Murray's Family Library

Murray's Family Library was a series of non-fiction works published from 1829 to 1834, by John Murray, in 51 volumes. The series editor was John Gibson Lockhart, who also wrote the first book, a biography of Napoleon.^[1] The books were priced at five shillings;^[2] Murray's approach, which did not involve part-publication, is considered a fundamentally more conservative business model, and intention, than used by the contemporary library of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.^[3]

Original Library

Volume	Year	Author	Title
I (2 vols.)	1829[4]	John Gibson Lockhart[1]	The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte[5]
III	1829[6]	John Williams	The Life and Actions of Alexander the Great[5][7]
IV, X, XIII, XIX, XXVII, XXXVIII	1829–31	Allan Cunningham[8]	Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors and Architects[5][9]
V, VI and IX	Vol. V August 1829[6]	Henry Hart Milman[10]	The History of the Jews[5]
VII, LI	1829[6]	Anonymous (a number of authors;[6] Robert Ferguson)[9][11]	The Natural History of Insects[5]
VIII	1829	Anonymous (S. Dunham Whitehead)[6]	The Court and Camp of Buonaparte[5]
XI	1830[6]	Washington Irving	The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (abridged)[5]
XII	1830[6]	Robert Southey	The Life of Nelson, third edition[5]
XIV	1830[6]	Anonymous (William Macmichael and others; memoir of Caleb Hillier Parry by his son W. C. Parry)[6][12]	Lives of Eminent British Physicians[5]
XV, XLVIII, XLIX, L	1830[13]	George Robert Gleig	The History of British India[5][9]
XVI	1830[13]	Walter Scott	Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft[14]
XVII	1830[13]	Francis Bond Head	Life of Bruce the African Traveller[14]
XVIII	1830[13]	Irving	Companions of Columbus[9]
XX, XXXII	Vol. XX 1831[13]	Anonymous, (Edward Smedley)[15]	Sketches from Venetian History[9][16]
XXI	1831[13]	Francis Palgrave	History of England[9]
XXII, XXXIV, XXXVII	Vol. XXII 1831	Patrick Fraser Tytler	Lives of Scottish Worthies[9]
XXIII	1831	Anonymous (John Barrow)[13]	Family Tour through South Holland[9]
XXIV	1831[13]	David Brewster	Life of Sir Isaac Newton[9]
XXV	1831[13]	Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet	The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of HMS Bounty[9]
XXVI (2 vols.)	Vol. XXVI December 1831[13]	John James Blunt	Reformation in England[9][17]
XXVIII (3 vols.)	1832[13]	John Lander and Richard Lander, editor Alexander Bridport Becher[13]	Adventures in the Niger[9]
XXXI	1832[13]	Anonymous (Charles Edward Dodd)[13]	The Trials of Charles I, and of some of the Regicides[18]
XXXIII	1832[19]	Brewster	Letters on Natural Magic[9]
XXXV	1832[19]	Sir John Barrow[19]	Life of Peter the Great[9]
XXXVI	1832[19]	Henry Nelson Coleridge	Six Months in the West Indies[9]
XXXIX (2 vols.)	1834[19]	Irving[19]	Sketch Book[9]
XLI (6 vols.)	1834[19]	Alexander Fraser Tytler[19]	Universal History[9]
XLVII	22 September 1834.[19]	Crofton Croker[19]	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, 2nd edition illustrated by Daniel Maclise[9][20]

Subsequent additions

In 1834 Murray sold out to Thomas Tegg.^[21] Further volumes were added to the Library, under Tegg's management. There was a total of 80 volumes, by 1847.^[22]

Volume	Year	Author	Title
LII		Daniel Defoe	History of the Plague[9] Notes by E. W. Brayley[22]
LIII (2 vols.)		Cyrus R. Edmonds	Life and Times of George Washington[9]
LV		Irving	Knickerbocker's History of New York[9][22]
LVI (3 vols.)		John Wesley	A Compendium of Natural Philosophy[9]
LIX (2 vols.)		Philippe-Paul de Ségur	Bonaparte's Campaigns in Russia[9]
LXI	1837	Richard Alfred Davenport[23]	Life of Ali Pasha, of Tepelini[9]
LXII		Charles Macfarlane[24]	Lives and Exploits of Banditti and Robbers[9]
LXIII		Davenport[23]	Sketches of Imposture, Decepture and Credulity[9]
LXIV	1838	Davenport[23]	History of the Bastile[9]
LXV		James Francis Hollings	Life of Gustavus Adolphus[9]
LXVI		Richard Thomson[22]	Chronicles of London Bridge[9]
LXVII		Charles Bucke	Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough[9]
LXVII	1839	Thomas Roscoe	The Life and Writings of Miguel de Cervantes (1839), based on Martín Fernández de Navarrete.[25][26]
LXIX	1839	Hollings	Cicero's Life[22][27]
LXX (2 vols.)	1840	Bucke	Ruins of Ancient Cities[28][29]
LXXII	1840	William Edmonstoune Aytoun	Life and Times of Richard I[22][30][31]
LXXIII	1840	Samuel Green	Life of Mahomet[22][32][33]
LXXIV (2 vols.)		Davenport	Narrative of Perils and Sufferings[22][34]
(3 vols.)	1841	John Chetwode Eustace	Classical Tour through Italy, 8th edition[22][35]
LXXIX		Davenport	Lives of Individuals who have Raised Themselves from Poverty to Eminence or Fortune[36]
LXXX	1842	Anonymous (William Johnson Neale)	History of the Mutiny at Spithead and the Nore[37]

References

• Scott Bennett, John Murray's Family Library and the Cheapening of Books in Early Nineteenth Century Britain, Studies in Bibliography Vol. 29, (1976), pp. 139–166. Published by: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40371632