George Borrow achieved instant literary fame when John Murray published his The Bible in Spain (1843). The four editions of this three-volume work in the year of publication, followed in 1846 by a single-volume edition (the first title in Murray's Colonial & Home Library), ensured that this mid-century best-seller was widely known in England; pirated editions in the United States were similarly popular. The book that so pleased the reading public was the turning point in a long life and a remarkable career.

That the obscurity of his origins affected George Borrow deeply became apparent when he wrote the autobiographical books that made him famous. His father, Thomas Borrow (1758-1824), who had left his family home in Cornwall when his apprenticeship to a Liskeard maltster terminated, served first in the Coldstream Guards and later in the West Norfolk Militia, initially as the sergeant and later as the officer in charge of...