Memoir of John Murray
Isaac D’Israeli to John Murray, 3 March 1796
Exeter, March 3rd, 1796.
Gentlemen,
I think it very incumbent on me to inform you that a book
published by Ridgways, called
‘A Dictionary of Literary
Conversation,’ is a mere republication ad verbatim, of many
articles from ‘The
Curiosities,’ with a very few new articles of their own. The
book has sold very rapidly, and is now in a second edition. They threaten
another volume. If they go on publishing ‘The
Curiosities’ at a cheaper rate, and you tamely submit to it,
there is an end of all literary property. I have just now written a note to the
Monthly
Review and the British Critic to notice this depredation.
All this I conceive to be my duty. The work is your own, and not mine. If you
act in this affair at all, I shall be glad to know what will be done. If you
want any information further, you may write to me.
I am, gentlemen, yours, &c.
Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848)
English essayist and literary biographer; author of
Curiosities of
Literature (1791). Father of the prime minister.
James Ridgway (1745-1838)
London bookseller who began trading in 1784; he was imprisoned in 1793 for printing
Thomas Paine's
Rights of Man.
The British Critic. (1793-1825). A quarterly publication of conservative opinion continued as
The
British Critic, and Quarterly Theological Review (1838-1843). The original editors
were Robert Nares and William Beloe.
The Monthly Review. (1749-1844). The original editor was Ralph Griffiths; he was succeeded by his son George Edward who
edited the journal from 1803 to 1825, who was succeeded by Michael Joseph Quin
(1825–32).
