I've mentioned before, some of the correspondence in the archive has nothing whatever to do with publishing, and such letters often add colour to the picture of life during the archive's time-span. They provide tiny glimpses into people's lives, and a genealogist could have a field-day. I've just happened upon a short letter to Murray from a Mrs Laura W. Taylor of Wandsworth, written in August 1868:
A note at the top of the next page reads: "Candidate, Fredk Stone (aged 7)"
I wonder what became of Frederick Stone...
A pleasure deferred.
In May 1887 the actress Fanny Stirling wrote to James Nasmyth, engineer and amateur astronomer, to thank him for the gift of one of his publications. She commented cheerily, if perhaps a little unconvincingly :
The confident author
We had just been discussing authors' various ways of approaching their publisher, whether diffident, timid or whatever, but this letter from novelist Julian Sturgis (presumably responding to a suggestion by Murray) illustrates the bold approach. Writing in Nov. 1889 he says:
I like his style... and it sounds as if he did too.
A Journal from Japan
I'm working my way through letters from people whose surname begins with 'S' (there are quite a few of them...). I've come to 2 letters from Marie Stopes, best known as a pioneer of family planning. However her scientific career started in the field of palaeobotany, the study of fossil plants. In 1907 she was awarded a Royal Society grant for research in this area, and spent 2 years in Japan, her work including "some very interesting travel."
In her first letter to Murray, dated July 15th, 1909, she is keen to offer her journal to the publisher of "Miss Bird's travels in Japan" [Isabella Bird Bishop]. The second letter (July 17th - quick turnaround!), responds to a no doubt polite rejection from Murray. He must have emphasised the unique nature of Mrs Bird Bishop's travels & writings, but understandably Marie Stopes underlines her own credentials as a pioneer - the only woman (at that time) awarded such a Royal Society grant to work overseas; the first female scientist to undertake an official visit to Japan and to work at Tokyo University; she had also been the first female member of staff in science at a UK university (Manchester) - these are just a few of her 'firsts'. I like her comment to Murray:
John Murray was not persuaded, but Marie Stopes' A Journal from Japan was published in 1910 by Blackie & Son.
Landing that punchy title
I'm amused by a letter of Charles Darwin's, written in August 1880. It's not to John Murray, as the content makes clear, but it doesn't name the intended recipient - perhaps Robert Cooke, Murray's nephew, who worked for the firm. Darwin begins by saying he'll be ready to send his manuscript to the printers in a month, so he must decide on a title (obviously a difficult task he has left to the end). He continues:
I'm sure they did, as I'm not convinced "circummutating" is in the dictionary - and it isn't exactly snappy, even for a scientific tome. But I just love the picture of this brilliant but perhaps slightly impractical scientist coming up with what seems to him a perfectly clear description of his work, while Mrs Darwin and the junior Darwins shake their heads in disbelief, thinking "Oh no, he's off again..." (or the 19th century equivalent). He finally settled for 'The power of movement in plants'.
Richard Ford and the art of poetic exasperation
In a letter of 1846 to John Murray concerning the handbook to Spain, Ford took exception to the significant changes that Murray wished to impose on his work. Ford's irritation is very apparent, but his closeness to Murray, clearly expressed in the letter, would appear to have tempered his response. Instead of acerbity he offered a rather delightful plaint :
Before sending the letter Ford returned to this section of it, scribbling in the margin:
Beer and the bookseller.
Among the many interesting entries in the letterbooks of the first John Murray are several relating to his attempt to trade in beer. Included among the entries are the following "Directions for Beer".
The health giving effect of Ramsgate.
Ramsgate in Kent has been described as having been one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. William Gifford, the first editor of the 'Quarterly Review', would certainly have agreed with that assessment.
In September 1815 Gifford wrote to John Murray II concerning matters to do with the 'Quarterly Review'. The serious business of editorial responsibility concluded, he turned to pleasantries, ending the letter with the following praise for Ramsgate :
A case of mistaken identity (or a molar expedition?)
A letter written in 1890 with young, easy-to-read writing, caught my eye today. (Anything with easy-to-read writing catches my eye). From an address in Chislehurst, it says:
A charming letter of thanks.
A letter loosely inserted in the manuscript of William Napier's 'History of the War in the Peninsula'.
A loving shepherd?
