{"product_id":"dear-mr-murray","title":"Dear Mr Murray","description":"\u003cbr\u003eThe publishing house of John Murray was founded  in Fleet Street in 1768 and remained a family firm over seven  generations. Published to coincide with this ''remarkable achievement''  and in the anniversary year, \u003ci\u003eDear Mr Murray\u003c\/i\u003e is a collection of  some of the best letters from the hundreds of thousands held in the John  Murray Archive. They reveal not only the story of some of the most  interesting and influential books in history but also the remarkable  friendships - as well as occasional animosities - between author and  publisher, as well as readers, editors, printers and illustrators.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite  the incredible number of letters that were retained by the Murray  family, some failed to arrive, others were delayed and some barely  survived, but longevity added to the reputation and fame of John Murray  and a correspondent in Canada who addressed his letter merely to ''John  Murray, The World-wide famous Book \u0026amp; Publishing House, London,  England'' as early as 1932 could be confident that his letter would  arrive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntended to entertain and inspire, and spanning more than two hundred years, \u003ci\u003eDear Mr Murray \u003c\/i\u003eis full of literary history and curiosities: from Charles Darwin''s response to the negative reviews of \u003ci\u003eOn the Origin of Species \u003c\/i\u003eto  Adrian Conan Doyle challenging Harold Nicolson to a duel for insulting  his father in the press; from David Livingstone''s displeasure at the  proposed drawing of a lion to represent his near-death encounter in \u003ci\u003eMissionary Travels \u003c\/i\u003eto  William Makepeace Thackeray apologising for his drunken behaviour; from  Byron berating John Murray for being fooled by his girlfriend''s forgery  of his signature to the poet James Hogg so desperate for money that he  claims he won''t be able to afford a Christmas goose; and from Jane  Austen expressing concern about printing delays to Patrick Leigh Fermor  beseeching Jock Murray not to visit him until he''d completed \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts. \u003c\/i\u003eComplemented by illustrations and reproductions of letters and envelopes, this is the perfect gift for book lovers everywhere.","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57317427773822,"sku":"NW9781473662704","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781473662704.jpg?v=1778722020","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/dear-mr-murray","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}