Nineteenth Century Literary Society: The John Murray Publishing Archive

ADVISOR REVIEWS—STANDARD REVIEW Nineteenth Century Literary Society: The John Murray Publishing Archive

doi:10.5260/chara.22.2.39 Date of Review: June 15, 2020

Composite Score: HHHH 1/2

Reviewed by:

Marisa Scigliano Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada <mscigliano@trentu.ca>

Abstract Nineteenth Century Literary Society is drawn from archive of the House of John Murray publishing company, held by the National Library of Scotland. The family-run firm, with Scottish roots, spanned seven generations and flourished in London from 1768 until 2002. John Murray is especially remarkable for publishing seminal English-language works of the 19th century, including those by Charles Darwin, David Livingstone, Charles Lyell, and Samuel Smiles, the father of self-help. The largest collection of Lord Byron’s private writings and manuscripts, assembled by the publisher, form a large part of the resource. Women writers feature prominently in the John Murray’s collection, including Jane Austen, Isabella Bird, Elizabeth Eastlake, and Caroline Lamb.

Pricing Nineteenth Century Literary Society is available for perpetual access or by subscription. Pricing is determined by a range of factors, including Carnegie Classification and full-time enrollment. Pricing is available by contacting the publisher.

Overview Nineteenth Century Literary Society (NCLS) is the archival collection of the House of John Murray publishers, held by the National Library of Scotland. The family-run publisher, spanning seven generations, was established in London in 1768 and stayed in family hands until 2002. John Murray’s establishment at 50 Albemarle Street in London was a hub of erudite nineteenth century society where the Four-o-Clock Friends convened, counting among its members Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, and Isaac Disraeli. In addition to publishing books, John Murray extended his reach by establishing the influential Quarterly Review (1809-1967) as a Tory rival to the Whig Edinburgh Review (1802-1929).

At the time the business was sold, it was the oldest independent family-run publishing house in the world. The family maintained ownership of the archival collection, housed at 50 Albemarle in London. The publisher offered the archive to the National Library of Scotland, as the family had ties to Scotland. The bulk of NCLS are materials from the legacies of John Murray II (1778-1843) and John Murray III (1808-1892). An important and influential establishment in the literary life, particularly during the nineteenth century, during its existence the proprietors maintained meticulous records of the firm’s activities and all manner of correspondence, while building relationships with some of the greatest minds in the English-speaking world. For these reasons and more, this resource provides exceptional insight into book publishing and the corollary intellectual life of nineteenth century Britain. The digital resource has 1,400 items representing almost 250,000 digitized images. Where exclusions have been made from the print archival collection, this is due to specific collection criteria <http:// www.nineteenthcenturyliterarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/Introduction/ SelectionCriteria>. A full contents list with library collection name and National Library of Scotland manuscript number is available for download from the supporting materials link <https://www.amdigital.co.uk/primary-sources/nineteenth-century-literary-society>. This support tool can be especially useful before undertaking any research, as it may be worthwhile to scan the list for an insight of the scope of the collection.

Discovery for each item is supported by extensive metadata in NCLS. Among the collection are documents that record firm’s daily operations such as sets of correspondence between author and publisher, ledgers, cash books, manuscripts, advertisements, photographs, illustrations, sales catalogues, and records of stock and inventory. There are also annotated drafts and corrected proofs as well as notes and revisions for new editions. Authors’ agreements with the publisher service as evidence of John Murray’s significant contribution to the establishment of copyright protection in the nineteenth century. Lord Byron’s papers, the largest surviving collection of his private writings and published works, feature prominently. Although John Murray II and Lord Byron may have had a sometime thorny relationship, the publisher held the copyrights for Byron’s works as well as his personal archive.

NCLS unlocks the door to the evolution of works that are seminal to understanding of the modern thought through science and exploration. To great commercial success, John Murray II published the writings of mathematician and astronomer Mary Somerville. The Arctic expeditions of Sir John Franklin captivated readers in the 1820s. In the 1830s, John Murray published the influential three volume set Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell. In the next decade, the publisher issued the first of a number of works by Henry Austen Layard, documenting archaeological excavations of palaces of ancient Assyria, most notably the lavishly illustrated two-volume publication Nineveh and its Remains. The 1850s was a particularly important decade for publishing in the sciences as John Murray III oversaw the publication of David Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa in 1857 and Charles Darwin’s “big book” On the Origin of the Species by Natural Selection in 1859.

