A Publisher and His Friends | Page 5

and Messrs. J. and W. Richardson, Printers. These, after
deliberate reflection, have unanimously thought that I should accept Mr.
Sandby's offer.
Falconer's answer to this letter has not been preserved. It did not delay
his departure from Dover in the Aurora frigate. The vessel touched at
the Cape; set sail again, and was never afterwards heard of. It is
supposed that she was either burnt at sea, or driven northward by a
storm and wrecked on the Madagascar coast. Falconer intended to have
prefixed some complimentary lines to Mr. Murray to the third edition
of "The Shipwreck," but they were omitted in the hurry of leaving
London and England for India.
Notwithstanding the failure of MacMurray to obtain the aid of Falconer
in his partnership, he completed alone his contract with Mr. Sandby.
His father at Edinburgh supplied him with the necessary capital, and he
began the bookselling business in November 1768. He dropped the
prefix "Mac" from his surname; put a ship in full sail at the head of his
invoices; and announced himself to the public in the following terms:
"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. Fits 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."
Among the first books he issued were new editions of Lord Lyttelton's
"Dialogues of the Dead," and of his "History of King Henry the
Second," in stately quarto volumes, as well as of Walpole's "Castle of
Otranto." He was well supported by his friends, and especially by his
old brother officers, and we find many letters from all parts of the

world requesting him to send consignments of books and magazines,
the choice of which was, in many cases, left entirely to his own
discretion. In 1769 he received a letter from General Sir Robert Gordon,
then in India, who informed him that he had recommended him to
many of his comrades.
_Sir R. Gordon to John Murray_.
"Brigadier-General Wedderburn has not forgotten his old school-fellow,
J. McMurray. Send me British news, and inform me of all political and
other affairs at home." [He also added that Colonel Mackenzie, another
old friend, is to be his patron.] "I hope," says Sir E. Gordon, in another
letter, "that you find more profit and pleasure from your new
employment than from that of the sword, which latter, you may
remember, I endeavoured to dissuade you from returning to; but a little
trial, and some further experience, at your time of life, cannot hurt
you.... My best compliments to Mrs. Murray, who I suppose will not be
sorry for your laying aside the wild Highland 'Mac' as unfashionable
and even dangerous in the circuit of Wilkes's mob; but that, I am
convinced, was your smallest consideration."
The nature of Mr. Murray's business, and especially his consignments
to distant lands, rendered it necessary for him to give long credit, while
the expense and the risk of bringing out new books added a fresh strain
on his resources. In these circumstances, he felt the need of fresh
capital, and applied to his friend Mr. William Kerr, Surveyor of the
General Post Office for Scotland, for a loan. Mr. Kerr responded in a
kindly letter. Though he could not lend much at the time, he sent Mr.
Murray £150, "lest he might be prejudiced for want of it," and added a
letter of kind and homely advice.
In order to extend his business to better advantage, Mr. Murray
endeavoured to form connections with booksellers in Scotland and
Ireland. In the first of these countries, as the sequel will show, the firm
established permanent and important alliances. To push the trade in
Ireland he employed Thomas Cumming, a Quaker mentioned in
Boswell's "Life of Johnson," who had been one of his advisers as to the
purchase of Mr. Sandby's business.

_Mr. T. Gumming to John Murray_.
"On receipt of thine I constantly applied to Alderman Faulkener, and
showed him the first Fable of Florian, but he told me that he would not
give a shilling for any original copy whatever, as there is no law or
even custom to secure any property in books in this kingdom [Ireland].
From him, I went directly to Smith and afterwards to Bradley, etc.
They all gave me the same answer.... Sorry, and very sorry I am, that I
cannot send a better account of the first commission thou hast favoured
me with here. Thou may'st believe that I set