Hugh Richard Lawrie Sheppard, 1880-1937, known as Dick Sheppard, became Dean of Canterbury in 1929. His letters to John Murray pre-date this, beginning in 1912, with many dated 1914 when he was incumbent of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, but continuing up to the late 1920s. He seems to have been a hugely earnest and sincere Christian, whose health often broke down under the strain of his efforts. He was also a man of the people, preferring informality to institutionalism and stuffiness. Having witnessed the suffering of World War I soldiers he became a pacifist, and lead the newly formed Peace Pledge Union from 1936 until his death.
His letters to Murray hint at some of these qualities. For example, in 1914 he is keen for Murray to do the Bible readings at one of his services, and corresponds about this. However, he runs into trouble with his "very difficult, though quite well-meaning, Church-warden", who objects to lay people giving the readings in a Royal parish. Our good cleric remarks to Murray: "did you ever hear such rot?!". He manages a compromise with the warden by explaining who it is that he has invited to do the readings, but asks Murray to help him pacify the warden by giving the first reading only, rather than both.
One short note expresses real gratitude to Murray during a difficult time. Undated, it says, among other things:
Further evidence of their close friendship is found in a postcard from Capri, March 1925, perhaps a place of recovery during further ill health. It is signed, in deference to the Rev. W.A. Spooner, "Your Shoving Leopard".
If he intended to be a man of the people, he certainly succeeded. When he died in October 1937, 100,000 people filed past his coffin at St Martin's, and crowds lined the route to his funeral.
The 'hardihood' of a harrowing boy and the judgement of a master at Harrow
On the 7 November 1819 Henry Drury, assistant master at Harrow, wrote to Sir Benjamin Hobhouse. The letter concerned the waywardness of Sir Benjamin's son Isaac (the youngest brother of John Cam Hobhouse). In a long and considered letter, shortened below, Drury outlined the failings of Isaac - and then gave his judgement!
Can't you just imagine the expression on the face of young Isaac, had he been accorded the courtesy of a chaise for his removal? Contrition? One suspects not.
Sir Austen Henry Layard on artists : John Everett Millais.
In a letter of ?1859 to Lady Elizabeth Eastlake Layard comments :
Sir Austen Henry Layard on artists : Rossetti.
Layard's closing comment in a letter of ?1881 to Lady Elizabeth Eastlake.
The gentle art of criticism ...
A manuscript fragment from the papers concerning Lord Holland.
Well said, sir!
There's no messing about with flowery language for Philip Pusey (1799-1855), agriculturist and elder brother of Edward Pusey, the prominent Church of England clergyman - only good, plain English will do. Fortunately a Murray publication finds great favour with him:
Here here, top-notch etc. (oops, a bit of Latin creeping in there, sorry)
Apropos old age
In a letter from a Raphael Roche to John Murray, written in London in 1927, he thanks Murray for the gift of a beautifully illustrated book sent to himself and his wife. Murray must have made some mention of health and age, as the letter continues:
A colleague here did wonder if this would cheer John Murray up, but I liked it. I also like this letter for the request printed diagonally across the top left-hand corner: PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY. Raphael Roche's own handwriting is very easy to read, so we can hardly complain.
A peaceful letter for Easter
William Page Edwards was born in Liverpool in 1836, went to school there, and then studied at St John's College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1862, and worked his way from being a curate in Stockport, Cheshire to priest in charge of St Peter's in St Marylebone from 1878-1907. He became Canon of Canterbury from 1895-1907, and finally Dean of Salisbury, from 1907-19. He continued to preach occasionally in his 89th year at churches near his home on the Isle of Wight, and died at the grand old age of 92.
I hope you are still with me after the biography, as the letter I've found from him in the archive is both charming and tranquil. It was written from his home at Shanklin on July 10th, 1921, when he would have been 85. Imagine a view out to sea on a warm summer's day and read...
The effervescent Mollie
The letters of Mollie (surname as yet unknown) are so good, I'll just let them speak for themselves. They were written in London in 1920:
I thought she might well be in her early teens, but a later letter put me right:
and she then goes on to say she is working very hard "going over the typed copy of the book".
I think Noel Coward would have approved.
Guns n' Roses
I've now happened upon some letters from Robert Taylor Pritchett (1828-1907), who was a gun maker and landscape painter. What a great combination! He followed in his father's footsteps, working for the firm of Enfield which supplied the East India Company with arms, and became famous as the co-inventor of the Pritchett rifle bullet. But business slumped with the abolition of the East India Company in 1858, so Pritchett turned to art, becoming just as successful in this career.
