Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Smith, Elder, and Co. Records #11038, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Christie's, through Bertram Rota, Ltd., 29 May 1986.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Authors, English--Autographs.
• Authors, English--Social life and customs.
• Browning, Robert, 1812-1889.
• Burton, Frederic William, 1816-1900.
• Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889.
• Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930.
• Hardy, Thomas, 1840-1928.
• Hunt, Leigh, 1784-1859.
• James, Henry, 1843-1916.
• Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910.
• Publishers and publishing--England--History.
• Ruskin, John James.
• Ruskin, John, 1819-1900.
• Smith, Elder, and Co.
• Smith, Elizabeth Blakeway.
• Smith, Elizabeth Murray, 1797-1878.
• Smith, George, 1824-1901.
• Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892.

• File copies of Smith, Elder publications, currently housed with John Murray Collection in Rare Books.

The publishing firm of Smith, Elder and Company was founded in 1816 by George Smith (1789-1846) in partnership with Alexander Elder. In 1843, Smith's son, George Smith (1824-1901), took over much of the firm's operations, and, upon the death of his father in 1846, became sole head of the company. Smith lived in London with his mother, Elizabeth Murray Smith (1797-1878), until 1854, when he married Elizabeth Blakeway. They had two sons and three daughters.

Smith, Elder and Company prospered under George Smith's leadership. Early in his tenure, the firm published works by John Ruskin, Charlotte Bronte ( Jane Eyre in 1848), and William Makepeace Thackeray ( Esmond in 1851). In 1859, Smith started The Cornhill Magazine with Thackeray as editor; in 1865, The Pall Mall Gazette, an evening newspaper with literary leanings, began publication. Both the magazine and the newspaper attracted contributions from leading writers and artists.

In his later years, Smith's chief authors were Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, and Leslie Stephen, all of whom were close personal friends. Smith was also the founder, in 1882, of the Dictionary of National Biography.

In 1894, Reginald J. Smith, husband of George Smith's youngest daughter, joined Smith, Elder and Company, and, in 1899, became sole head.

The collection consists of autograph letters chiefly addressed to George Smith, his mother, or his wife. Most of the letters are from significant writers or artists of the late nineteenth century who were the Smiths' personal friends or had business dealings with Smith, Elder and Company. The subject matter is primarily of a social nature. There are, however, several letters on more serious topics. See the descriptions of individual items that follow.