An excellent primary resource for the study of women authors of the nineteenth century, NCLS includes materials related to novelist Jane Austen, writer and social advocate Caroline Norton, and Caroline Lamb. John Murray capitalized on the popularity of domestic arts by publishing the work of Maria Rundell, author of A New System of Domestic Cookery. Travel literature figures prominently, with exciting

works by Isabella Bird, who explored far-flung places and documented her adventures, complementing these with her own photographs.

Along with records of British works published in the United States, there is no shortage of material of interest to researchers of Americana, including the letters of Herman Melville and the letters and manuscripts of Washington Irving.

User Interface Nineteenth Century Literary Society is well-organized, complemented by extensive resources and tools to facilitate use. It benefits from the robust Adam Matthew platform that is often used for archival collections. From the landing page, there are clear options. Clicking on the three-bar menu under the banner on the far left displays a drop down with all six sections and sub-sections available from this page, with accessible alternatives for display in high contrast and/or large text.

The six sections feature materials that should ideally to be explored before using the resource. The introduction leads to eight sections comprising Nature and Scope, Thematic Guides, Editorial Board, Byron Papers, National Library of Scotland, Selection Criteria, a Tour, and Copyright Information. Each of these is well-written and able to be read independently. Within this introduction section, the six thematic guides are especially useful in understanding how documents are organized by theme. The documents section shows the organization of material and provides easy browsing by theme, key figures, or document type. From here it is possible to browse the collection by theme, key figures, or document type and also to refine by eight possible document types (e.g., advertisement, correspondence, financial record, illustration) and/or among 30 key figures (e.g., Charles Darwin, Isabella Bird, Jane Austen, Lord Byron) by using the options in the left-hand bar. Refining invokes a nifty visual play whereby the thematic guide icons reorder or disappear according to the results found. Search results can be displayed in list view, showing results returned with a thumbnail image and brief description. Moving over to the key figures option displays a photo or placeholder for each of 30 persons, with additional individuals found through search.

The research tools tab is rich with contextual information and includes a charming video with transcript featuring David McClay, Former Senior Curator of the John Murray Archive and topical essays by the specialist editorial board members. The highlight of this section is a set of five well-organized, in-depth essays on the life cycle—one for each of five significant books published John Murray, which can be used as examples for study of the history of publishing: Byron’s Don Juan, Bird’s Hawaiian Archipelago, Livingstone’s Missionary Travels, Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, and Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Each essay is thoughtfully constructed as it examines the genesis of these five seminal works, utilizing archival materials from the collection and incorporating specimens such as annotated proofs, notes or suppressed materials, author’s and publisher’s letters as well as related illustrations, advertising, and sales. These life cycles reflect the many aspects of publishing including the laborious task of editing and the evolution of complex relationships among author, publisher, critic, and reader.

The research tools section includes a dense thematic chronology, illustrating the work of John Murray alongside a bar graph representing the number of archive item entries for each year. Search directories, available in the research tools and as a search option, returns material by key word. This is an excellent feature for researchers new to the collection. There is also an introduction to the Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) technology that leverages a form of artificial intelligence using probably to assess handwriting in manuscript collections. While Adam Matthew offers dozens of digital primary source products, only a handful, including Nineteenth Century Literary Society, incorporate HTR for manuscript collections. Developed by an Adam Matthew Company, Quartex, HTR is marketed independently as a platform for organizations to transform their archival collections. Finally, a fulsome help page rounds out the options among other topics covering terms of use and other pertinent information.

