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Herman Melville. Autograph letter signed ("H. Melville"), to the editor Rossiter Johnson. 104 E. 26th St. [New York], 6 Janu...
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Description
Autograph letter to Rossiter Johnson
Herman Melville. Autograph letter signed ("H. Melville"), to
the editor Rossiter Johnson. 104 E. 26th St. [New York], 6 January
1888.One page, 8vo (175 x 114 mm), in brown ink; cloth folding case.
RETURNING A PROOF FOR A PROPOSED WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Three weeks after declining a request to edit a volume [possibly Annual Cyclopaedia, which Johnson began editing in 1883], Melville returns the proof [not present] and writes: "Herewith you have the proof. I have supplied the dates and names wanted and see nothing else to do. Many thanks for your courtesy, Very truly yours / H. Melville." Melville had declined Rossiter's request several weeks earlier in a letter dated 11 December [1877] (see Letters, ed. by Davis and Gilman no. 269, sold Doheny sale, Christie's, Camarillo, 1 Feb 1988), in which he writes: "Your friendly proposition I must decline. And this-in part at least-from a sense of incompetence. For I am unpractised in a kind of writing that exacts so much of heedfulness-heedfulness, I mean, of a sort not demanded in some other departments." The present letter apparently was Melville's follow-up, returning the proof and concluding the prospect.
Edwin Rossiter Johnson (1840-1931) had a long and active career as editor of various encyclopedias, dictionaries, anthologies, and abridged classics, and presumably the proof being returned related to one of these projects where he sought to take some kind of editorial work. Melville had retired as a customs inspector in New York in 1885 and had not published a book since Clarel in 1876, before his death in 1891. Melville letters are rare.
Condition: Integral blank leaf apparently removed; creased at folds; some very pale toning; a few marginal spots.
Provenance: Purchased from Heritage Book Shop, Inc., Los Angeles. From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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