Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/233

197 JOHN MURRA Y. 197 consequently, in 1843, admirably fitted, by years and professional training, to take the management of so important a concern. He was educated at the Charter- house and at Edinburgh University,* and had had, moreover, all the advantages that foreign travel could bestow. As early as 1831, we hear of "Mr. John Murray, Jun.," at Weimar, presenting Goethe with the dedication of Byron's " Marino Faliero," and being received, together with that mocking and yet reverent tribute, in a gracious, kindly manner. Mr. Murray thoroughly followed his father's idea, that the age had now come for the cheap publication of useful and practical books, and in the first year of his accession, issued the prospectus of his " Home and Colonial Library," which, being published at half the price of the " Family Library," was at least twice as successful, and was continued for upwards of six years. During these early years Mr. Murray made one mistake, and achieved one great success. The mistake was, however, in common with every pub- lisher in London, for " Eothen " went the rounds of the metropolitan book market, and was eventually published by a personal friend of Mr. Kinglake's. Mindful of his father's precedents, Murray soon secured the copyright. The success, on the contrary, con- sisted in accepting what other publishers had refused, and issued from Albemarle Street, Campbell's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors " has proved one of the most successful biographical works of the time. In travel, biography, history, and science, the present Mr. Murray has fully sustained the name of the old house, and it is sufficient here to mention only the names of Hallam, Barrow, Wilkinson, Lyell, Gordon