Businessman. Son of John Murray in Fleet Street. His father died when he was fifteen and the firm was largely run by his father’s partner, Samuel Highley. In 1803 John Murray dissolved that partnership and launched into literary speculation which earned him the name given him by Lord Byron, “the Anak of publishers.” He was the publisher of Lord Byron, as well as of Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austin, Robert Southey and Francis Palgrave. (bio by: s.canning)