x^3 (2(arn?U Hniaetatty SItbrary JIttfara. S?«m %orb BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME^OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND ■ THE GIFT Of '■ henrW.sage 1891 Cornell University Library PS 2386.M53 Some personal letters of Herman Melville 3 1924 022 066 900 SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022066900 MM', ,;'.!,iM:,^,.;;,,'i,,i:^a:p^-:-'' , - 111, * '1|nl| I I ^ 'l Xi ^yic^t'^vi ^apU{c SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY BY MEADE MINNIGERODE EDMOND BYRNE HACKETT: THE BRICK ROW BOOK SHOP, INC. NEW YORK NEW HAVEN PRINCETON I92Z W y\ OORNtUL llNIVi(Rf»ri Y t I i^ b A i< V h ^V^-«&ArO Copyright, 1922, by The Brick Row Book Shop, Inc. First Printing November, 1922 1500 Copies .1 I u^niyc V 1 t ' ' I'l u , Y : : . . I ^1^ u TO WILLIAM LYON PHELPS " . . . Herman Melville is undoubtedly an original thinker, and boldly and unreservedly expresses his opinions, often in a way that irre- sistibly startles and enchains the interest of the reader. He possesses amazing powers of expres- sion; he can be terse, copious, eloquent, brilliant, imaginative, poetical, satirical, pathetic, at will. He is never stupid, never dull ; but alas I he is often mystical and unintelligible, not from any inability to express himself, for his writing is pure, manly English, and a child can always understand what he says — but the ablest critic cannot always tell what he really means. . . . "Such is Herman Melville! A man of whom America has reason to be proud, with all his. faults ; and, if he does not eventually rank as one of her greatest giants in literature, it will not be owing to any lack of innate genius, but solely to his own incorrigible perversion of his rare and lofty gifts." Dublin University Magazine. [ vii ] HERMAN MELVILLE Born, 6 Pearl Street, New York City, August I, 1819. Died, 104 East 26th Street, New York City, September 28, 1891. "Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having lit- tle or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little, and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. ..." Moby-Dick. [ ix ] CONTENTS Part I Some Personal Letters Introduction to the Letters .... 3 L A Man's Work 7 II. Typee and Omoo 10 III. An Unpublished Review 30 IV. Emerson . . .^ 32 V. Mardi 35 VI. Redburn 44 ^VIL Hawthorne 53 VIII. Arrowhead 57 IX. An Unpublished Manuscript .... 77 Part II Bibliography Introduction to the Bibliography ... 95 I. Typee 101 II. Omoo 125 III. Mardi, and a Voyage Thither . . . 134 IV. Redburn 140 V. White- Jacket 152 "^VI. Moby-Dick, or the Whale .... 157 " VII. Pierre, or the Ambiffuities .... 161 VIII. Israel Potter 164 [xi ] CONTENTS IX. The Piazza Tales 171 X. The Confidence-Man, his Masquerade . 174 XI. Battle-Pieces 177 XII. Clarel 180 XIII. John Marr and other Sailors . . . . 183 XIV. Timoleon 185 XV. Billy Budd (unpublished.) .... 187 XVI. Lectures 188 XVII. Contributions to magazines, etc. . . . 191 ILLUSTRATIONS Herman Melville (from a hitherto unknown en- graving) Frontispiece Facsimile of a letter from Melville to Evert Duyckinck Facing page 42 Title-page of the first English edition of Mel- ville's Narrative of a Four Months' Residence among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands ; or, A Peep at Polynesian Life. Facing page 96 [xii ] PART I SOME PERSONAL LETTERS INTRODUCTION FAME has returned to Herman Melville after seventy years. Mr. Masefield has spoken. Mr. Weaver has written. First edition copies of Melville's works have been removed from the dusty limbo of un- considered counters and placed in aristocratic company upon the high-priced shelves of biblio- philes. Soon, in the land of his birth, it will be possible to mention his name in public gatherings without explanatory identification. These things may possibly compensate his spirit for forty years of neglect during his lifetime, followed by thirty years of oblivion after his death. In the meantime, the same country that ignored him, living — the same native city that for- got that he had not yet died, until it discovered that he had — ^will now tardily honor him with widespread curiosity. In this volume are offered — many of them, it is believed, for the first time — a score of letters written by Herman Melville between the years 1 846-1 860, that is to say during the most pro- ductive years of his life, and the period which saw the writing of his disastrous Pierre. The let- [ 3 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE ters were written to his close friend, Evert Duyck- inck, editor of The Literary World (1847- 1853) in New York City, and are to be found in the Duyckinck Collection of Manuscripts in the New York Public Library. They contain refer- ences to Melville's own books, autobiographical data of absorbing interest, comments on literary personalities of the day, and occasionally a de- scriptive passage of great beauty. Whatever the final estimate of Melville as a writer, whatever the ultimate judgment passed upon him as a mystic, an eccentric, a recluse, and a wilfully perverted genius — the author of Mardi and Moby-Dick, the perpetrator of Pierre — in / these letters, at least, one finds an utterly different Melville. A cheerful, whimsical Melville; a i lover of company, and of the good things of life ; a gay, ironical fellow, aiming his witty shafts at the gods; a turbulent enfant terrible at times, with I his impudent personal pen, and yet a sensitive soul, recoiling from criticism and abuse; a hot- i headed proclaimer of truth ; a vivid, warm- hearted, gentle, friendly, impulsive personality; and for several years a patient sufferer from a 'great infirmity. After reading the letters from Arrowhead, who would not wish that he might have made a way through the New England snowdrifts to Melville's door, to share the comfort of his fire and the warmth of his welcome, — a pathetically [4 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE eager welcome, one almost suspects, — feed his horse and visit his cow, and furnish some inter- est, however inadequate, to his evening of en- forced idleness caused by that twilight of his eyes of which he speaks. . . . The original orthography, etc., of the letters has been preserved throughout. M. M. May 2, 1922. [ 5 ] A MAN'S WORK THE letter given below, while of later date than some which follow in this volume, is placed first in the collection for the reason that it furnishes a striking revelation of Melville's atti- tude towards a man's work, and of the world's appreciation of that work. In the light of Melville's subsequent career as an author, the first paragraph is amazingly pro- phetic, although in his case the "steam of adula- tion" did not begin to rise until some thirty years after the sexton had completed his task. It is interesting to note the transition of Melville's thought from the general to the particular in this paragraph. The letter was written from Boston, on April 5, 1849, a few days before the publication of Mardi. Melville was not quite thirty at the time, and had achieved a very considerable success with his first two books, Typee and Omoo. In view of the fact that certain critics in the past have ventured to put forward the theory that Melville's mind became impaired, in explanation [ 7 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE of the obscurities encountered in some of his later work, the paragraph concerning insanity is of special interest. The Mr. Hoffman referred to was one of the editors of The Literary World. "Dear Duyckinck . . . All ambitious authors should have ghosts capable of revis- iting the world, to snuff up the steam of adu- lation, which begins to rise strengthening as the Sexton throws his last shovelfuU on him — Down goes his body and up flies his name. . . . "Poor Hoffman . . . This going mad of a friend or acquaintance comes straight home to every man who feels his soul in him, which but few men do. For in all of us lodges the same fuel to light the same fire. And he who has never felt, momentarily, what madness is has but a mouthful of brains. What sort of sensation permanent madness is may be very well imagined just as we imagine how we felt when we were infants, tho' we can not recall it. In both conditions we are irresponsible and riot like gods without fear of fate — It is the climax of a wild night of revelry when the blood has been transmuted into brandy — But if we prate much of this, why we shall be illus- trating our own proposition. . . . "Would that a man could do something [ 8 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE and then say It is finished — ^not that one thing only, but all others — that he has reached his uttermost and can never exceed it. But live and push — tho' we put one leg forward ten miles is no reason the other must lag behind — no, that must again dis- tance the other — and so we go till we get cramp and die. . . . H. Melville." [ 9 ] II TYPEE AND OMOO IN January, 1841, when he was twenty-one years old, Melville shipped before the mast — his second venture of this nature — aboard the whaler Acushnet, out of New Bedford. A vessel of 359 tons, owned by Bradford Fuller and Com- pany, commanded by Captain Pease. Of her condition six months later Melville writes in the opening paragraph of Typee: "Six months at sea 1 Yes, reader, as I live, six months out of sight of land; cruising after the sperm-whale beneath the scorching sun of the Line, and tossed on the billows of the wide-rolling Pacific — the slcy above, the sea around, and nothing else! Weeks and weeks ago our fresh provisions were all ex- hausted. There is not a sweet potatoe left; not a single yam. Those glorious bunches of banannas which once decorated our stern and quarter-deck, have, alas, disappeared! and the delicious oranges which hung suspended [ 10 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE from our tops and stays — ^they, too, are gone! Yes, they are all departed and there is nothing left us but salt-horse and sea- biscuit." Again, in a later chapter, he writes: "The usage on board of her was tyrannical; the sick had been inhumanly neglected; the provisions had been doled out in scanty al- lowance; and her cruises were unreasonably protracted. The captain was the author of these abuses; it was in vain to think that he would either remedy them, or alter his con- duct, which was arbitrary and violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints and remonstrances was — the butt end of a handspike, so convincingly administered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party." A few days after the ship arrived in Nukuheva Bay, in the Marquesas, Melville deserted, to- gether with a shipmate, Toby. After incredible adventures and hardships, they found themselves prisoner-guests of the cannibal natives of the Val- ley of Typee, Toby succeeded in escaping after a brief sojourn, but Melville remained for four months in the Valley, where he seems to have enjoyed a number of highly entertaining experi- ences as the guest of Kory-Kory and Tinor, and the fascinating Fayaway. In fact, in Typee, Mel- [ 11 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE vllle did as the Typees do, except that he refused to be tattooed and avoided being devoured. He was finally rescued, in a spirited running fight, by an Australian whaler which he calls the Julia; a sweet ship which he describes as follows in Omoo: "On approaching, she turned out to be a small, slatternly looking craft, her