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Entrusted by His Majesty the King with the duty of making a selection from Queen Victoria's correspondence, we think it well to describe briefly the nature of the documents which we have been privileged to examine, as well as to indicate the principles which have guided us throughout. It has been a task of no ordinary difficulty. Her Majesty Queen Victoria dealt with her papers, from the first, in a most methodical manner; she formed the habit in early days of preserving her private letters, and after her accession to the Throne all her official papers were similarly treated, and bound in volumes. The Prince Consort instituted an elaborate system of classification, annotating and even indexi...
The publishing house of John Murray was founded in Fleet Street in 1768 and remained a family business over seven generations. Intended both to entertain and inspire, Dear Mr Murray is a collection of some of the best letters from the John Murray Archive and elsewhere. Full of literary history and curiosities from correspondents including Charles Darwin who hoped John Murray would accept for publication On the Origin of Species, Jane Austen who was anxious about printing delays of Emma, Lord Byron upset on discovering that forged letters had been sent in his name, David Livingstone who was furious about editorial interference, John Betjeman who asked for help in responding to his fan mail and Patrick Leigh Fermor who apologised for tardiness in delivering his manuscript, Dear Mr Murray is the perfect treat for book lovers everywhere.
From its birth in 1768, when the first John Murray of Edinburgh came down to London, each of the publishing house's seven leaders has made his own contribution to the dissemination of literature and the understanding of the world. One became Byron's publisher and confidante; another began the revolutionary series of Murray handbooks which transformed world travel in the early years of the railways; a third broke controversial new ground with the publication of Queen Victoria's letters. So the tradition progressed to the end of the 20th century, and a list of literary giants including Patrick Leigh Fermor, Osbert Lancaster, Francoise Sagan, and British Poet Laureate, John Betjeman. Written in Carpenter's rollicking and iconoclastic style, it is an affectionate and vibrant account of the longest-surviving publishing house in the world.