Publisher, who inherited his business from his father, John (1737–1793; DNB). After Murray took sole control of the firm in 1803, he proved a shrewd businessman. He published everything from cookery books and cheap reprints to the works of Byron, Scott, Crabbe and Jane Austen. After he purchased the business and premises at 50 Albemarle Street of William Miller (1769–1844; DNB) in 1812, he was at the centre of London literary life. In 1809 Murray launched the Quarterly Review, to which Southey became a contributor, and the two began to correspond regularly. Murray also published some of Southey’s other works, most importantly the Life of Nelson (1813), which developed from an article in the Quarterly Review.