hull and spars a dingy black, rigging all slack and bleached nearly white, and everything denot- ing an ill state of affairs aboard. . . . "She was a small barque of a beautiful model, something more than two hundred tons, Yankee-built and very old. Fitted for a privateer out of a New England port dur- ing the war of 1812, she had been captured at sea by a British cruiser, and, after seeing all sorts of service, was at last employed as a government packet in the Australian seas. Being condemned, however, about two years previous, she was purchased at auction by a house in Sydney, who, after some slight re- pairs, dispatched her on the present voyage. "Notwithstanding the repairs, she was still in a miserable plight. The lower masts were said to be unsound; the standing rig- ging was much worn; and, in some places, even the bulwarks were quite rotten. Still, she was tolerably tight, and but little more [ 12 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE than the ordinary pumping of a morning served to keep her free." A capital ship for an ocean trip, in other words I Melville continues, with his bland realism : "... Concerning the cockroaches, there was an extraordinary phenomenon, for which none of us could ever account. "Every night they had a jubilee. The first symptom was an unusual clustering and humming among the swarms lining the beams overhead, and the inside of the sleep- ing-places. This was succeeded by a prodi- gious coming and going on the part of those living out of sight. Presently they all came forth; the larger sort racing over the chests and planks ; winged monsters darting to and fro in the air; and the small fry buzzing in heaps almost in a state of fusion," There are also some observations concerning rats. In Tahiti the entire crew mutinied and went ashore, where the Julia left them. In 1845, Melville wrote an account of his ex- periences in the Marquesas in Typee, published in 1846. This was followed in 1847 by Otnoo, continuing the story after his escape from the cannibal valley. The books made a sensation in more ways than one. The publishers of Typee made much of: [ 13 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "... cannibal banquets . . . savage wood- lands guarded by horrible idols, heathenish rites, and human sacrifices." The missionaries made much of certain other features of the tales; reviewers emptied inkwells over them; Melville was the main topic of con- versation in every gathering and around every dinner table. And a great many people refused to believe one word of Typee. One does not need to be the author of a dis- credited true story to appreciate Melville's annoy- ance, and the consequent delight manifest in the following letter, written on July 3, 1846, from Lansingburg : "There was a spice of civil scepticism in your manner, my dear Sir, when we were conversing together the other day about 'Typee' — ^what will the politely incredulous Mr. Duyckinck now say to the true Toby's having turned up in Buffalo, and written a letter to the Commercial Advertiser of that place, vouching for the truth of all that part (which has been considered the most extraor- dinary part) of the narrative, where he is made to figure. "Give ear then, oh ye of little faith — espe- cially thou man of the Evangelist — and hear what Toby has to say for himself. — "Seriously, my dear Sir, this resurrection [ 14 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE of Toby from the dead — this strange bring- ing together of two such places as Typee and Buffalo, is really very curious. — It can not but settle the question of the book's genuine- ness. The article in the C. A. with the letter of Toby can not possibly be gainsaid in any conceivable way — therefore I think they \_erased2 it ought to be pushed into circu- lation. I doubt not but that many papers will copy it — Mr. Duyckinck might say a word or two on the subject which would tell. — The paper I allude to is of the ist inst. "I have written Toby a letter and expect to see him soon and hear the sequel of the book I have written (How strangely that sounds 1 ) "Bye the bye, since people have always manifested so much concern for 'poor Toby,' what do you think of writing an account of what befell him in escaping from the island — should the adventure prove to be of suffi- cient interest? — I should value your opinion very highly on this subject. "I began with the intention of tracing a short note — I have come near writing a long letter. "Believe me, my dear Sir, Very truly yours, Herman Melville. n* *l* T* n* ^ [ 15 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "P. S. No. 2. Possibly the letter of Toby might by some silly ones be regarded as a hoax — to set you right on that point, altho' I only saw the letter last night for the first — I will tell you that it alludes to things that no human being could have heaird of except Toby. Besides the Editor seems to have seen him." This letter refers of course to the reappear- ance of Melville's shipmate Toby, Richard Tobias Greene, whose letter to the Buffalo Com- mercial Advertiser, together with the Editor's comment, are given below. The word mortarkee in Typee signifies "good!" "How strangely things turn up I "One of the most curious and entertain- ing books published last season was a work entitled 'T3^ee, a residence in the Marque- sas.' We read it with great interest, but the impression it left on the mind was that the incidents and mode of life it described were too extraordinary, and too much at variance with what is known of savage life, to be true, and that like the fabled Atlantis or the trav- els of Gaudentio di Lucca though without their philosophical pretension, it was the off- spring of a lively inventive fancy, rather than a veritable narrative of facts. This impression, we believe, was very general. [ 16 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The readers of Typee therefore can imagine, and will share, our surprise, at hearing that here in Buffalo, is a credible witness of the truth of some of the most extraordinary inci- dents narrated in the book. Toby, the com- panion of Mr. Melville in the flight from the whale ship and whom in his book he sup- poses to be dead, is now living in this city, following the business of a house and sign painter. His father is a respectable farmer in the town of Darien, Genesee Co. We received from Toby this morning the sub- joined communication. His verbal state- ments correspond in all essential particulars with those made by Mr. Melville respecting their joint adventures and from the assur- ances we have received in regard to Toby's character, we have no reason to doubt his word. His turning up here is a strange veri- fication of a very strange and as has been hitherto deemed an almost incredible book: " 'To the Editor of the Buffalo Commer- cial Advertiser: " 'In the New York Evangelist I chanced to see a notice of a new publication in two parts called "Typee, a residence in the Mar- quesas" by Herman Melville. In the book he speaks of his comrade in misfortune "Toby" who left him so mysteriously and whom he supposed had been killed by the [ 17 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Happar natives. The Evangelist speaks rather disparagingly of the book as being too romantic to be true, and as being too severe on the missionaries. But to my ob- ject: I am the true and veritable "Toby" yet living, and I am happy to testify to the en- tire accuracy of the work so long as I was with Melville, who makes me figure so largely in it. I have not heard of Melville, or "Tommo," since I left him on the Island, and likewise supposed him to be dead; and not knowing where a letter would find him, and being anxious to know where he is, and to tell him my "yarn" and compare "log" books, I have concluded to ask you to insert this notice, and inform him of my yet being alive and to ask you to request New York, Albany, and Boston papers to publish this notice so that it may reach him. My true name is Richard Greene, and I have the scar on my head which I received from the Hap- par spear and which came near killing me. I left Melville and fell in with an Irishman who had resided on the island for some time and who assisted me in returning to the ship, and who faithfully promised me to go and bring Melville to our ship next day, which he never did, his only object being money. I gave him five dollars to get me on board, but could not return to Melville. I sailed to New [ 18 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE ) Zealand and thence home; and I request Melville to send me his address if this should chance to meet his eye. "Mortarkee" was the word I used when I heard of his being alive. Toby.' " Melville's letter also contains probably the first reference to a projected sequel to Typee, which was shortly after incorporated in the Revised Edition. 2 On July 28, 1846, Melville wrote as follows: "You remember you said something about anticipating the piracy that might be perpe- trated on the 'Sequel,' by publishing an ex- tract or two from it — which you said you would attend to— I meant to speak to you again about it, but forgot to do so. . . .1 take this to be a matter of some little moment. "The Revised (Expurgated? — Odious word!) Edition of 'Typee' ought to be duly announced — and as the matter (in one re- spect) is a little delicate, I am happy that the literary tact of Mr. Duyckinck will be ex- erted on the occasion. . . . Very faithfully yours Herman Melville." [ 19 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The Revised Edition appeared in due course, and Melville's suggestion that what was really intended was an Expurgated Edition was amply corroborated. Under cover of a revision, involv- ing the omission of the Appendix and the addi- tion of "The Story of Toby," some drastic changes were made in the text, which are noticed in full in Part II of this volume. One need here pnly examine a few of them to appreciate Mel- ville's disgust at the enforced alterations in his manuscript. The first set of expurgations have to do with Melville's references to missionaries. This is undoubtedly the delicate matter of which he speaks in his letter. Melville disliked mission- aries, and did not hesitate to state the fact, to- gether with his reasons. In the Preface to the original edition he says: "There are a few passages in the ensuing chapters which may be thought to bear rather hard upon a reverend order of men, the account of whose proceedings in different quarters of the globe — transmitted to us through their own hands — very generally, and often very deservedly, receives high commendation. Such passages will be found, however, to be based upon facts ad- mitting of no contradiction, and which have come immediately under the writer's cogni- [ 20 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE sance. The conclusions deduced from these facts are unavoidable, and in stating them the author has been influenced by no feeling of animosity, either to the individuals them- selves or to that glorious cause which has not always been served by the proceedings of some of its advocates." Elsewhere in the original text he writes : " . . . As a religious solemnity, however, it had not at all corresponded with the horri- ble description of Polynesian worship which we have received in some published narra- tives, and especially in those accounts of the evangelized islands with which the mission- aries have favored us. Did not