Murray, John

John Murray is a Scottish publishing house founded in London in 1768 by the eponymous John Murray I (1737–1793). He was succeeded by his son John Murray II (1778-1843 - buried at Kensal Green cemetery, near our offices), who made it increasingly influential in spite of the handicap of his father dying when he was only 15; his published authors included Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott & Lord Byron; in his capacity as Byron's executor, Murray is notorious for having burned Byron's memoirs, apparently to protect his reputation by ensuring that the scandalous content was never published. The business continued under John Murray III (1808–1892), who published Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859) and started the Murray Handbooks in 1836, a series of travel guides from which modern-day guides are directly descended, and from which we have an extensive stock of tourist maps. The rights to these guides were sold around 1915 by James and Findlay Muirhead, editors of the Blue Guides. Sir John Murray IV (1851–1928) was publisher to Queen Victoria. His son Sir John Murray V (1884–1967), grandson John "Jock" Murray VI (1909–1993) and great-grandson John Murray VII (1941–) continued the business until it was sold in 2002 to Hodder Headline, itself bought in 2004 by Lagardère Group, since when the John Murray name has continued as an imprint of the Hachette brand. Our stock of Murray tourist maps covers Europe, British India, Egypt and Japan.