Introduction to the John Murray Archive

The John Murray Archive charts the history of one of Britain's oldest family-run publishing firms, established in Fleet Street, London, in 1768. The publishing house of John Murray was founded by the industrious Edinburgh-born John McMurray (1737 to 1793). The business was managed by seven generations of Murrays until its sale in 2002.

The John Murray Archive can be described as a literary, business and family collection. It contains the business records of the publishing house including correspondence with authors, editors and the book trade. Other record types include reader’s reports, contracts and financial ledgers. The family papers component of the Archive includes letters, notebooks, diaries and legal papers relating to the Murray family.

The Archive contains records relating to authors including:

• Jane Austen (1775 to 1817)

• Charles Darwin (1809 to 1882)

• David Livingstone (1813 to 1873)

• Austen Henry Layard (1817 to 1894)

• Isabella Bird (1831 to 1904)

• Freya Stark (1893 to 1993)

• Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915 to 2011)

• Dervla Murphy (1931 to 2022)

The Archive also incorporates three distinct sub-collections.

The Byron papers consists not only of the letter and manuscripts acquired by John Murray II as the publisher of the poet Lord Byron, but also other historical material actively collected by the Murray family.

The Archive also incorporates some records of the literary publisher Smith Elder, which was acquired by John Murray around 1917.

Records of the Edinburgh bookselling business of Charles Elliot became part of the collection through the marriage of John Murray II (1778 to 1843) to his daughter Anne Elliot.

The John Murray Archive was built up over two centuries. The records of the publishing house were stored for many years at their premises at 50 Albemarle Street, London before entering the collections of the National Library of Scotland. The first part of the Archive was purchased by the Library in 2006, and subsequent later records of the business and the Murray family have been acquired over the following decades.

The different parts of the Archive are grouped on our online Archives and manuscripts catalogue. Cataloguing of the collection is still ongoing.

Throughout its long history John Murray published many different types of books including poetry, novels, scientific works, biographies, travel guides, children's books, educational textbooks, literary journals, and political texts.

The records which make up the archive reflect the changing landscape of the British publishing industry and document popular reading habits from the 18th century through into recent decades. Murray's publishing activity reflects wider national and international social and cultural developments.

The Library has a rich collection of archival material relating to Scottish publishers and publishing houses founded in London by Scots. These include major nineteenth-century publishing houses such as William Blackwood & Sons, W & R Chambers, Smith Elder and Oliver & Boyd.