the sacred character of these persons render the purity of their intentions unquestionable, I should certainly be led to suppose that they had exaggerated the evils of Paganism, in order to enhance the merit of their own disinter- ested labors." And again, speaking of the natives: "Better will It be for them for ever to re- main the happy and innocent heathens and barbarians that they now are, than, like the wretched Inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, to enjoy the mere name of Chris- [21 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE tians without experiencing any of the vital operations of true religion whilst, at the same time, they are made the victims of the worst vices and evils of civilization." Moreover, in the original text, this passage is to be found : "An intrepid missionary, undaunted by the ill-success that had attended all previous en- deavors to conciliate the savages, and believ- ing much in the efficacy of female influence, introduced among them his young and beau- tiful wife, the first white woman who had ever visited their shores. The islanders at first gazed in mute admiration at so unusual a prodigy, and seemed inclined to regard it as some new divinity. But after a short time, becoming familiar with its charming aspect, and jealous of the folds which encircled its form, they sought to pierce the sacred veil of calico in which it was enshrined, and in the gratification of their curiosity so far over- stepped the limits of good breeding as deeply to offend the lady's sense of decorum. Her sex once ascertained, their idolatry was changed into contempt. . . . To the horror of her affectionate spouse, she was stripped of her garments, and given to understand that she could no longer carry on her deceits with impunity. The gentle dame was not [ 22 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE sufficiently evangelized to endure this, and, fearful of further improprieties, she forced her husband to relinquish his undertaking. To say nothing of: "Look at Honolulu, the metropolis of the Sandwich Islands! — A community of disin- terested merchants, and devoted self-exiled heralds of the Cross, located on the very spot that twenty years ago was defiled by the presence of idolatry. What a subject for an eloquent Bible-meeting orator! Nor has such an opportunity for a display of mis- sionary rhetoric been allowed to pass by unimproved ! "But when these philanthropists send us such glowing accounts of one half of their labors, why does their modesty restrain them from publishing the other half of the good they have wrought? — Not until I visited Honolulu was I aware of the fact that the small remnant of the natives had been civi- lized into draught horses, and evangelized into beasts of burden. But so it is. They have been literally broken into the traces, and are harnessed to the vehicles of their spiritual instructors like so many dumb brutes ! [ 23 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "Among a multitude of similar exhibitions that I saw, I shall never forget a robust, red-faced, and very lady-like personage, a missionary's spouse, who day after day for months took her regular airings in a little go-cart drawn by two of the islanders. ..." And also the following: "The republican missionaries of Oahu cause to be gazetted in the Court Journal, pub- lished at Honolulu, the most trivial move- ments of 'his gracious majesty' King Kam- mehammaha III., and 'their highnesses the princes of the blood royal.' — And who is his 'gracious majesty,' and what the quality of this 'blood royal?' — His 'gracious majesty' is a fat, lazy-looking blockhead, with as little character as power. He has lost the noble traits of the barbarian, without acquiring the redeeming graces of a civilized being; and, although a member of the Hawaiian Tem- perance Society, is a most inveterate dram- drinker." These statements aroused a tempest of denials and invective aimed at Melville, who, in the words of one reviewer, was "a prejudiced, incom- petent, and truthless witness," and were all omit- ted from the Revised Edition. The second set of expurgations must have [ 24 1 •^ SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE annoyed Melville still more, for they were made obligatory by the shocked sensibilities of the day. In referring to the missionaries Melville had in- jured the feelings of a group of individuals who promptly retorted that he was a liar; in these other passages he had offended the sense of pro- priety of the community which promptly assailed him with blue pencils. On the very first page it became necessary to delete the following no doubt extremely insulting passage : "Oh! ye state-room sailors, who make so much ado about a fourteen-days' passage across the Atlantic; who so pathetically re- late the privations and hardships of the sea, where, after a day of breakfasting, lunching, dining off five courses, chatting, playing whist, and drinking champaign-punch, it was your hard lot to be shut up in little cabinets of mahogany and maple, and sleep for ten hours, with nothing to disturb you but 'those good-for-nothing tars, shouting and tramping overhead' — ^what would ye say to our six months out of sight of land?" After describing how the Marquesan girls had swum out to the ship and clambered aboard, the following paragraph was going just a little bit too far! [ 25 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "What a sight for us bachelor sailors! how- avoid so dire a temptation? For who could think of tumbling these artless creatures overboard, when they had swam miles to welcome us?" In a description of the young Marquesan girls in swimming, the words "and revealing their naked forms to the waist" were apparently deemed entirely too graphic. The passage which tells how Melville was massaged once a day with aka was robbed of the following illuminating sentence: "... and most refreshing and agreeable are the juices of the aka, when applied to one's limbs by the soft palms of sweet nymphs, whose bright eyes are beaming upon you with kindness. ..." In relating a canoe trip with Fayaway, Melville was not allowed to state that they were "on the very best terms possible with one another," and the following remarks on dancing were forthwith obliterated : "In good sooth, they so sway their floating forms, arch their necks, toss aloft their naked arms, and glide, and swim, and whirl, that it was almost too much for a quiet, soberminded, modest young man like my- self." [ 26 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The words "To be sure, there were old Mar- heyo and Tinor, who seemed to live together quite sociably, but for all that, I had sometimes observed a comical-looking old gentleman dressed in a suit of shabby tattooing, who appeared to be equally at home," are all that remain in the Re- vised Edition of the original passage which reads entertainingly : "To be sure, there were old Marheyo and Tinor, who seemed to have a sort of nuptial understanding with one another, but for all that, I had sometimes observed a comical- looking old gentleman dressed in a suit of shabby tattooing, who had the audacity to take various liberties with the lady, and that too in the very presence of the old warrior her husband, who looked on, as good-na- turedly as if nothing was happening." In the account of his final escape Melville said originally that he parted from Fayaway, who was "sobbing indignantly" — a word which, in the Revised Edition, was prudently changed to "con- vulsively." And the following pleasant and "characteristic anecdote of the Queen of Nukuheva" was hur- riedly banished from the text : "... The ship's company . . . soon ar- rested her Majesty's attention. She singled [ 27 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE out from their number an old salt, whose bare arms and feet, and exposed breast were covered with as many inscriptions in India ink as the lid of an Egyptian sarcophagus. Notwithstanding all the . . . remonstrances of the French officers, she immediately ap- proached the man, and . . . gazed with admiration at the bright blue and vermilion pricking . . . picture their consternation, when all at once the royal lady, eager to dis- play the hieroglyphics on her own sweet form, bent forward for a moment, and turn- ing sharply round, threw up the skirts of her mantle. ..." One of the earliest references to Omoo found in a letter dated December 8, 1846. "My dear Mr. Duyckinck "I arrived in town last evening from the East. As I hinted to you some time ago I have a new book in M.S. — Relying much upon your literary judgement I am very de- sirous of getting your opinion of it -and (if you feel disposed to favor me so far) to receive your hints. — I address you now not as being in any way connected with Messrs. W[iley} and Plutnam] but presume to do so confidentially as a friend. [ 28 ] IS SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "In passing through town some ten days since I left the M.S. with a particular lady acquaintance of mine; at whose house I in- tend calling this evening to obtain it. The lady resides up town. On my way down I will stop at your residence with the M.S. and will be very much pleased to see you — if not otherwise engaged — I will call, say at 8j^. "With sincere regard Believe me, my dear Sir, Very truly yours, Herman Melville." [ 29 ] Ill AN UNPUBLISHED REVIEW MELVILLE published a number of book reviews in The Literary World, notably of Cooper's Sea Lions, Hawthorne's Scarlet Let- ter, Parkman's Oregon Trail, and a new edition of Cooper's Red Rover. The articles are un- signed, and it is more than probable that other reviews by Melville appear in that magazine which can not now be identified. The following letter, which shows Melville in one of his irrepressible moods, was received November ii, 1848, and contains a review which, needless to say, was never published. "What the deuce does it mean? Here's a book positively turned wrong side out, the title page on the cover, an index to the whole in more ways than one . . . {Description of subject matter) "You have been horribly imposed upon, my dear Sir. The book is no book, but a compact bundle of wrapping paper. And as for Mr. Hart, pen and ink should instantly [ 30 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE be taken away from that impossible ( ?) man, upon the same principle that pistols are withdrawn from the wight bent on suicide. "Prayers should be offered up for him among the congregations, and Thanksgiving Day postponed until long after his 'book' is pubhshed. What great national sin have we' committed to deserve this infliction. "Seriously, Mr. Duyckinck, on my bended knees, and with tears in my eyes, deliver me from writing aught upon this crucifying Romance of Yachting. "What has Mr. Hart done that I should publicly devour him? I bear that hapless man no malice. Then why smite him ? And as for glossing over his book with a few com- monplaces — that I can not do. The book deserves to be burnt in a fire of asafetida, and by the hand that wrote it. "Seriously again . . . the book is an abor- tion, the mere trunk of a book, minus head, arm or leg. Take it back, I beseech, and get some one to cart it back to the author. Yours sincerely, H. M." [ 31 ] IV EMERSON THE following letter, written March 3, 1849, refers to previous correspondence concern- ing Emerson, and gives Melville's impressions of him after hearing him lecture. The reference