His connection with Murray comes from his illustrations in the 1890 edition of Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle. A keen yachtsman, his letters show this edition was his idea. He writes on 2nd December 1885:
His handwriting itself is very artistic, and one letter, dated 26th June 1896, includes a carefully hand-drawn map showing how to reach his "cottage" as he describes it, at 36 Gloucester Road, Kew.
On the subject of varied careers, I also like the sound of another correspondent, William Pole, who was 'engineer, musician and authority on whist'. Or how about Francis Penrose with his alliterative 'Architect, Archaeologist & Astronomer'? I will have to work on bettering that - Cataloguer, Croupier and Kickboxer sounds good for a start.
Condolence on the death of Charles Darwin.
In a letter to John Murray III of April 29 [1882], Isabella Bishop commented :
The Clangers have classical roots
I've just come across a letter from John Percival Postgate, the classical scholar. He writes to John Murray in May 1909 to let him know of a new book club at Cambridge University - the Cambridge Greek and Latin Book Club - and to ask if Murray will provide specimen copies of suitable books as promised.
But never mind all that! Having been brought up (way back...) on Pogles' Wood, and being a fan of such classics as Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, the Clangers and Bagpuss, I wondered if JP might be related to Oliver Postgate, the writer of these series. And of course he is, being Oliver's paternal grandfather. I wonder what he was like as a grandad. According to the Dictionary of National Biography, his children had to practise their Latin during mealtimes. I might have gone a bit hungry there...
Meanwhile I also found out that Oliver Postgate is a cousin of Angela Lansbury on his mother's side. Murray she wrote? It's a bit bewildering where this Archive takes you sometimes.
Wise beyond her years, or unduly modest?
On the 30th December [1859] Isabella Bird [Bishop] wrote to the Reverend Whitwell Elwin, the formidable editor of the Quarterly Review:
The article in question was published under the title Religious revivals in the Quarterly Review for January 1860.
February storms
Hearing about various stricken vessels in February 2008, a letter I came across today caught my attention. George Philpot of Deal writes on Feb 5th 1838 to tell Murray about a vessel in distress he had seen that morning "on Goodwin Sands". When the vessel was spotted:
He relates that hundreds of people waited on the beach to help once the crew were brought ashore, in particular a local surgeon, Mr William Hulh. Mr Philpot gives the vessel's name as "the Martin of Sunderland".
Charlotte Mew
Some letters in the Archive send you off on a voyage of discovery. I recently came upon a letter to Murray from Florence Hardy, Thomas Hardy's second wife. Writing in June 1922, she thanks Murray for a visit to Albemarle Street along with two friends. She continues:
Charlotte who? I had never heard of her. What on earth became of this "one woman of genius writing today"? Turning to the Dictionary of National Biography I discovered that Charlotte Mew, born in London in 1869, did become a published poet. Her first collection, The Farmer's Bride, was published in 1916, and a second collection, The Rambling Sailor, came out in 1929. She did have a fairly troubled life. Three brothers died in infancy, and two other siblings were committed to an asylum. It's thought that Charlotte and her sister Anne stayed single to avoid passing on what they saw as a family madness.
She was very critical of her own work, and so didn't publish much. She seems to have had a powerful personality, split between 'correct' and wild behaviour. Following her sister's death from cancer, Charlotte's own life was cut short when she committed suicide in 1928. It's a pity she hasn't been remembered in the way Thomas Hardy clearly believed she deserved. But her poetry is still in print, and I recommend it.
"Honest Hogg" (or, Metaphysical poetry explained).
Washington Irving in his "Abbotsford and Newstead" (of which a manuscript copy is held in the Archive) related the following amusing anecdote about the poetry of James Hogg, "The Ettrick Shepherd", and its effect upon his publisher, William Blackwood.
Contempt for a vampire
On 1 April 1819 a work entitled The Vampyre : a tale by Lord Byron appeared in the New Monthly Magazine, published by Henry Colburn. The first that Byron knew of his authorship of the tale was when he saw it advertised in Galignani's Messenger, an English language newspaper widely circulated on the continent where he was then residing in Italy. In a letter to the editor of the Messenger, Byron disclaimed the tale, commenting:
Who then was the author?
