Sunset (and moonrise) over the University of Nottingham.

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of giving a seminar paper on Macintosh to the Cultural and Historical Geography Research Group in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham (and catching up, there, with many friends and colleagues). After a long term spent writing new lectures, it was nice to have the excuse to return to Macintosh and to bring in some of the new material uncovered this summer by my undergraduate research assistants.

Wednesday’s talk followed a wonderful reception the night before at 50 Albemarle Street, home of John Murray (firm and family, both). The reception was held to mark David McClay’s 10-year curatorship of the John Murray Archive (JMA). As David is stepping down from his role, the reception was a welcome opportunity for those who have been guided in their use of the JMA by David to offer thanks. Although Macintosh’s involvement with the Murray firm predated its move to Albemarle Street in 1812, it is always a pleasure to visit, so redolent is it of a literary world now gone.

John R. Murray in the drawing room of Albemarle Street, proposing thanks to David McClay.