to the great whale is significant. And, whatever his subsequent tendencies may have been, at this time, certainly, Melville does not appear to have been a partisan of unintelligibility. "Nay, I do not oscillate in Emerson's rainbow, but prefer rather to hang myself in mine own halter than swing in any other man's swing. Yet I think Emerson is more than a brilliant fellow. Be his stuff begged, borrowed, or stolen, or of his own domestic manufacture he is an uncommon man. "Swear he is a humbug — then is he no un- common humbug. Lay it down that had not Sir Thomas Browne lived, Emerson would not have mystified — I will answer that had not Old Zach's father begot him. Old Zach would never have been the hero of Palo [ 32 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Alto. The truth is that we are all sons, grandsons, or nephews or great-nephews of those who go before us. No one is his own sire. "I was very agreeably disappointed in Mr. Emerson. I had heard of him as full of transcendentalism, myths and oracular gib- berish ... to my surprise, I found him quite intelligible, tho' to say truth, they told me that that night he was unusually plain. "Now, there is a something about every man elevated above mediocrity, which is for the most part instantly perceptible. This I see in Mr. Emerson. And, frankly, for the sake of the argument, let us call him a fool — then had I rather be a fool than a wise man. "I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or more; and if he don't attain the bottom, why, all the lead in Galena can't fashion the plummit that will. I'm not talking of Mr. Emerson now, but of the whole corps of thought- divers that have been diving and coming up again with blood-shot eyes since the world began. "I could readily see in Emerson, notwith- standing his merit, a gaping flaw. It was, the insinuation that had he lived in those days when the world was made, he might SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE have offered some valuable suggestions. These men are all cracked right across the brow. And never will the pullers-down be rkhle to cope with the builders-up. . . . Butl / enough of this Plato who talks thro' his J / nose. . . . ^ "You complain that Emerson tho' a deni- zen of the land of gingerbread, is above munching a plain cake in company of jolly fellows, and swigging (?) off his ale like you and me. Ah, my dear Sir, that's his misfor- tune, not his fault. His belly, Sir, is in his chest, and his brains descend down into his neck, and offer an obstacle to a draughtful of ale or a mouthful of cake. . . . Goodbye. H. M." [ 34 ] MARDI ON April 14, 1849, Melville published Mardi, his third book. In the Preface he says of it: "Not long ago, having published two narra- tives of voyages in the Pacific, which, in many quarters, were received with incredu- lity, the thought occurred to me, of indeed writing a romance of Polynesian adventure, and publishing it as such ; to see whether the fiction might not, possibly, be received for a verity : in some degree the reverse of my pre- vious experience." One encounters in this book such personages as the Chondropterygii, Little King Peepi, Don- jalolo, Babbalanja, "those scamps" the Plujii, "that jolly old Lord" BoraboUa. One visits the Island of Juam, "that jolly Island" Mondoldo, the Lake of Yammo, the Catacombs, Pimminee, Dominora, Porpheero, the Land of Warwicks or King-makers, and Hooloomooloo. With Taji, one sits down to dinner with five-and-twenty kings. [ 35 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE One discusses the hereafters of Fish, and what manner of men the Tapparians were, and Mol- lusca, Kings, Toad-stools, and other matters. The book is full of marvels and portents, his- tory, zoology, adventure, and philosophy. Per- haps much of it is allegory, on the other hand perhaps nearly all of it Is burlesque. "... most ancient of all, was a hiero- glyphical Elegy on the Dumps, consisting of one thousand and one lines. . . . Then there were plenty of rare old ballads: — Kin^ Kroko, and the Fisher Girl. . . . And brave old chronicles . . . The whole pedigree of the King of Kandidee, with that of his famous horse, Znorto. . . . And Tarantula books : — Sour milk for the young, by a dairy- man. . . . And poetical productions : — Son- net on the last breath of an Ephemera; The Gad-fly, and other poems . . . and scarce old memoirs . . . The Life of old Philo, the Philanthropist, in one chapter. . . . And books by Chiefs and Nobles : — on the proper manner of saluting a bosom friend . . . A Canto on a cough caught by my consort . . . "And theological works : — Pudding for the Pious . . . Pickles for the Persecuted. And long and tedious romances . . . The King and the Cook, or the Cook and the King. And books of voyages . . . Franko: its [ 36 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Kitiff, Court and Tadpoles. . . . And pam- phlets by retired warriors: — Three receipts for bottling new arack; To brown bread fruit without burning. ..." A great deal of it is rollicking nonsense. Not a little of it is poetry, both in prose and verse — "Fish, Fish, we are fish with red gills: Naught disturbs us, our blood is at zero : We are buoyant because of our bags, Being many, each fish is a hero. We care not what it is, this life That we follow, this phantom unknown: To swim, it's exceedingly pleasant — So swim away, making a foam. . . . "We fish, we fish, we merrily swim. We care not for friend, nor for foe: Our fins are stout. Our tails are out. As through the seas we go ..." and the following, which seems to be the only direct reference in Melville's writings to the Cali- fornia gold rush — "Now, northward coasting along Kolumbo's Western shore . . . and where we landed not . . . and after many, many days, we spied prow after prow, before the wind all [ 37 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE northward bound : sails widespread, and pad- dles plying: scaring the fish from before them. "... But as they sped, with frantic glee, in one long chorus thus they sang: — "We rovers bold, To the land of gold, Over bowling billows are gliding: Eager to toil, For the golden spoil, And every hardship biding. See 1 See ! Before our prow's resistless dashes. The gold-fish fly in golden flashes! 'Neath a sun of gold. We rovers bold. On the golden land are gaining; And every night, We steer aright. By golden stars unwaning ! All fires burn a golden glare: No locks so bright as golden hair! AH orange groves have golden gushings : All mornings dawn with golden flushings I In a shower of gold, say fables old, , A maiden was won by the god of gold. . . . "... Lo, a vision ... A vast and silent bay, belted by silent villages ... a thou- t 38 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE sand paths, marked with footprints, all in- land leading, none village-ward; and strown with traces, as of a flying host. On: over forest — hill, and dale — and lol the golden region! After the glittering spoil, by strange river-margins, and beneath impend- ing cliffs, thousands delve in quicksands; and, sudden, sink in graves of their own making: with gold dust mingling their own ashes. "With many camels, a sleek stranger comes — pauses before the shining heaps, and shows his treasures: yams and bread-fruit. 'Give, give,' the famished hunters cry — 'a thousand shekels for a yam I — a prince's ran- som for a meal!' . . . Then he who toiled not, dug not, slaved not, straight loads his caravans with gold; regains the beach, and swift embarks for home. 'Honie, home!' the hunters cry, with bursting eyes. 'With this bright gold, could we but join our wait- ing wives, who wring their hands on distant shores, all then were well. But we can not fly; our prows lie rotting on the beach. Ah ! home! thou only happiness! — better thy sil- ver earnings than all these golden findings. Oh, bitter end to all our hopes — ^we die in golden graves.' " From beginning to end, Mardi is gloriously [39 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE insane. One persists in the belief that Melville enjoyed every line of it, even in his most abstruse passages. In the midst of much superlative praise the book was, of course, viciously attacked. Blackwood's Magazine was sadly disgusted "on a perusal of a rubbishing rhapsody entitled Mardi." The Dublin University Magazine found it "one of the saddest, most melancholy, most deplorable and humiliating perversions of genius" in the language. What was the effect of such criticism on Mel- ville, the first directed primarily at his writing, is very clearly shown in the following letter, the first portion of which appears elsewhere in this volume under Redburn. It is a peculiarly signifi- cant and pathetic Melville document, sensitive and disillusioned, written from London, on December 14, 1849, while he was seeking to dispose of the manuscript of JVhite-Jacket, and secure some advance from his London publisher with which to pay his pressing debts. Speaking of a writer in need of money, Mel- ville says: "... and when he attempts anything higher, God help him and save him ! for it is not with a hollow purse as with a hollow baloon — for a hollow purse makes the poet sink — witness 'Mardi.' . . . "What a madness and anguish it is, that [ 40 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE an author can never — under no conceivable circumstances — be at all frank with his rea:d- ers. Could I, for one, be frank, with them, how would they cease their railing — those at least who have railed. "In a little notice of the 'Oregon Trail' I once said something 'critical' about another man's book — I shall never do it again. Hereafter I shall no more stab at a book (in print, I mean) than I would stab at a man. I am but a poor mortal, and I admit that I learn by experience and not by divine intui- tion. Had I not written and published 'Mardi' in all likelihood I would not be as wise as I am now, or may be. For that thing was stabbed at (I do not say through) and therefore I am the wiser for it. . . . H. Melville." This is a very humble Melville, although there is a fine lift of the chin in that " . . . I do not say through." In the next letter, February 2, 1850, he is' back again with his old ironical pen. The letter. Incidentally, is a not unworthy sample of what is rapidly becoming a lost art: "My dear Duyckinck — Tho' somewhat unusual for a donor I must beg to apologise for making you the accompanying present of 'Mardi.' But no one who knows your li- [ 41 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE brary can doubt that such a choice conserva- tory of exotics and other rare things in litera- ture, after being long enjoyed by yourself, must to a late posterity be preserved intact by your descendants. How natural then — tho' vain — in your friend to desire a place in it for a plant, which tho' now unblown (em- blematically, the leaves, you perceive, are uncut) may possibly — by some miracle, that is — flower like the aloe, a hundred years hence — or not flower at all, which is more likely by far, for some aloes never flower. "Again: (as the divines say) political re- publics should be the asylum for the perse- cuted of all nations; so, if 'Mardi' be admitted to your shelves, your bibliographi- cal Republic of Letters may find some con- tentment in the thought that it has afforded refuge to a book which almost everjrwhere else has been driven forth like a wild, mystic Mormon into shelterless exile. "The leaves, I repeat, are