John Cam Hobhouse, as faithful to the interests of his friend Byron as any of the poet's own beloved hounds, was soon upon the scent. In a letter to John Murray he wrote :
"Apothecary's stuff"? Hobhouse was after his quarry, and soon drove him from covert. In a letter that appeared in the Courier (May 5, 1819) John William Polidori, formerly Byron's personal physician, acknowledged his own authorship of "The Vampyre".
The drinks are on the house (of Murray)
As it's Friday, many of my thoughts turn immediately to beer (well, not immediately, not as soon as I wake up; I'm not Rab C. Nesbitt). I'm able to think about alcohol a lot in my job as a JMA cataloguer: the archive is positively flowing with booze.
I've spent much of the recent part of my working life sorting through the papers of that mad, bad and dangerous to catalogue poet, Lord Byron. Byron's handwriting in the early years is perfectly legible, and every one of his flirtatious and incendiary words can be deciphered. Yet as he ages, reading his handwriting makes me feel a bit like a partially-sighted 93 year-old man squinting to make out a message written in font size 2. In Arabic.
Much of this incoherence is, I am convinced, down to Byron's penchant for a tipple. Anyone who has ever had a brilliant idea after a few pints and scribbled it down on a piece of paper before falling asleep will know the feeling: you wake up the next morning to find that the piece of paper reads 'owls dangerous taking frames of pictures in Portsmouth' or such like. You might laugh, but the BBC seemed pretty interested in that particular idea.
I once stumbled upon a letter of his with a dark red stain strewn across the bottom half of the page. Upon further inspection (i.e. holding it up to the light, the cataloguing version of kicking the tyres of a car), I noticed that this stain bore something of a resemblance to port. Not for the first time, I felt a certain sense of empathy for Byron - I know that crushing feeling when some bloke knocks your pint over.
Elsewhere in the archive, I enjoyed Washington Irving's P.S. to John Murray: "I am writing with a hollowed head and spinning hand, having returned at almost daylight from a fancy ball at the British Ambassador's". What a romantic way to describe a hangover. I wonder if he got a kebab on the way home.
James Hogg was a bit of a steamer too, downing a whisky every time a line of poetry pleased him. Mind, I'm a bit rock 'n' roll like that as well; each time I complete a good XML mark-up transcription, I eat a Midget Gem.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that alcohol is a recurring theme in the archive: in 1769 the original John (Mc)Murray began to try his hand flogging ale. Murray himself had a soft spot for, among other things, port, sherry, mountain malaga, punch and rum. When he left for Ireland in 1775 an inventory of his London cellar counted 51 one bottles of rum alone.
His diary of that year gives account of a particularly inebriated night out in Ireland's capital. Having downed six bottles of wine which "intoxicated me uncommonly", at midnight Murray decided to go "away in a chair, but broke from it in Essex Street and ran after some girls". If the Daily Mail had been around then they would have blamed binge drinking on the influence of writers and publishers, in the same way they blame murders on song lyrics now.
All of this is making me thirsty. Mine's a mountain malaga.
The great unknowns
There's been plenty of publicity about the big names in the archive: Byron, Scott, Darwin, Livingstone etc. But I've been sorting and listing the general incoming correspondence, which includes letters from many as yet unidentified and completely unknown people. They can be just as fascinating, not to mention odd, intriguing or plain weird. Here are just a few that have caught my eye:
Most appropriate name must go to Capt Lindsay Brine, writing several letters in the mid 19th century about his travels. He writes from Malta in Nov. 1865 describing unusual navigation techniques en route:
"Etna was always smoking - Stromboli used to act for us like a lighthouse and shoot up its glare visible twenty miles - Vesuvius did the same in a less degree."
Meanwhile Miss Lilian Kerr requests a reference for a prospective employee, in Feb. 1928. Her organisation Useful Women provides a host of highly respectable services, as the letter's accompanying leaflet shows, including:
"Emergency guests for dances, dinners and house parties provided;
Mending for bachelors, business women and others;
Underwear of every description made to order;
Yule-tide gifts a speciality".
Hmmm, I could have done with them recently. For the Yule-tide gifts, you understand, not for anything else.
Finally this next short letter will give us some identification problems. Written in London in 1894, it says simply:
"Dear Maude, No I know not the man. Collar him! Yrs, E.A.A."
More coming soon...