A PUBLISHER AND HIS FRIENDS

MEMOIR AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN MURRAY

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE HOUSE, 1768-1843

BY THE LATE SAMUEL SMILES, LL.D.

CONDENSED AND EDITED BY THOMAS MACKAY

_WITH PORTRAITS_




1911



PREFACE


When my Grandfather's Memoirs were published, twenty years ago, they met
with a most favourable and gratifying reception at the hands of the
public. Interest was aroused by the struggle and success of a man who
had few advantages at the outset save his own shrewd sense and generous
nature, and who, moreover, was thrown on his own resources to fight the
battle of life when he was little more than a child.

The chief value of these volumes, however, consists in the fact that