uncut — let them remain so — and let me supplementarily hint that a bit of old parchment (from some old Arabic M.S.S. on Astrology) tied around each volume, and sealed on the back with a Sphynx and never to be broken till the aloe flowers — would not be an unsuitable device for the bookbinding of 'Mardi.' "That book is a sort of dose, if you please, [ 42 ] 0i/u^ ^ Ou>u^ . /fn ^ ^^ ^J|. /Jh^^^nu^i^', -"%- ^-^^ ^^ -^^-^ ^^^ ^^M^ /K^c^ U^^^Ue^V ^yu^^^r^wo^ , PP- [5]-i6; half-title. The Arrival., reverse blank; texlt, Canto II, pp. [I9J-34; half-title, The School., reverse blank; text, Canto III, pp. [373-48; half-title. The Denouement., reverse blank; text. Canto IV, pp. [51J-71. Reverse of p. 71 blank. All half-titles are included in the pagination, and each page, including the blank pages, is enclosed in a frame showing small ro- settes at the four corners. The book is bound in yellow glazed boards, and bears on back Redburn, in black type on paper label pasted on, printed from bottom to top. This binding may have been put on by Mr. Stuart when the book came into his possession. (See below.) [ 145 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE This volume is to be found in the New York Public Library, in the room devoted to the Stuart collection. In April, 1922, it bore on the title- page, in pencil, a note made by the cataloguer By / Herman Melville. On the same date, among the Herman Melville cards in the general card catalog there appeared a card covering this vol- ume and giving Herman Melville as the author. It is estimated that the cataloguing of this volume was done fully twenty years ago. It is an inter- esting, and at the same time mortifying, example of the public neglect of Herman Melville, that this card attributing this volume of verse to him should have remained unquestioned during all those years; more especially since, if a genuine Melville, this volume would be his first published book and consequently of considerable interest to biographers. The book is mentioned in several catalogs, in- cluding that of the British Museum, but always anonymously. It is supposed that the cataloguer who made the notation on the title-page looked up Redburn, and found Melville given as the author, the reference being of course to the novel. There are several features of this poem, how- ever, which, if only from the standpoint of coin- cidence, give it an added and quite unusual interest. The hero of the poem, and the hero of Mel- ville's novel, are both called Redburn. The poem was published in 1845, copyright [ 146 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE 1844. Melville was discharged from the Navy, at the close of his White-Jacket voyage, in Bos- ton, October, 1844, that is to say, after his visit to Typee. (See below.) The poem states: Canto I, p. 5. "Close where Tioga's hill-side fires Smoke, dull, above Owego's spires, ■P T* ^ ^ 1- Its front a district school house rears. *!* jp f^ g^ j|c P- 13- "How, on the morrow would arrive From great Manhatta's teeming hive T" "1" '(■ "t" "1* A pedagogue of likely parts. ..." In other words, Redburn in the poem is a schoolmaster. While it is not known that Mel- ville ever taught school in Tioga County, even temporarily as a substitute, nevertheless he did teach school in New York State between the years 1 837-1 840, after his return from Liverpool on the voyage described subsequently (1849) •" his novel Redburn. The poem continues: [ 147 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE p. 15. "She, conscious that she knew the truth, That the new teacher was a youth On the wide world an orphan thrown To meet its buffetings alone, p. 16. And for his service he would share In turn the farmer's homely fare With some small pay beside. ..." At the time when he taught school Melville's father was dead, and he had already met the buf- fetings of the wide world during his voyage to Liverpool. Also during his career as a school- teacher it is known that Melville received a very small stipend, and boarded with the neighboring farmers in rotation. The poem continues : Canto II, p. 24. "All forward pressed, eager to see What sort of teacher it might be — And when, as stopp'd the coach, a bound Brought the schoolmaster to the ground, A murmur of surprise went round. 'Twas no old wretch, whose sullen looks Told but of punishment and books — [ 148 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE But a fair youth, whose eye of blue The light of anger never knew. Canto III, p. 47. "The damsels smiling, thought the swain Well might adorn the suitor train. And lightly laughed at punishment When beau and pedagogue were blent ; p. 48. And the glad urchins, with sly wink, Curled a contemptuous lip to think How much a teacher should be feared Whose chin scarce darken'd with a beard. Redburn of the poem, therefore, was a very young man, of prepossessing appearance. Mel- ville taught school between the ages of eighteen and twenty, and is known to have been of a strik- ing appearance. The poem continues: Canto IV, p. 52- "He [Redburn] dreamed — and thoughts of other days Came o'er his soul like sunny rays. ***** [ 149 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE P-53- And now his vision seem'd to change, And all was beautifully strange. Far as the eye could reach, was spread A vale, fit for the fairies' tread; Upon its arbours grew such fruit The fairies' dainty taste might suit. And every leaf and every flower Might deck a fairy's nuptial bower. Through the bright valley flow'd a stream, Where, 'twixt the trees, the sun would gleam And kiss the wave in laughing play. Though jealous leaves would often stray To keep him from the foam away." It is difficult not to turn at once to Melville's descriptions of the Valley of Typee, in the Re- vised Edition, where he says : pp. 46-47. "From the spot where I lay ... I looked straight down into the bosom of a valley, which swept away in long wavy undulations to the blue waters in the dis- tance. . . . Everywhere below me . . . the surface of the vale presented a mass of foli- age, spread with such rich profusion, that it was impossible to determine of what descrip- tion of trees it consisted. "But perhaps there was nothing about the scenery I beheld more impressive than those [ 150 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE silent cascades, whose slender threads of water . . . were lost amidst the rich herbage of the valley. "Over all the landscape there reigned the most hushed repose, which I almost feared to break, lest, like the enchanted gardens in the fairy tale, a single syllable might dis- solve the spell." p. 57. "So glorious a valley — such for- ests of bread-fruit trees — such groves of cocoa-nut — such wildernesses of guava bushes !" p. 67. "That magnificent vale. ..." p. 68. "We followed the course of the stream. ..." p. 69. "We descried a number of trees . . . which bear a most delicious fruit. ..." Fortunately for the peace of mind of the reader, the remainder of the poem Redburn is free from apparent allusions to the author of the novel Redburn. [ 151 ] WHITE-JACKET New York, 1850 White- Jacket; / or / The World In a Man-Of- War. / By Herman Melville, / author of "Typee," "Omoo," "Mardi," and "Redburn." / New York: / Harper & Brothers, Publishers, / 82 Cliff Street. / London: Richard Bentley. / 1850. Collation. lamo, pp. vii + [9J-465. Consist- ing of title-page, reverse bears note of date of entry, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; quo- tation from Fuller's "Good Sea-Captain," reverse bears author's note, dated New York, March, 1 850; contents, pp. [v]-vii, reverse of which is blank; text, pp. [9J (headed White-Jacket) to 462; pp. [463]-465 contain unnumbered chapter entitled The End, not included in Contents. Re- verse of p. 465 is blank. There follow six un- numbered pages of publishers' announcements, the first four of which are of Redburn, Mardi, Omoo, and Typee. The book is bound in brown cloth, stamped [ 152 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE with same conventional design on both covers, bearing the words Harper and Brothers New York in center. On back, in gold, White-Jacket. / Melville. / New York. / Harper & Brothers. Yellow end papers. The published price was $1.25. The book was also issued in two parts bound in paper. Part I. Collation. i2mo, pp. vii + [9]-240. Con- sisting of title-page, reverse bears note of date of entry, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; author's note, dated New York, March, 1850, reverse bears quotation from Fuller's "Good Sea- Captain"; contents (both parts), pp. [v]-vii, reverse of which is blank; text, pp. [93-240. Part II. Collation. i2mo, pp. [241J-465, consisting only of text. Reverse p. 465 blank, followed by 14 pages of publishers' announcements, first four of which are of Redburn, Mardi, Omoo, and Typee. The parts are bound in yellow paper. On front cover, in double frame, in black, top left- hand corner, Part I. (II.), top right-hand corner, 50 cents. In center White- Jacket ; / or / The World In A Man-Of-War. / By Herman Mel- [ 153 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE ville, / author of "Typee," "Omoo," "Mardi," and "Redburn." / Complete in Two Parts. / New York: / Harper & Brothers, Publishers, / 82 Cliff Street. / 1850. Inside front and rear covers blank. Rear cover, Part I, announcement of "Book List for the present season. May 1850," Part II, "New Books." The published price was 50 cents each part. WHITE-JACKET London, 1850 2 vols. (From "Excursions in Victorian Bibliography," Sadleir.) White-Jacket: Or The World in a Man of War. By Herman Melville. London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1850. 2 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4^x7^). Vol. I, pp. vi + 322. Vol. II, pp. iv + 315 + [i]. No half-titles. Pale blue cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Yellow end papers, printed with pub- lishers' advertisements. Vol. I, pp. iii and iv, contain a preface dated October, 1849, ^"d dif- ferent in content from the note on p. iv of the American edition dated March, 1850. [ 154 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The published price was 21 shillings. The manuscript was written in New York City during the summer of 1849. I" November of that year Melville went to London to dispose of it. Richard Bentley offered two hundred pounds for the English rights to print 1000 copies. The manuscript was refused by Murray, Colbour, and Moxon. Finally, in December, Bentley confirmed his previous offer, and accepted the manuscript for publication at the end of March, 1850 (1000 copies). The American edition is subsequent to the English. The following extract, "A shore emperor on board a man of war," appeared in The Literary World, March 9, 1850. The book contains an account of Melville's own experiences subsequent to those related in Omoo, as a sailor aboard the United States Frigate United States, from which he received his dis- charge in Boston, in October, 1844. Of this book the Dublin University Magazine said: "This is, in our opinion, his very best work. . . . Take it all in all, White-Jacket is an astonishing production, and contains much writing of the highest order." [ 155 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The book was reprinted In the following years : New York: Harper, 1855; Arthur Stedman, Ed., 1892; 1896. Boston: Arthur Stedman, Ed., 1900; 19 10; 1919. London: 1855; 1892; 1893; 1901. [ 156 ] VI MOBY-DICK New York, 185 1 Moby-Dick; / or, / The Whale. / By / Her- man Melville, / author of / "Typee," "Omoo," "Redburn," "Mardi," "White-Jacket." / New York: / Harper & Brothers, Publishers. / Lon- don: Richard Bentley. / 1851. Collation. i2mo, pp. xxiii + 634. Consisting of title-page, reverse bears note of date of entry, 1851 ; dedication = In Token / of my admiration for his genius, / This Book Is Inscribed / to / Nathaniel Hawthorne., reverse blank; Contents, pp. [v]-vi; half-title, Moby-Dick; / or, / The Whale., reverse bears note headed Etymology; p. [ix]. Etymology, reverse bears note headed Extracts; pp. [xi]-xxiii. Extracts, reverse of p. xxiii blank; text, pp. [i 3-634; followed by page containing Epilogue, reverse of which is blank; followed by six pages of publishers' announce- ments. The book is bound in pale blue cloth, stamped with conventional design. Orange end papers. [ 157 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The American edition contains thirty-five pas- sages omitted from the English edition. The published price was $1.50. THE WHALE London, 1851 3 vols. (From "Excursions in Victorian Bibliography," Sadleir.) The Whale. By Herman Melville, author of "Typee," "Omoo," "Redburn," "Mardi," "White-Jacket." (Quotation from Paradise Lost.) London: Richard Bentley, New Burling- ton Street. 