Memoir of John Murray
John Murray to Giovanni Antonio Galignani, 16 January 1821
I have received your letter requesting me to assign to you
exclusively the right of printing Lord
Byron’s works in France. In answer I shall state what you
do not seem to be aware of, that for the copyright of these works you are
printing for nothing, I have given the author upwards of £10,000.
Lord Byron has sent me the assignment, regularly made,
and dated April 20, 1818; and if you will send me £250 I will make it over
to you. I have just received a Tragedy by Lord Byron, for
the copyright of which I have paid £1050, and also three new cantos of
Don Juan, for which I have
paid £2100. What can you
| DEATH OF MURRAY’S SON. | 117 |
afford to give me for the exclusive
right of printing them in France upon condition that you receive them before
any other bookseller? Your early reply will oblige
Your obedient Servant,
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.
George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824)
Don Juan. (London: 1819-1824). A burlesque poem in ottava rima published in installments: Cantos I and II published in
1819, III, IV and V in 1821, VI, VII, and VIII in 1823, IX, X, and XI in 1823, XII, XIII,
and XIV in 1823, and XV and XVI in 1824.