Memoir of John Murray
John Murray to Ludvig August Staël, 19 July 1816
July 19th, 1816.
Dear Sir,
I have just returned to town after a sudden call to the
country, after the receipt of your obliging letter, which I now answer in
haste. You are not aware, I suppose, of the great changes which have taken
place in the sale of everything in this country, which is operating to the ![]()
| MADAME DE STAEL’S ‘FRENCH REVOLUTION.’ | 317 |
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destruction of speculations of any kind. I am truly sorry to say that
neither I, nor Mr. Longman conjointly
with me, can venture upon the new work of Mad. de
Staël at the sum which you mention; but we are desirous
that the author should reap every fair advantage in case the work should
succeed beyond our calculations: and we therefore propose to offer the sum of
one thousand pounds for one edition of the work in French and one in
English—we paying for the translation—each to consist of fifteen
hundred copies; the sum to be paid at two months from the day on which we shall
publish each edition; and for every future edition, of either the original or
the Translation, to consist of one thousand copies, we engage to pay the sum of
three hundred and fifty pounds after the sale of the one thousand copies. You
have no conception of the total alteration since we have had the opportunity of
emigrating to foreign countries, and I could not have made you this slender
offer unless Messrs. Longman had agreed to take half the
risk. I beg the favour of you to offer my compliments to Madame de
Staël. I will have the pleasure of writing more at large in
a few days when I shall send the account. In the meantime,
I remain, dear Sir,
Your obliged and faithful Servant,
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817)
French woman of letters; author of the novel
Corinne, ou L'Italie
(1807) and
De l'Allemagne (1811); banned from Paris by Napoleon, she
spent her later years living in Germany, Britain, and Switzerland.