1851. 3 vols. Ex. Cr. 8vo (4%x Vol. I, pp. viii -f 312. Vol. II, pp. iv + 303 + [r]- Vol. Ill, pp. iv + 328. Vol. I only has half-title, on which the story is described as The Whale or Moby-Dick. Quarter cream cloth blocked in gold; bright blue embossed cloth sides, blocked in blind. Pale yellow end papers. The published price was 31 shillings and 6 pence. [ 158 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The manuscript was written at Arrowhead, Massachusetts, in 1 850-1 851. The tale was pub- lished in October, 1851. In England Richard Bentley agreed to pay one hundred and fifty pounds for the first 1000 copies, and half profits thereafter. The American edition is subsequent to the English (500 copies). The following extract, "The Town-Ho's Story," appeared in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, October, 1851. Extracts from press notices are given below. Dublin University Magazine. It is quite as eccentric and monstrously extravagant in many of its incidents as even Mardi; but it is, nevertheless, a very valuable book, on account of the unpar- alleled mass of information it contains on the subject of the history and capture of the great and terrible cachalot or sperm-whale. Literary World. Moby-Dick may be pro- nounced a most remarkable sea-dish — an intel- lectual chowder of romance, philosophy, natural history, fine writing, good feeling, bad sayings — but over which, in spite of all uncertainties, and in spite of the author himself, predominates his keen perceptive faculties, exhibited in vivid nar- ration. The book was reprinted in the following years : New York: Harper, 1863^ Arthur Stedman, [ 159 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Ed., 1892; 1896. Another edition, 1892; 1899; Ernest Rhys, Ed., 1907; 192 1. Dodd Mead, 1922. Boston: Arthur Stedman, Ed., 1900; 19 10; 1919. London: Bentley, 1^53; L. Becke, Ed., 1901; Ernest Rhys, Ed., 1907; 192 1. Another edition, 1912; Violet Maynell, Ed., 1920; 1921. [ 160 ] VII PIERRE New York, 1852 Pierre; / or, / The Ambiguities. / By / Her- man Melville. / New York: / Harper & Brothers, Publishers / 329 & 331 Pearl Street, / Franklin Square. / 1852. Collation. i2mo, pp. viii + 495. Consisting of title-page, reverse bears note of date of entry, 1852; dedication To / Greylock's Most Excellent Majesty, etc., reverse blank; table of contents, pp. [v]-viii; text, pp. [iJ-495, reverse of which is blank. The book is bound in grey cloth, stamped with conventional design. Grey end papers. The published price was, cloth $1.25', paper $1.00. PIERRE London, 1852 Copies issued in England consist of the Ameri- can sheets, with a cancel title = Pierre : Or The [ 161 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Ambiguities. By Herman Melville. London: Sampson Low Son and Co., 47 Ludgate Hill. 1852. Bound in blue embossed cloth, stamped with conventional design. Yellow end papers. The price was 8 shillings and 6 pence. The manuscript was written at Arrowhead, Massachusetts, in 1851. The tale was published in November, 1852. The book contains much autobiographical ma- terial concerning Melville's childhood, and sup- posed depictions of his parents. Extracts from contemporary press notices are given below. London Men of the Time. An unhealthy, mys- tic romance. ... A decided failure. . . . London Athenaeum. It is one of the most dif- fuse doses of transcendentalism offered for a long time to the public. . . . That many readers will not follow "the moody ways of Pierre" is, in our apprehension, not amongst the ambiguities of the age. The present chaotic performance has noth- ing American about it, except that it reminds us of a prairie in print, wanting the flowers and freshness of the savannahs, but almost equally puzzling to find a way through it. Literary World. The object of the author, perhaps, has been, not to delineate life and char- [ 162 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE acter as they are or may possibly be, but as they are not and cannot be. We must receive the book, then, as an eccentricity of the imagination. The most unmoral moral of the story, if it has any moral at all, seems to be the impracticability of virtue. . . . In commenting upon the vagueness of the book, the uncertainty of its aim, the indefiniteness of its characters, and want of distinctness in its pictures, we are perhaps only proclaiming ourselves as the discoverers of a literary mare's nest, this vague- ness, as the title of the "Ambiguities" seems to indicate, having been possibly intended by the author, and the work meant as a problem of im- possible solution, to set critics and readers a wool- gathering. It is alone intelligible as an unin- telligibility. The book was reprinted by Harper, in 1 855. [ 163 ] VIII ISRAEL POTTER New York, 1855 Israel Potter: / His Fifty Years of Exile. / By / Herman Melville, / author of "Typee," "Oraoo," etc. / New York: / G. P. Putnam & Co., 10 Park Place. / 1855. Collation. i2mo, 276 pp. Consisting of title- page; reverse, note of date of entry = 1855, and at bottom imprint = Printed and stereotyped by Blllin and Brother, 20 North William St., N. Y. ; dedication, pp. [3J-5, headed To / His High- ness / the / Bunker Hill Monument., dated June 17, 1854; reverse p. 5 blank; contents, pp. [7]-8; text, pp. [9] (headed Israel Potter: / Fifty Years of Exile) to 276. The book was bound in green cloth, stamped on both covers with border, and identical conven- tional design in center enclosing publishers' mono- gram. On back in gold = Fifty / Years / Exile / Melville. / Putnam. Yellow end papers. The published price was 75 cents. Typographical errors noted: [ 164 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE p. 137, 1. 17, Tristam should be Tristram. p. 276, heading, period should be colon. The book was reprinted twice in the same year. The second printing is identical with the first, except that binding is red, and following addi- tional typographical errors noted: p. 113, 1. I, third word, broken y. p. 116, 1. 3, fifth word, t obliterated. p. 116, 1. 4, fifth word, t obliterated. p. 119, second line from bottom, seventh word, i missing. p. 188, heading, colon broken. p. 201, 1. I, last word, hyphen lacking. The third printing is identical with the sec- ond, except that the binding is brown; the title- page bears the words Third Edition after "author of . . . " ; and following additional typographical errors noted: p. 122, heading, period should be colon. p. 183, heading, period lacking. p. 275, last line, last word, e lacking. The book was issued in 1865 in Philadelphia under the title of: THE REFUGEE The Refugee. / By / Herman Melville. / Author of "Typee," "Omoo," "The Two Cap- tains," "The Man of / the World," etc., etc. / [ 165 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE "Written with a life-like power. We advise no one to take up 'The Refugee' / until he has the leisure to finish it; for when he has once dipped into its fasci- / nating and adventurous pages, he will not be disposed to leave them until he has / reached the very last." / "This is really a delightful book, in which one may find food for laughter and / ster- ling information into the bargain. It is written in a pleasant off-hand style, / such as will be en- joyed by everybody. There are portions of the work, infinitely / superior to anything of the kind we ever before read." / Philadelphia: / T. B. Peterson & Brothers, / 306 Chestnut Street. Collation. 8vo. Title-page, bearing on re- verse note of date of entry = 1865 ; and text, pp. 19 (heading = The Refugee. / By Herman Mel- ville.) to 286. There is no dedication, and no table of contents as in Putnam edition. The book is bound in black pressed cloth, with double border and conventional design In center showing publishers' name on both covers. On back = The / Refugee (in black in a gold panel stamp) / (In gold) Melville. / Publishers' sym- bol / T. B. Peterson & Brothers. The whole enclosed In a gold frame. The same typographical errors as in the third printing of the Putnam edition noted, except that the missing « on p. 275 of that edition is corrected in this one (p. 285) . None of the errors in page headings of the Putnam edition occur, as the page [ 166 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE heading for the 1865 edition is The Refugee throughout. The published price was, cloth $1.75, paper $1.50. A copy of The Refugee, formerly the property of Melville's cousin, Mrs. Lansing, bears a note in pencil on the title-page to the effect that the publishers of The Refugee "assumed the right" to publish it after the expiration of the copyright, and the edition has often been referred to subse- quently as a pirated edition. This is not the case, however, as the plates were sold by Putnam to Peterson during the panic of 1857. At the time of the sale the plates were valued at $218.66, the book was out of print, and there was no sheet stock. An undated clipping from the New York World, pasted in the copy mentioned ^bove, voices Melville's legitimate objection, not to the publi- cation of the book by Peterson, but to its publi- cation under a changed title, as follows: "A Protest from Herman Melville "To the Editor of the World "Sir: Permit me through your columns to make a disavowal. T. B. Peterson and Brothers, of Philadelphia, include in a late list of their publications 'The Refugee' by Herman Melville. "I have never written any work by that title. [ 167 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE In connection with that title Peterson Broth- ers employ my name without authority, and not withstanding a remonstrance conveyed to them long ago. Herman Melville." The matter is again referred to In a letter from Melville to Mr. James Billson, reprinted in the London Nation and Athenaeum for August 13, 1 92 1, as follows: "April 7th, 1888 New York, 104 East 26th Street. "My dear Sir . . . As for the 'Two Cap- tains' and 'Man of the World,' they are books of the air — and I know of none such. The names appear, though, on the title- page of a book of mine — 'Israel Potter' — which was republished by a Philadelphia house some time ago, under the unwarrant- ably altered title of 'The Refugee.' A letter to the publisher arrested the publication." [ 168 SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE ISRAEL POTTER London, 1855 (From "Excursions in Fictotian Bibliography," Sadleir.) Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile. By Herman Melville, author of "Typee," "Omoo," etc. London: G. Routledge and Co., Farring- ton Street. 1855. i Vol. F, cap, 8vo (4x65^). Pp. 174. Bright yellow paper wrappers printed in black. The outside back wrapper is occupied by publishers' advertisements. Also issued simul- taneously in cloth. The published price was i shilling. The tale was published in April, 1855, ^7 Put- nam, having previously appeared serially in Put- nam's Monthly Magazine, July, 1854-March, 1855- The book is based on the Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter, 1824, purporting to be the true story of a soldier in the American Revolution, captured by the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Melville's book contains what are considered able sketches of George III, Dr. Franklin, Paul Jones, Ethan Allen, and the fight between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis. Extracts from contemporary press notices are given below. [ 169 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Hartford Republican. The descriptions with which it abounds are among the finest in the language. Such splendid writing rarely issues from the press. London Athenaeum. Mr. Melville's books have been, from the outset of his career, some- what singular, and this is not the least so of the company. . . . Mr. Melville tries for power, and command, but he becomes wilder and wilder, and more and more turgid in each successive book. The book was reprinted in the following years : New York: Putnam, 1855 (reprinted twice), London: Murray, 1861. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, 1865 (from original plates, with title of The Refugee). [ 170 ] IX THE PIAZZA-TALES New York, 1856 The / Piazza Tales. / By / Herman Melville, / author of "Typee," "Omoo," etc, etc., etc. / New York; / Dix & Edwards, 321 Broadway. / Lon- don: Sampson Low, Son & Co. / 1856. Collation. i2mo, pp. [iv]+43i. Consist- ing of title-page, reverse bears note of date of entry, 1856, and imprint = Miller & Holman, / Printers & Stereotypers, N. Y. ; contents, reverse blank; text, pp. [iJ-29, The Piazza, reverse blank; [31]-! 07, Bartleby, reverse blank; [109]- 270, Benito Cereno; [27i]-285, The Lightning- Rod Man, reverse blank; [287J-399, The Encantadas, reverse blank; [401] -431, The Bell- Tower, reverse blank; followed by 7 pages of publishers' announcements. The book is bound in pale blue cloth, stamped on both covers with same conventional design showing publishers' monogram in an oval of corn- stalks; on back, in gold, enclosed in same de- sign = The / Piazza / Tales / Melville., and at [ 171 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE bottom = DIx Edwards & Co. While some copies of the first edition have blue end papers, that owned by Mr. Evert Duyckinck (see Part One of this work) has yellow end papers, and it is reasonable to assume that his copy would have been among the first issued. The published price was $i.oo. While the book was advertised in England at 9 shillings, and noticed by English reviewers, it is doubtful whether it was ever issued in England. The book, published in 1856, contains a col- lection of short tales. The first of these. The Piazza, gives an account of Melville's farmhouse at Arrowhead, Massachusetts; the other five had already appeared in Putnam's Monthly Magazine as follows: Bartleby, the Scrivener, November-December, 1853- The Encantadas, March-May, 1854. The Lightning-Rod Man, August, 1854. The Bell Tower, August, 1855. Benito Cereno, October-December, 1855. The London Atlas mentioned the book as fol- lows: "Who that remembers those charming works of Mr. Melville, Typee and Omoo, will not be glad of an opportunity of meeting him on [ 172 1 SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE his Piazza, while he recites the delightful stories which are contained in the volume be- fore us?" The book was never reprinted. [ 173 ] THE CONFIDENCE-MAN New York, 1857 The / Confidence-Man: / His Masquerade. / By / Herman Melville, / author of "Piazza Tales," "Omoo," "Typee," etc., etc. / New York: / Dix, Edwards & Co., 321 Broadway. / 1857. Collation. i2mo, pp. [vi] + 394. Consisting of title-page; reverse, note of date of entry = 1857, and at bottom imprint of Miller & Hol- man, / Printers and Stereotypers, N. Y. ; contents, pp. [iii]-vi (all lines centered and no page refer- ences given); text, pp. [ij (headed The Confi- dence-Man: / His Masquerade.) to 394. The book is bound in green cloth, stamped on both covers with border, and conventional design in center. On back in gold = The / Confidence / Man / Melville / Dix, Edwards & Co. The published price was $1.00. [ 174 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE THE CONFIDENCE-MAN London, 1857 (From "Excursions in Victorian Bibliography," Sadleir.) The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade By Herman Melville, author of "The Piazza Tales," "Omoo," "Typee," etc., etc. Authorised Edi- tion. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Long- mans and Roberts. 1857. i Vol. F, cap. 8vo (4j4x6^). Pp. vi + 354. No half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated September, 1855, bound in at end. Yellow-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Brick-red end papers, partially printed with publishers' advertisements. The published price was 5 shillings. The tale was published in April, 1857. The action takes place aboard a Mississippi river boat, and it would seem to have been the author's in- tention to write a sequel. Some contemporary press notices of the book are ^ven below. Westminster Review. It required close knowl- edge of the world, and of the Yankee world, to write such a book, and make the satire acute and telling and the scenes not too improbable for the faith given to fiction. Perhaps the moral is, the [ 175 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE gullibility of the great Republic when taken on its own tack. . . . Few Americans write so pow- erfully as Mr. Melville, or in better English; and we shall look forward with pleasure to his promised continuation of the Masquerade. The first part is a remarkable work, and will add to his reputation. London Leader. The charm of the book is owing to its originality and to its constant flow of descriptions, character sketching, and dialogue, deeply toned and skilfully contrasted. London Saturday Review. There is one point on which we must speak a serious word to Mr. Melville before parting with him. He is too clever a man to be a profane one; and yet his occasional irreverent use of Scripture phrases in such a book as the one before us gives a disagree- able impression. We hope he will not in future mar his wit and blunt the edge of his satire by such instances of bad taste. The book was never reprinted. [ 176 ] XI BATTLE-PIECES New York, 1866 Battle-Pieces / and / Aspects of the War. / By / Herman Melville. / New York: / Harper & Brothers, Publishers, / Franklin Square. / 1866. Collation. i2mo, pp. x + [i i]-272. Consist- ing of title-page ; reverse, note of date of entry = one thousand eight "hnndred" and sixty-six; dedi- cation = The Battle-Pieces / in this volume are dedicated / to the memory of the / Three Hundred Thousand / who in the war / for the maintenance of the Union / fell devotedly / under the flag of their fathers; reverse blank; author's note, be- ginning "With few exceptions, the Pieces in this volume originated in an impulse imparted by the fall of Richmond . . ."; reverse blank; contents, listing 71 poems, pp. [vii]-x; poem. The Portent (1859), "ot included in contents, p. [irj; re- verse blank; text, pp. [13J-162; half-title = Verses / Inscriptive and Memorial; reverse blank; text, pp. [i65]-[i83]; reverse blank; half-title = The Scout toward Aldie; reverse blank; text, [ 177 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE pp. [187] -2 25; reverse blank; half-tide = Lee in the Capitol; reverse blank; text, pp. [229J-237; reverse blank; half-title = A Meditation, (etc.); reverse blank; text, pp. [241 J-243 ; reverse blank; half-title = Notes; reverse blank; text, pp. [247]- 255; reverse blank; half-title = Supplement ; re- verse blank; text, pp. [259J-272. All half-titles are included in the pagination. Throughout the book the page on which a poem begins is not num- bered. The longest poem included is The Scout toward Ald'te, 39 pp. The at one time well-known Sheridan at Cedar Creek is on pp. 116-117. The book is bound in blue cloth, bearing pub- lishers' monogram in a circle in center of both covers. On back in gold = Battle / Pieces. / Melville. / Ornament / Harpers. Brown end papers. The published price was $1.75. The book was not issued in England. This volume of verse was published in 1866. Melville states that "with few exceptions, the Pieces in this volume originated in an impulse imparted by the fall of Richmond. ..." The volume opens with The Portent (1859), not included in the table of contents, and given in full below: "Hanging from the beam, Slowly swaying (such the law), [ 178 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Gaunt the shadow on your green, Shenandoah ! The cut is on the crown (Lo, John Brown), And the stabs shall heal no more. "Hidden in the cap Is the anguish none can draw; So your future veils its face, Shenandoah I But the streaming beard is shown (Weird John Brown), The meteor of the war." Of the poems included in this volume, the fol- lowing had already appeared in magazines: "The March to the Sea," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, February, 1866. "The Cumberland," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1866. "Chattanooga," Harper's New Monthly Mag- azine, June, 1866. "Gettysburg: July, 1863," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, July, 1866. The book was never reprinted. [ 179 ] XII CLAREL New York, 1876 2 vols. Volume I. Clarel / a poem / and / pilgrimage in the Holy Land. / By / Herman Melville / in four parts / I. Jerusalem III. Mar Saba / II. The Wilder- ness IV. Bethlehem / Vol. I / New York / G. P. Putnam's Sons / No. 182 Fifth Avenue / 1876. Collation. i6mo, pp. 300. .Consisting of title- page, reverse bears copyright note, 1876; dedica- tion, reverse blank, pasted in, not included in pagination = By / a spontaneous act, / not very long ago, / my kinsman, the late / Peter Ganse- voort, / of Albany, N. Y., / In a personal inter- view provided for the publica- / tion of this poem, known to him by report, / as existing in manu- script. / Justly and affectionately the printed book is / Inscribed With His Name.; contents, 3 pp., of which the second and third are numbered ii and iii, though actually they are 4 and 5 ; reverse [ 180 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE of p. iii bears author's note; text, Part I, pp. [7]- 152; half-title = Part II. / the Wilderness, re- verse blank, included in pagination; text, Part II, pp. [15SJ-300. Volume II. Title-page same as Volume I, except says Vol. II. Collation. i6mo, pp. iv+ [301J-571. Con- sisting of title-page, reverse bears copyright note, 1876; contents, pp. [iii]-iv; half-title, Part III. / Mar Saba., included in pagination, p. [301 J, re- verse blank; text. Part III, pp. [3033-436 ; half- title, Part IV. / Bethlehem., included in pagination, reverse blank; text. Part IV, pp. [439]-57i, reverse of which is blank. Each volume is bound in brick-red cloth, stamped in gold on front cover only with emblem of palm leaves, crosses, crowns and star. On back, in gold, Clarel / a / Pilgrimage / in the / Holy Land / Melville /I. (II.) / Putnam. Chocolate end papers. The published price was $3.00. The book was not issued in England. These two volumes of verse were published in July, 1876, at the expense of Melville's uncle, Hon. Peter Gansevoort. The manuscript had been in existence for some time. [ 181 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE The poem was inspired by Melville's journey to the Holy Land, in 1856. The poem was never reprinted. [ 182 ] XIII JOHN MARK New York, 1888 John Marr / and other sailors / (these two lines not centered) With some sea-pieces / deco- ration I New- York / The De Vinne Press / 1888. Collation. i6mo, 4 unnumbered pages + pp. 103. Consisting of Title-page, reverse of which bears imprint = Copyright, 1888, by / Theo. L. De Vinne & Co.; Table of Contents, reverse blank; "Inscription epistolary to W. C. R.," etc., PP- [i]-7> reverse of which is blank; half-title, John Marr / and other Sailors., reverse blank; text, pp. 11-23, reverse of which is blank; hal^- title. Bridegroom Dick, reverse blank; text, pp. 27-50; half-title, Tom Deadlight, reverse blank; text, pp. 53-56; half-title. Jack Roy, reverse blank; text, pp. 59-61, reverse of which is blank; half-title, Sea-Pieces, reverse blank; text, pp. 65- 76; half-title. The Aeohan Harp / at the Surf Inn., reverse blank; text, pp. 79-81, reverse of which is blank; half-title. Minor Sea-Pieces., re- verse blank; text, pp. 85-97, reverse of which is [ 183 1 SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE blank; half-title, Pebbles, reverse blank; text, pp. 1 01-103, reverse of which is blank. All half-titles included in pagination. The book is bound in yellow paper. On front cover, in black = (upper left-hand corner) 25 copies (underlined). Remainder of cover as fol- lows = John Marr decoration / decoration And Other Sailors / With some sea-pieces / decora- tion I New-York / The De Vinne Press / 1888. Other covers blank. The volume contains 19 poems. The edition was privately printed, and limited to 25 copies. The initials of the Inscription Epistolary stand for W. Clark Russell. The Princeton University Press is about to issue this volume of verse, under the title of John Marr and other poems, edited by Mr. Henry Chapin. [ 184 ] XIV TIMOLEON New York, 1891 Timoleon / etc. / Decoration / New York / The Caxton Press / 1891. Collation. i6mo, pp. vi + [7J-70. Consist- ing of Title-page, reverse of which bears im- print = Copyright, 1891, by / The Caxton Press; dedication = To / my countryman / Elihu Ved- der, reverse blank; Table of Contents, pp. [v]-vi; text, pp. [7J-I5, reverse of which is blank; half- title. After the Pleasure Party., reverse bears verse headed Lines Traced under an image of amor threatening; text, pp. 19-45, reverse of which is blank; half-title. Fruit of travel long ago ; text, pp. [483-70; followed by blank leaf. All half-titles included in pagination. The book is bound in buff paper. On front cover in black = Timoleon / etc. / decoration / New York / The Caxton Press / 1891. Other covers blank. The volume contains 43 poems. The edition was privately printed and limited to 25 copies. In [ 185 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE the following poem, quoted from this volume, Melville seems to have summed up his concep- tion of Art: "In placid hours well pleased we dream Of many a brave unbodied scheme, But form to lend, pulsed life create, What unlike things must meet and mate ; A flame to melt — a wind to freeze ; Sad patience — ^joyous energies; Humility — ^yet pride and scorn ; Instinct and study ; love and hate ; Audacity — reverence. These must mate, And fuse with Jacob's mystic heart. To wrestle with the angel — Art." [ 186 ] XV BILLY BUDD (Unpublished) Besides ten prose pieces and a body of verse, there still exists in manuscript form a novel, Billy Budd, the manuscript of which was completed a short time before Melville's death. The novel is based on the character of Jack Chase, the captain of the maintop who figures in White-Jacket, and is dedicated to him, as fol- lows (quoted from Mr. Weaver's Herman Mel- ville) : "To Jack Chase, Englishman, wherever that great heart may now be, Here on earth or harboured in Paradise, Captain in the war- ship in the year 1843, In the U. S. Frigate United States." [ 187 ] XVI LECTURES Between 1857 and i860, Melville sought ta increase his income by turning to the lecture plat- form. J. E. A. Smith says of him that "he did not take very kindly to the lecture platform, but had large and well pleased audiences." Melville himself, in a letter to George Duyck- inck, (Duyckinck collection. New York Public Library) says: "... if they will pay expenses, and give a reasonable fee, I am ready to lecture in Labrador, or on the Isle of Desolation off Patagonia. "Bear with mine infirmity of jocularity. )> Mr. Weaver, in his Herman Melville, states, that Melville had two subjects on which he lec- tured, South Seas and Statuary in Rome. He lists the following occasions on which Melville lec- tured, together with the fee received, described by J. E. A. Smith as "the liberal pay" which lec- turers received at that period. [ 188 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE 1857-1858 November 24, Concord, Mass., $ 30.00 December 2, Boston, 40.00 (1 10, Montreal, 50.00 II 30, New Haven, Conn., 50.00 January 5, Auburn, N. Y., 40.00 It 7, Ithaca, N. Y., 50.00 <( 10, Cleveland, 50.00 « 22, Clarksville, 75.00 ? Chillicothe, 0., 40.00 ? Cincinnati, 50.00 February 10, Charleston, Mass., 20.00 II 23, Rochester, N. Y., 50.00 ? New Bedford, Mass., 50.00 $595.00 Travelling expenses, 1858-1859 221.30 $373-70 December 6, Yonkers, N. Y., $ 30.00 11 14, Pittsfield, Mass., 50,00 January 31, Boston, 50.00 February 7, New York, 55.00 II 8, Baltimore, 100.00 II 24, Chicago, 50.00 II 25, Milwaukee, 50.00 II 28, Rockford, 111., [ 189 ] 50.00 SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE March 2, Quincy, 111., 23.50 " 16, Lynn, Mass. (2), 60.00 [ 190 ] $518.50 1859-1860 November 7, Flushing, L. I., $ 30.00 February 14, Danvers, Mass., 25.00 " 21, Cambridge, Mass., 55-00 $110.00 XVII CONTRIBUTIONS TO MAGAZINES, ETC. Fragments from a writing desk, The Demo- cratic Press and Lansingburgh Advertiser, May 4, May i8, 1837. Omoo, extracts, "The French priests pay their respects," and "A dinner party in Imeeo," Liter- ary World, April 24, 1847. Review, Parkman's Oregon Trail, Literary World, March 31, 1849. Review, Cooper's Sea Lions, Literary World, April 28, 1849. Melville is also known to have written an article on a new edition of Cooper's Red Rover. Mardi, extracts, "Taji sits down to dinner with five-and-twenty kings," Literary World, April 7, 1849. "Sharks and other sea fellows," Literary World, June 16, 1849. Redburn, extracts, "Redburn contemplates making a social call on the captain," and "A liv- ing corpse," Literary World, November 10, 1849. White-Jacket, extract, "A shore emperor on [ 191 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE board a man of war," Literary World, March 9, 1850. Review, Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, Literary World, March 30, 1850. {Note. Besides the reviews already mentioned, there are undoubtedly others by Melville In the Literary World, but as they were unsigned they can not now be identified with certainty.) Hawthorne and his mosses, by a Virginian spending a July in Vermont, Literary World, August 17, August 24, 1850. Moby-Dick, extract, "The Town-Ho's story," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, October, 1851. Article, James Fenimore Cooper, in W. C. Bryant's A memorial to James Fenimore Cooper.^ New York, 1852. Our young authors, Putnam's Monthly Maga- zine, February, 1853. Bartleby the Scrivener, a story of Wall Street, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, November-Decem- ber, 1853. Cock-a-doodle-doo 1 or the crowing of the cock of Benentano, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, December, 1853. The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles, by Salva- tor R. Tarnmoor, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, March-May, 1854. The lightning-rod man, Putnam's Monthly- Magazine, August, 1854. [ 192 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Poor man's pudding and rich man's crumbs, 'Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June, 1854. Happy failure, a story of the river Hudson, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, July, 1854. Israel Potter, his fifty years' exile, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, July, 1854-March, 1855. The fiddler, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, Sep- tember, 1854. Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April, 1855. The bell-tower, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, August, 1855. Benito Cereno, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, October-December, 1855. Jimmy Rose, Harper's New Monthly Maga- zine, November, 1855. The 'Gees, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1856. I and My Chimney, Putnam's Monthly Maga- zine, March, 1856. The apple-tree table, or original spiritual mani- festations, Putnam's Monthly Magazine, May, 1856. Poem, The March to the sea, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, February, 1866. Poem, The Cumberland, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1866. Poem, Philip, Harper's New Monthly Maga- zine, April, 1866. [ 193 ] SOME PERSONAL LETTERS OF HERMAN MELVILLE Poem, Chattanooga, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, June, 1866. Poem, Gettysburg, July, 1863, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, July, 1866. Article, Major Thomas Melville, in J. E. A, Smith's The History of Pittsfield, Pittsfield, 1876. The Princeton University Press is about to issue a volume, edited by Mr. Henry Chapin, entitled The Apple-Tree Table and other sketches. The volume will rank as a Melville first edition, and will contain the following sketches selected from those mentioned above, and never before published in book form : The Apple- Tree Table; Hawthorne and his Mosses; Jimmy Rose; I and my chimney; Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids; Cock-a-doodle-doo; The Fiddler ; Poor man's pudding and rich man's crumbs ; The Happy Failure ; The 'Gees. [ 194 ] STANDARD EDITION OF THE PROSE WORKS OF HERMAN MELVILLE It is interesting to note, at the time of the appearance of this volume, that Constable and Company, of London, are in process of publish- ing the first standard collected edition of Mel- ville's prose works. It is significant that just as a London publisher was the first to accept for publication a manu- script by the American Melville, so now another London publisher is preparing this first and defini- tive collected edition. The edition will be limited to 750 sets for Eng- land and America, upon the completion of which the type will be distributed. Each set, in 12 vol- umes, will contain t)ie following titles: Typee, Omoo, Mardi (2 vols.), Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick (2 vols.), Pierre, The Piazza-Tales, Israel Potter, The Confidence-Man. [ 195 ] +