For search, there are three options available from the landing page: A default general search box in the middle of the page under the group portrait (or alternately from a search box in the upper right hand side), and advanced search and search directories from the top right hand side of the page. Discreetly available by clicking the plus sign next to the search directories are links to social media. Results for the general search show a list view incorporating thumbnail results with date and theme, while documents processed using HTR are identified with a pencil icon. Results can be refined in the list view by title, date, or theme/document type/figure. Likewise, filter options are available in the left hand-menu, where applicable, by primary or supporting secondary source and by date range. Documents can be further limited by those treated with HTR or by one or more of six themes, eight document types, and/or 30 figures (individuals). For clarity, unavailable filters are shadowed out. Advanced search facilitates an implied or selected Boolean search for up to five terms (or more by using the plus button) indexed as key word, title, author, or people, with previously used search terms displayed on the right. Additionally, advanced searches include a checkbox for word stemming (e.g., for plurals) a number for proximity searching and filters.

From the list view, items can be selected for further inspection. Usually, multiple individual pages are linked to an item in the list view. Once an item is selected, a horizontal scroll of thumbnail links for associated pages displays in the image viewer. By clicking on an image, users can view single pages in the document in high resolution. Available from this display are options to add to my archive (details below), download the entire document or a range of pages in PDF. An image viewed in PDF can be enlarged, reduced, or rotated.

At this point records can be exported or saved for citation for Endnote, Refworks, or Zotero. As well, results can be searched using HTR from a search box. Below the search box is a short description of the item which can be expanded to reveal metadata such as manuscript number. Underneath the description are snippets from each page in the collection showing the placement of the search term in the material. For handwritten documents, this feature demonstrates how HTR is used to delve into the collection.

Search directories is a third search option and uses lists of key words, figures, and collections in the database. While not necessarily exhaustive, it may return different results than the other search options. Searching directories may be a useful starting point for archival research as terms are associated with documents.

Research using archival materials requires a great deal of stamina and organization. Working with the materials in NCLS is facilitated by creating an account in my archive and using these tools. Among the features are my lightbox, where images can be downloaded in PDF and organized, shared, and viewed as a slide show.

The six sections in the help section are extremely detailed, including a page by page guide and an FAQ which leave little room for ambiguity.

Nineteenth Century Literary Society

Review Scores Composite: HHHH 1/2

The maximum number of stars in each category is 5. Content: HHHH 1/2 Unique extensive archival content from the British publishing dynasty, John Murray, the firm renowned for publishing works and forging ties with Lord Byron, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, David Livingstone, Isabella Bird, and numerous other luminaries.

User Interface/Searchability: HHHH 1/2 Three intuitive search options, enriched by Handwritten Text Recognition technology and supported by excellent documentation and research tools.

Pricing: N/A Unable to score. Pricing available upon request.

Purchase/Contract Options: HHHH 1/2 Purchase and contract options that support scholarly teaching and research and ensure perpetual archiving. Solid support to promote use of the resource.

Institutions that have access to other Adam Matthew collections can use the federated search tool at the footer of all pages, AMExplorer, to search across collections.

Organizations often spend significant sums on the acquisition of excellent digitized primary resources, only to find that they are not heavily used by their constituents due to lack of visibility or promotion. To prevent expensive resources from languishing in obscurity and more importantly, to facilitate use, Adam Matthew has a mature outreach program for faculty, delivered by specialized staff, including a robust online teaching support hub with course alignment services.

Critical Evaluation Immense thought and effort has been put into the selection, presentation and description of materials that comprise Nineteenth Century Literary Society. The landing page is clear and well-organized, featuring the group portrait of the Four-o-Clock Friends. Behind this understated exterior is a faceted resource that captures not only the complexities of the burgeoning publishing business of nineteenth century Britain, but also provides an extraordinary insight into the broader intellectual life touching on learned matters from arts to zoology.

In addition to excellent structure, search options and concise help throughout, the resource is buoyed by meaningful supporting documentation in the research tools through inclusion of specially commissioned essays by subject specialists and the life cycle of the book series, discussed above. Adam Matthew ensures that faculty can easily incorporate these materials into their teaching by providing clear instructions from the help page.

In the end, a number of factors converged to make this impressive archive available for scholars: The fact that a publishing dynasty, active in intelligent society, scrupulously and deliberately collected and maintained its records in a local archive over generations; that the archive did not perish; that it was subsequently entrusted to the care of the National Library of Scotland; and that a substantial portion of the archive is now digitized and available through the Adam Matthew platform, with all this has to offer. The supporting documentation, research tools and contract provisions around usage, discovery and archiving provide the underpinning to ensure broad use of these materials. Handwritten Text Recognition, while imperfect and not a substitute for the human eye, is a great leap forward in searching and discoverability.

