A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4), Samuel Smiles [good beach reads txt] 📗

Orders Are A Branch Of Business Which I Have Ever Totally Declined As

Incompatible With My More Serious Plans As A Publisher."

 

 

 

With Ideas Of This Kind, It May Readily Be Imagined That Murray Was Not

What Is Usually Called "A Good Man Of Business," A Fact Of Which He Was

Well Aware, As The Following Incident, Which Occurred In His Later

Years, Amusingly Indicates.

 

 

 

The Head Of One Of The Larger Firms With Which He Dealt Came In Person

To Albemarle Street To Receive Payment Of His Account. This Was Duly

Handed To Him In Bills, Which, By Some Carelessness, He Lost On His Way

Home, He Thereupon Wrote To Mr. Murray, Requesting Him To Advertise In

His Own Name For The Lost Property. Murray's Reply Was As Follows:

 

 

 

Twickenham, _October_ 26, 1841.

 

 

 

My Dear-----,

 

 

 

I Am Exceedingly Sorry For The Vexatious, Though, I Hope, Only Temporary

Loss Which You Have Met With; But I Have So Little Character For Being A

Man Of Business, That If The Bills Were Advertised In _My_ Name It Would

Be Publicly Confirming The Suspicion--But In Your Own Name, It Will Be

Only Considered As A Very Extraordinary Circumstance, And I Therefore

Give My Impartial Opinion In Favour Of The Latter Mode. Remaining, My

Dear-----,

 

 

 

Most Truly Yours,

 

 

 

John Murray.

 

 

 

The Possession Of Ordinary Commercial Shrewdness, However, Was By No

Means The Quality Most Essential For Successful Publishing At The

Beginning Of The Nineteenth Century. Both Constable And Ballantyne Were

Men Of Great Cleverness And Aptitude For Business; But, Wanting Certain

Higher Endowments, They Were Unable To Resist The Whirl Of Excitement

Accompanying An Unprecedented Measure Of Financial Success. Their Ruin

Was As Rapid As Their Rise. To Murray, On The Other Hand, Perhaps Their

Inferior In The Average Arts Of Calculation, A Vigorous Native Sense

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 197

Tempering A Genuine Enthusiasm For What Was Excellent In Literature,

Gave Precisely That Mixture Of Dash And Steadiness Which Was Needed To

Satisfy The Complicated Requirements Of The Public Taste.

 

 

 

A High Sense Of Rectitude Is Apparent In All His Business Transactions;

And Charles Knight Did Him No More Than Justice In Saying That He Had

"Left An Example Of Talent And Honourable Conduct Which Would Long Be A

Model For Those Who Aim At Distinction In The Profession." He Would Have

Nothing To Do With What Was Poor And Shabby. When It Was Suggested To

Him, As A Young Publisher, That His Former Partner Was Ready To Bear

Part Of The Risk In A Contemplated Undertaking, He Refused To Associate

His Fortunes With A Man Who Conducted His Business On Methods That He

Did Not Approve. "I Cannot Allow My Name To Stand With His, Because He

Undersells All Other Publishers At The Regular And Advertised Prices."

Boundless As Was His Admiration For The Genius Of Scott And Byron, He

Abandoned One Of The Most Cherished Objects Of His Ambition-To Be The

Publisher Of New Works By The Author Of "Waverley"--Rather Than Involve

Himself Further In Transactions Which He Foresaw Must Lead To Discredit

And Disaster; And, At The Risk Of A Quarrel, Strove To Recall Byron To

The Ways Of Sound Literature, When Through His Wayward Genius He Seemed

To Be Drifting Into An Unworthy Course.

 

 

 

In The Same Way, When The Disagreement Between The Firms Of Constable

And Longmans Seemed Likely To Turn To His Own Advantage, Instead Of

Making Haste To Seize The Golden Opportunity, He Exerted Himself To

Effect A Reconciliation Between The Disputants, By Pointing Out What He

Considered The Just And Reasonable View Of Their Mutual Interests. The

Letters Which, On This Occasion, He Addressed Respectively To Mr. A.G.

Hunter, To The Constables, And To The Longmans, Are Models Of Good Sense

And Manly Rectitude. Nor Was His Conduct To Constable, After The

Downfall Of The Latter, Less Worthy Of Admiration. Deeply As Constable

Had Injured Him By The Reckless Conduct Of His Business, Murray Not

Only Retained No Ill-Feeling Against Him, But, Anxious Simply To Help A

Brother In Misfortune, Resigned In His Favour, In A Manner Full Of The

Most Delicate Consideration, His Own Claim To A Valuable Copyright. The

Same Warmth Of Heart And Disinterested Friendship Appears In His Efforts

To Re-Establish The Affairs Of The Robinsons After The Failure Of That

Firm. Yet, Remarkable As He Was For His Loyalty To His Comrades, He Was

No Less Distinguished By His Spirit And Independence. No Man Without A

Very High Sense Of Justice And Self-Respect Could Have Conducted A

Correspondence On A Matter Of Business In Terms Of Such Dignified

Propriety As Murray Employed In Addressing Benjamin Disraeli After The

Collapse Of The _Representative_. It Is Indeed A Proof Of Power To

Appreciate Character, Remarkable In So Young A Man, That Disraeli

Should, After All That Had Passed Between Them, Have Approached Murray

In His Capacity Of Publisher With Complete Confidence. He Knew That He

Was Dealing With A Man At Once Shrewd And Magnanimous, And He Gave Him

Credit For Understanding How To Estimate His Professional Interest Apart

From His Sense Of Private Injury.

