John Murray Archive manuscripts available for adoption

Adopt a manuscript at the National Library of Scotland

Join the John Murray Archive 'Four o'Clock Friends' at the National Library of Scotland by adopting a manuscript. Authors list last updated: 17 June 2011. See also list by price.

 

Duke of Argyll

• Selected pages from 'Burdens of Belief', 1894 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray III, 22 February 1893 — £500
• Review of 'Burdens of Belief' in 'The Athenaeum', 14 July 1894, 14 July 1894 — £1,000

Jane Austen

• Letter to John Murray II, 23 November 1815 — £2,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 11 December 1815 — £2,000
• Sales subscription list for 'Mansfield Park', 1816
  — Adopted by the Jane Austen Society

Isabella Bird

• Letter to Henrietta Bird, 13 February 1879 — £5,000
• Isabella Bird's Korean passport, around 1894 — £1,000
• Selection of Isabella Bird's photographs — £1,000 per photo

Lord Byron

• Drawing by Lady Caroline Lamb of Lord and Lady Byron, around 1815 — £5,000
• Translation of Byron's Greek funeral oration, 1836 — £5,000

Charles Darwin

• Letter to John Murray III, 31 March 1859 — £2,000
• Letter of the Rev Whitwell Elwin to John Murray III, 3 May 1859 — £1,000

Benjamin Disraeli

• Letter to Mrs Murray, 21 May 1826 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 18 September 1825 — £2,000
• Letter from Mrs Disraeli to John Murray II, 21 May 1826
  — Adopted in memory of J Steven Watson.

Richard Ford

• Letter to John Murray III, 17 December 1843 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray, 28 September 1845 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray, 1846 — £1,000

Sir John Franklin

• Notebook from his first Arctic expedition, 1821 — £10,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 1829 — £1,000
• Illustrations from 'Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea', 1823 — £10,000

James Hogg

• Letter to John Murray II, 26 December 1814 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 24 March 1821 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 7 May 1815 — £1,000

Washington Irving

• Manuscript of 'Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey', 1835 — £10,000
• Copyright agreement for 'The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus', 7 May 1828 — £5,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 18 June 1824 — £1,000

Lady Caroline Lamb

• Letter to John Murray II, February 1814 — £2,000
• Letter from Lord Byron, 29 April 1813 — £5,000
• Letter to Lord Byron, 3 June 1814 — £5,000

Sir Henry Austen Layard

• Transcriptions of cuneiform inscriptions from artefacts found at 'Nimroud', 1845-1847 — £1,000
• Sir Austen Henry Layard's passport, 1839-1842 — £500
• Selected pages of annotated proofs of 'Nineveh and its remains', 1848 — £5,000

Dr David Livingstone

• Manuscript of 'Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries', 1865 — £10,000
• Promotional pamphlet for works about David Livingstone — £1,000

Sir Charles Lyell

• Letter to John Murray III, 24 October 1851 — £500
• Letter of Sir Charles Lyell to John Murray, 4 November 1859 — £500
• Selected pages from 'Principles of Geology', 1830-1833 — £500

Leslie Marchand

• Letter from Lord Byron to John Murray II, 23 August 1811 — £2,000
• Letter of Lord Byron to John Cam Hobhouse and Douglas Kinnaird, 19 January 1819 — £2,000
• Letter from Lord Byron to John Murray II, 22 April 1822 — £2,000

Herman Melville

• Letter to John Murray III, 29 October 1847 — £2,000
• Copyright agreement between Herman Melville and John Murray, 25 September 1850 — £5,000
• Receipt for payment to Herman Melville, 30 March 1847 — £1,000

Caroline Norton

• Manuscript, with marked proofs, of 'A Voice from the Factories', 1836 — £5,000
• Letter to John Murray III, November 1836 — £500
• Letter to John Murray III, December 1836 — £500

Sir Robert Peel

• Handbill for 'Peel's Police'
• Annotated proof of speech on 'Suppressing Disturbance in Ireland', 1833 — £5,000

Maria Rundell

• Manuscript page about dinner parties from 'Domestic Cookery — £1,000
• Selected pages and recipes from 'Domestic Cookery', 1806 — £1,000
• Pages in estimate book with expected publishing costs for 'Domestic Cookery' — £1,000

Heinrich Schliemann

• Plans of excavations around 1876 — £2,000
• Photograph of the mask of 'Agamemnon', 1878 — £10,000
• Title page of 'Mycenae', 1878 — £1,000

Sir Walter Scott

• Scott's own review of his 'Tales of my Landlord', 1816 — £10,000
• Letter to John Murray II, 30 October 1808 — £2,000
• Scott's eulogy for Lord Byron, 1824 — £5,000

Samuel Smiles

• Letter from Renee Hopkins to John Murray IV, 27 March 1921 — £1,000
• Letter to John Murray III, 30 March 1879 — £1,000
• Pages in estimate book with expected costs for publishing 'Self-Help' — £1,000

Mary Somerville

• Letter to John Murray III, 28 March 1857 — £500
• Letter to John Murray III, 26 October 1866 — £500
• Letter to John Murray III, January 1869 — £500

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