Perhaps in an attempt to capture a broader audience, the name of the resource, Nineteenth Century Literary Society, may unknowingly mislead scholars seeking out the John Murray archive or any other publisher’s archive. Nonetheless, this extraordinary digital resource is certain to be embraced by researchers and scholars from the comfort of their native environment for decades to come.

Competitive Products The author is unaware of other digital archives of private English language publishing houses. The closest digital archive in terms of scope is Adam Matthew’s Literary Print Culture: The Stationers’ Company Archive, reviewed in ccAdvisor in 2018. Publishers’ archives exist in

Contact Information

Adam Matthew Digital

Pelham House, Pelhams Court, London Road Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2AG, UK Phone: +44 (0)1672 511921 (UK) E-mail: <info@amdigital.co.uk> Producer URL: <https://www.amdigital.co.uk/> Product URL: <http://www.nineteenthcenturyliterarysociety. amdigital.co.uk/>

archival collections and have been duplicated on microfilm, but even among these, few appear to be as extensive and all-encompassing as the John Murray archive.

Purchase Contract Users may download and digitally copy or print a reasonable portion the resource. Faculty and staff may download and print materials for course packs, to be distributed to students free of charge. A reasonable portion of material may be made available for electronic reserve

Free Text Keywords: John Murray | book publishing | literature | Romantic literature | poetry, travel | exploration | archaeology | geology | science | evolution | history of science | history of business and finance | politics | society | domestic life | cookery | self-help | nineteenth-century | English society | American literature | Lord Byron | Charles Darwin | Charles Lyell | David Livingstone | Caroline Lamb | Jane Austen | Isabella Bird | Samuel Smiles | Walter Scott | Austen Henry Layard | Elizabeth Eastlake | John Franklin | Mary Somerville

Primary Category: Humanities

Secondary Categories: Art & Architecture; Business & Economics; Ethnic, Gender, and LGBTQ Studies; History & Area Studies; Language and Literature; Library and Information Science (LIS); Multidisciplinary (or interdisciplinary); Philosophy & Religion; Political Science & Law; Science, Technology, Computers, Engineering (including Environment); Sociology, Education, Anthropology, Psychology

Review Type(s): Primary source digital content, Publisher or Organization content /repository

Target Audience: Graduate/Faculty/Researcher

Access Type(s): One-time purchase, Subscription for specific courses. No more than 5% can be shared with third-party colleagues for scholarly use. As per protocol, original archival material from the resource can be used with appropriate credit and copyright permission in the user’s scholarly and educational work. Text/ data mining may be authorized upon permission request.

There are no restrictions on number of simultaneous users or downloads for perpetual access purchases, however, there are restrictions on downloads when the resource is acquired as a subscription. AMDigital uses Portico to enable dark archiving. Upon request and not less than 60 days before the expiration date of the current term of the license, one copy of the metadata may be requested and maintained. The license permits alumni users and walk-in users, the latter dependent on the type of institution.

Authentication Authentication is available by IP, OpenAthens, DFN and UK Access Management, depending on customer location. Discoverability is supported for Ex Libris, ProQuest, Ebsco, OCLC, and other services. Usage analytics are available for Counter Code of Practice (Releases 4 and 5) and SUSHI. Adam Matthew has an simple portal to access free MARC records <https://www.amdigital.co.uk/support/marc-records>. Records for each of the items in NCLS are in process and will be available in the near future.

Author’s References Bond, Geoffrey. “The John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland.” Studies in Romanticism, vol. 47, no. 1, 2008, pp. 91–99. JSTOR, <www.jstor.org.proxy1.lib.trentu.ca/stable/25602131>. Accessed 14 June 2020.

About the Author

Marisa Scigliano is Scholarly Resources & Services Librarian at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. She holds a BA in Modern History from the University of Toronto, an MLS from Dalhousie University, and an MA in History from Concordia University in Montreal. n