Acquisitions (14): Herman Melville

Herman Melville: The Complete Shorter Fiction (2012)

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Joseph Oriel Eaton: Herman Melville (1870)

Billy Budd, Sailor (2017)

[Acquired: Thursday, 18 January, 2018]:

Herman Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor, and Other Uncompleted Writings (2017)]

1. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Uncompleted Writings: Billy Budd, Sailor; Weeds and Wildlings; Parthenope; Uncollected Prose; Uncollected Poetry. Ed. Harrison Hayford, Alma A. MacDougall, Robert A. Sandberg & G. Thomas Tanselle. Historical Note by Hershel Parker. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 13. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 2017.


2. Melville, Herman. The Complete Shorter Fiction. Introduced by Jay Parini. Illustrated by Bill Bragg. London: The Folio Society, 2012.


3. Melville, Herman. Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-Man, Tales & Billy Budd. 1852, 1855, 1856, 1857, 1922 & 1924. Ed. Harrison Hayford. The Library of America, 24. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1985.


4. Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative). Edited from the Manuscript with Introduction and Notes. 1891 & 1924. Ed. Harrison Hayford & Merton M. Sealts, Jr. 1962. A Phoenix Book. Chicago & London: The University Of Chicago Press, 1970.

Herman Melville: Complete Fiction (Library of America, vol. 3)

Today I bought a beautiful Folio Society Edition of Herman Melville's Complete Shorter Fiction in Devonport. Earlier this month I received the last remaining volume of the Northwestern Newberry edition of Melville's complete works in the post, vol. 13, his unpublished works. These supplement the earlier versions of Billy Budd and the Piazza Tales which I had in the 1962 Hayford/Sealts edition and the Library of America, respectively.

Herman Melville: Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative) (1962)

Do I need all of them? Well, clearly the three-volume Library of America edition of his complete fiction is indispensable. But then so are the various supplementary volumes of the Northwestern-Newberry edition of his poetry, letters and journals, which I list below. The Hayford/Sealts edition of Billy Budd is a landmark, the first really authoritative attempt to make sense of a very complex, unfinished manuscript. So, yes, I need that, too (even the Northwestern-Newberry editors have not departed very far from the Hayford/Sealts text - though they have expanded on it in some respects). What about the Folio Society edition of the short stories? That will have to get by on its sheer beauty. Textually, it represents no advance on the presentation of the stories in the Library of America.

The Writings of Herman Melville. The Northwestern–Newberry Edition. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1968-2017.

1. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1968)
2. Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1968)
3. Mardi, and a Voyage Thither (1970)
4. Redburn: His First Voyage (1969)
5. White Jacket, or The World in a Man-of-War (1970)
6. Moby Dick, or The Whale (1988)
7. Pierre, or The Ambiguities (1971)
8. Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (1982)
9. The Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860 (1987)
10. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1984)
11. Published Poems: Battle Pieces; John Marr; Timoleon (2009)
12. Clarel: a Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1991)
13. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Uncompleted Writings (2017)
14. Correspondence (1993)
15. Journals (1989)

[I've marked in bold the ones I have]

The Writings of Herman Melville: Northwestern-Newberry edition (15 vols: 1968-2017)

1. Mardi, and A Voyage Thither. 1849. Ed. Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker & G. Thomas Tanselle. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 3. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1970.


2. The Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860. 1856. Historical Note by Merton M. Sealts, Jr. 1981. Ed. Harrison Hayford, Alma A. MacDougall, G. Thomas Tanselle et al. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 9. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1987.


3. Published Poems: Battle Pieces; John Marr; Timoleon. 1866, 1888 & 1891. Ed. Robert C. Ryan, Harrison Hayford, Alma MacDougall Reising & G. Thomas Tanselle. Historical Note by Hershel Parker. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 11. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 2009.


4. Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. 1876. Ed. Harrison Hayford, Alma A. MacDougall, Hershel Parker & G. Thomas Tanselle. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 12. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1991.


5. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Uncompleted Writings: Billy Budd, Sailor; Weeds and Wildlings; Parthenope; Uncollected Prose; Uncollected Poetry. Ed. Harrison Hayford, Alma A. MacDougall, Robert A. Sandberg & G. Thomas Tanselle. Historical Note by Hershel Parker. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 13. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 2017.


6. Correspondence. Ed. Lynn Horth. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 14. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1993.


7. Journals. Ed. Howard C. Horsford & Lynn Horth. The Writings of Herman Melville: the Northwestern–Newberry Edition, vol. 15. Evanston & Chicago: Northwestern University Press & The Newberry Library, 1989.

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Herman Melville: Clarel (1959)

Another interesting Melvillean endeavour is the sadly incomplete, but still impressive, Hendricks House projected edition of his complete works. Of this, Malcolm Cowley remarked in 1982:

In my review of the first four impressive volumes of The Library of America (April 25), I quoted a statement made 30 years ago by Edmund Wilson. "It is absurd," Wilson said, "that our most read and studied writers should not be available in their entirety in any convenient form. For example, the only collected edition of Melville was published in England in the twenties and has long been out of print." I should have added that Wilson might have revised his statement if he had made it a few years later. Hendricks House of Putney, Vt., a small publisher with high aspirations, had undertaken to issue Melville's complete works. Many volumes in the Hendricks House edition have appeared at intervals over the years, and ''Mardi'' is next on the list of those to be published. To issue a complete Melville is an admirable venture, and I wish the project a lasting success.

MALCOLM COWLEY
Sherman, Conn.

Wikpedia's Herman Melville Bibliography page is rather more circumstantial on the subject:

Beginning in 1948, independent publisher Walter Hendricks recruited scholars to edit annotated editions of Melville's works, beginning with a volume of his poetry. Produced under the general editorship of Howard P. Vincent, the series was originally projected to include 14 volumes but in the end no more than 7 appeared.

Those seven appear to have been as follows (the ones I own are marked in bold):

Herman Melville: Collected Poems (1947)

1. Collected Poems. Ed. Howard P. Vincent. Hendricks House, 1947.


2. The Piazza Tales. Ed. Egbert S. Oliver. Hendricks House, 1948.


3. Pierre; or, The Ambiguities. Ed. Henry A. Murray. Hendricks House, 1949.


4. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Ed. Howard P. Vincent & Luther S. Mansfield. Hendricks House, 1952.


5. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade. Ed. Elizabeth S. Foster. Hendricks House, 1954.


6. Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. Ed. Walter E. Bezanson. Hendricks House, 1959.


7. Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas. Ed. Harrison Hayford & Walter Blair. Hendricks House, 1969.

Herman Melville: Collected Poems (1947)

You can find further details on this page on the Melvilleana website.

Mind you, judging from various library catalogues, it appears that there was, eventually, a Hendricks House edition of Mardi, edited by Nathalia Wright, and published either in 1987 or 1990, depending on who you believe. I haven't been able to find any images of it except the below, however:

Herman Melville: Mardi and a Voyage Thither (1990)

So of the projected 14 volumes of the Hendricks House Complete Works of Herman Melville, it appears that only eight were ever published. Presumably they gave up on it as the juggernaut of the Northwestern-Newberry edition grew ever more imposing and dominant.

Raymond Weaver, ed.: The Complete Works of Herman Melville (16 vols: 1922-24)

Raymond Weaver, ed. The Works of Herman Melville. 16 vols. London: Constable, 1922-24.

1. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846)
2. Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (1847)
3. Mardi: And a Voyage Thither (1849)
4. Mardi [vol. 2]
5. Redburn: His First Voyage (1849)
6. White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War (1850)
7. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) [1]
8. Moby-Dick [vol. 2]
9. Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (1852)
10. Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile (1855)
11. The Piazza Tales (1856)
12. The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857)
13. Billy Budd and Other Prose Pieces (1924)
14. Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876)
15. Clarel [vol. 2]
16. Poems (1924)

As far as alternatives go, then, you're left with Raymond Weaver's pioneering 1922-24 Constable edition, above, or the beautifully concise four volumes of the Library of America (1982-2019).

Herman Melville: The Complete Shorter Fiction (2012)

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• category - North American Fiction: Authors

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