AustLit

'Colonial and Home Library as it was first known, was published between 1843 and 1849. This was the first series that was produced with the specific aim of taking advantage of the colonial market.

'Murray began this series as a reaction to a change in copyright law. Pirated editions of British works were being circulated in the colonies. Laws were put in place in the 1840s to try to prevent this and help the condition of the British author and publisher.

'Murray wanted the series to appeal to many different types of people. His advertisement read "Mr Murray's Colonial Library will furnish the settler in the back-woods of America, and the occupant of the remotest cantonments of our Indian dominions, with the resources of recreation and instruction at a moderate price."

'After only seven months the name was changed to the Home and Colonial Library. This reversal in the title reflects the publisher's disappointment with sales in the colonies, as well as the importance that was placed on the domestic sale of these cheap editions.

'Six years after the first appearance of this series, Murray stopped producing titles for the Library. The laws were proved to be largely unenforceable and this was a large factor in the series' demise. However, the Library was also criticised for being overpriced and for the lack of new titles that it contained.

Many of the titles that Murray included had already been available in some of the colonies and the pirated editions had cost less. Murray did not include many fictional works in the series which was also a problem. The titles were mainly travel writing, histories and biographies.'

Source: The John Murray Archive, http://www.nls.uk/jma/
Sighted: 15/10/2009