Lindley Murray

Lindley Murray (7 June, 1745 – 16 January, 1826), grammarian, was born in a house near his father's mill, just north of Harper Tavern in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles northeast of Harrisburg. He was the eldest son of Robert Murray, the Quaker merchant, and Mary Lindley Murray, whose home was on a hill in Manhattan on what today is Park Avenue and 36th Street. This was the center of an area known to this day as Murray Hill.

Lindley Murray practiced as a lawyer and was forced into exile after the American Revolution as a loyalist, settling in York, England, where a Quaker community existed. In England, Lindley began writing school textbooks. He wrote eleven of them, beginning in 1798, and became the largest-selling author in the world in the first half of the nineteenth century. Murray's textbooks were widely printed in Britain (particularly his "English Grammar") but had their greatest success in the new United States, partly because no international copyright agreement existed and the books could be reprinted without royalties being paid. Some sixteen million copies of Murray's books were sold in America and another four million in Britain. His most popular work was his "English Reader", full of selections from the liberal-minded writers of the Scottish Enlightenment, most notably the Rev. Hugh Blair. Abraham Lincoln praised the "English Reader" as "the best schoolbook ever put in the hands of an American youth". The "English Reader" utterly dominated the American market for readers for over a generation from 1815 into the 1840s. It was replaced mainly by the McGuffey Readers, a series of reading texts, which began to appear in 1836. For the last sixteen years of his life, Murray was subject to depression and was confined to the house. The standard biography of Lindley Murray is "The Murrays of Murray Hill" by Charles Monaghan.

Works

* "Extracts from the Writings of Divers Eminent Authors, of Different Religious Denominations; and at Various Periods of Time, Representing the Evils and Perncious Effects of Stage Plays, and Other Vain Amusements." 1787
* "The Power of Religion on the Mind In Retirement, Sickness, and at Death; Exemplified in the Testimonies and Experience of Men Distinguished by Their Greatness, Learning, or Virtue." 1787
* "English Grammar Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners. With an Appendix, Containing Rules and Observations, for Assisting the More Advanced Students to Write with Perspicuity and Accuracy. By Lindley Murray." 1795
* "English Exercises: Adapted to the Grammar Lately Published by L. Murray: Consisting of Exemplifications of the Parts of Speech, Instances of False Orthography, Violations of the Rules of Syntax, Defects in Punctuation, and Violations of the Rules Respecting Perspicuity and Accuracy: Designed for the Benefit of Private Learners, As Well As for the Use of Schools." 1797
* "The Beauties of Prose and Verse Selected from the Most Eminent Authors." 1798
* "The English Reader: or, Pieces in Prose and Poetry, Selected from the Best Writers Designed to Assist Young Persons to Read with Propriety and Effect; to Improve Their Language and Sentiments; and to Inculcate Some of the Most Important Principles of Piety and Virtue. : With a Few Preliminary Observations on the Principles of Good Reading." 1799
* "Sequel to The English Reader Or, Elegant Selections in Prose and Poetry. Designed to Improve the Highest Class of Learners in Reading; ... By Lindley Murray." 1800

References

"Murray, Lindley." "American Authors 1600-1900." The H. W. Wilson Company, New York, 1938
* [http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Lindley+Murray&fq=ap%3ALindley+Murray&fc=yr:_100&qt=show_more_yr%3A worldcat.org] Accessed June 28, 2007
* [http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/DOH/countyresults.asp?county=Lebanon Pennsylvania Historical Markers site]