 

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 198

 

 

Perhaps His Most Distinguishing Characteristic As A Publisher Was His

Unfeigned Love Of Literature For Its Own Sake. His Almost Romantic

Admiration For Genius And Its Productions Raised Him Above The

Atmosphere Of Petty Calculation. Not Unfrequently It Of Course Led Him

Into Commercial Mistakes, And In His Purchase Of Crabbe's "Tales" He

Found To His Cost That His Enthusiastic Appreciation Of That Author's

Works And The Magnificence Of His Dealings With Him Were Not The Measure

Of The Public Taste. Yet Disappointments Of This Kind In No Way

Embittered His Temper, Or Affected The Liberality With Which He Treated

Writers Like Washington Irving, Of Whose Powers He Had Himself Once

Formed A High Conception. The Mere Love Of Money Indeed Was Never An

Absorbing Motive In Murray's Commercial Career, Otherwise It Is Certain

That His Course In The Suppression Of Byron's Memoirs Would Have Been

Something Very Different To That Which He Actually Pursued. On The

Perfect Letter Which He Wrote To Scott, Presenting Him With His Fourth

Share In "Marmion," The Best Comment Is The Equally Admirable Letter In

Which Scott Returned His Thanks. The Grandeur--For That Seems The

Appropriate Word--Of His Dealings With Men Of High Genius, Is Seen In

His Payments To Byron, While His Confidence In The Solid Value Of

Literary Excellence Appears From The Fact That, When The _Quarterly_ Was

Not Paying Its Expenses, He Gave Southey For His "Life Of Nelson" Double

The Usual Rate Of Remuneration. No Doubt His Lavish Generosity Was

Politic As Well As Splendid. This, And The Prestige Which He Obtained As

Byron's Publisher, Naturally Drew To Him All That Was Vigorous And

Original In The Intellect Of The Day, So That There Was A General Desire

Among Young Authors To Be Introduced To The Public Under His Auspices.

The Relations Between Author And Publisher Which Had Prevailed In The

Eighteenth Century Were, In His Case, Curiously Inverted, And, In The

Place Of A Solitary Scholar Like Johnson, Surrounded By An Association

Of Booksellers, The Drawing-Room Of Murray Now Presented The Remarkable

Spectacle Of A Single Publisher Acting As The Centre Of Attraction To A

Host Of Distinguished Writers.

 

 

 

In Murray The Spirit Of The Eighteenth Century Seemed To Meet And

Harmonize With The Spirit Of The Nineteenth. Enthusiasm, Daring,

Originality, And Freedom From Conventionality Made Him Eminently A Man

Of His Time, And, In A Certain Sense, He Did As Much As Any Of His

Contemporaries To Swell That Movement In His Profession Towards Complete

Individual Liberty Which Had Been Growing Almost From The Foundation Of

The Stationers' Company. On The Other Hand, In His Temper, Taste, And

General Principles, He Reflected The Best And Most Ancient Traditions Of

His Craft. Had His Life Been Prolonged, He Would Have Witnessed The

Disappearance In The Trade Of Many Institutions Which He Reverenced And

Always Sought To Develop. Some Of Them, Indeed, Vanished In His Own

Life-Time. The Old Association Of Booksellers, With Its Accompaniment Of

Trade-Books, Dwindled With The Growth Of The Spirit Of Competition And

The Greater Facility Of Communication, So That, Long Before His Death,

The Co-Operation Between The Booksellers Of London And Edinburgh Was No

More Than A Memory. Another Institution Which Had His Warm Support Was

The Sale Dinner, But This Too Has All But Succumbed, Of Recent Years, To

Chapter 30 ( George Borrow--Richard Ford--Horace Twiss--John Sterling--Mr. Gladstone--Death Of Southey, Etc.) Pg 199

The Existing Tendency For New And More Rapid Methods Of Conducting

Business. The Object Of The Sale Dinner Was To Induce The Great

Distributing Houses And The Retail Booksellers To Speculate, And Buy An

Increased Supply Of Books On Special Terms. Speculation Has Now Almost

Ceased In Consequence Of The Enormous Number Of Books Published, Which

Makes It Difficult For A Bookseller To Keep A Large Stock Of Any Single

Work, And Renders The Life Of A New Book So Precarious That The Demand

For It May At Any Moment Come To A Sudden Stop.

 

 

 

The Country Booksellers--A Class In Which Murray Was Always Deeply

Interested--Are Dying Out. Profits On Books Being Cut Down To A Minimum,

These Tradesmen Find It Almost Impossible To Live By The Sale Of Books

Alone, And Are Forced To Couple This With Some Other Kind Of Business.

 

 

 

The Apparent Risk Involved In Murray's Extraordinary Spirit Of Adventure

Was In Reality Diminished By The Many Checks Which In His Day Operated

On Competition, And By The High Prices Then Paid For Ordinary Books. Men

Were At That Time In The Habit Of Forming Large Private Libraries, And

Furnishing Them With The Sumptuous Editions Of Travels And Books Of

Costly Engraving Issued From Murray's Press. The Taste Of The Time Has

Changed. Collections Of Books Have Been Superseded, As A Fashion, By

Collections Of Pictures, And The Circulating Library Encourages The

Habit Of Reading Books Without Buying Them. Cheap Bookselling, The

Characteristic Of The Age, Has Been Promoted By The Removal Of The Tax

On Paper, And By The Fact That Paper Can Now Be Manufactured Out Of

Refuse At A Very Low Cost. This Cheapness, The Ideal Condition For Which

Charles Knight Sighed, Has Been Accompanied By A Distinct Deterioration

In The Taste And Industry Of The General Reader. The Multiplication Of

Reviews, Magazines, Manuals, And Abstracts Has Impaired The Love Of, And

Perhaps The Capacity