European University Institute Library

Travels into print, exploration, writing, and publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859, Innes M. Keighren, Charles W.J. Withers, and Bill Bell

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-345) and index

mapsplatesillustrations

index present

non fiction

Travels into print

electronic resource

bibliographydictionaries

1086569466

Innes M. Keighren, Charles W.J. Withers, and Bill Bell

University Press Scholarship eBooks

exploration, writing, and publishing with John Murray, 1773-1859

In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, books of travel and exploration were much more than simply the printed experiences of intrepid authors. They were works of both artistry and industry—products of the complex, and often contested, relationships between authors and editors, publishers and printers. These books captivated the reading public and played a vital role in creating new geographical truths. In an age of global wonder and of expanding empires, there was no publisher more renowned for its travel books than the House of John Murray. Drawing on detailed examination of the John Murray Archive of manuscripts, images, and the firm’s correspondence with its many authors—a list that included such illustrious explorers and scientists as Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell, and literary giants like Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott—Travels into Print considers how journeys of exploration became published accounts and how travelers sought to demonstrate the faithfulness of their written testimony and to secure their personal credibility. This fascinating study in historical geography and book history takes modern readers on a journey into the nature of exploration, the production of authority in published travel narratives, and the creation of geographical authorship—a journey bound together by the unifying force of a world-leading publisher.--, Provided by Publisher

Exploration and narrative: travel, writing, publishing, and the House of Murray -- Undertaking travel and exploration: motives and practicalities -- Writing the truth: claims to credibility in exploration and narrative -- Explorers become authors: authorship and authorization -- Making the printed work: paratextual material, visual images, and book production -- Travel writing in the marketplace -- Assembling words and worlds