![[MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891)]. George CRABBE (1754-1832). Tales of the Hall. London: John Murray, 1819.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01587_0492_000(112601).jpg?w=1)
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
[MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891)]. George CRABBE (1754-1832). Tales of the Hall. London: John Murray, 1819.
Details
[MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891)]. George CRABBE (1754-1832). Tales of the Hall. London: John Murray, 1819.
2 volumes, 8o. Contemporary calf, covers with blind-rule border (rebacked preserving original spines). Provenance: Thomas Raikes (signatures on titles); Robert Raikes (armorial bookplates); Herman Melville (inscriptions and annotations).
HERMAN MELVILLE'S MARKED COPY OF GEORGE CRABBE'S POEMS, A HERETOFORE UNDISCOVERED BOOK FROM MELVILLE'S LIBRARY. On the flyleaves facing the titles in each volume, Melville has inscribed in pencil: "H. Melville Aug 29, '71 N.Y." (vol. 1), "H. Melville N.Y." (vol. 2) and he has marked passages or lines on some twenty pages. Underneath the date in the imprint in vol. 2 is pencilled the year 1880, and then 61, the number of years between that year and the date of publication of Tales of the Hall.
At the time Melville purchased Crabbe's Tales of the Hall in 1871, his career as a writer of prose was larger over. Only Billy Budd remained to be written. He had turned principally to the writing of poetry, with Battle-Pieces having appeared in 1866 and his Clarel his main current endeavor. A number of Melville's own copies of poetic works exist and show a fairly consistent manner of reading and marking, with sidelines on the left or right margins, occasionally double or triple sidelines and checkmarks. Brief passages are sometimes underscored.
While the rhymed pentameter couplets of Crabbe's verse were little used by Melville, Crabbe's mastery of characterizing the actors in his dramas may have influenced his own forays into narrative verse, both in Clarel and the later poems. The review of Tales of the Hall in the July 1819 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, notes that the book "consists of many poems, in which the lives of so vast a number of individuals are unfolded, that it may almost be said that a general view is given in them of the moral character of the people of England." This broad lens may well have inspired Melville's own late verse compositions.
Melville marked lines or passages on some twenty pages, and those he has chosen reveal a penchant for psychological investigation, especially those which, as on p. 169, vol. 1, show the mind working through turmoil: "A mind prepared and steady--my reform Has fears like his, who, suffering in a storm, Is on a rich but unknown country cast, The future fearing, while he feels the past; But whose more cheerful mind, with hope imbued, Sees through receding clouds the rising good." Or, on p. 302, he double-scores the line: "They preach till they are proud, and pride disturbs the brain." On page 80, Melville corrects a typographical error ("me" for "my").
Melville annotates a passage on page 104, vol. 2, with significant auto-biographical implications. In the poem "The Natural Death of Love," Crabbe writes of a husband and wife arguing over the power of books and their affect on their marriage: "Was it the pages, or the praise [of friends] you loved? Nay, do not frown--I much rejoiced to find Such early judgment in such gentle mind; But, since we married, have you deign'd to look On the grave subjects of one favourite book? Or have the once-applauded pages power T' engage their warm approver for an hour." Melville's note in the top margin may well provide insight into how these lines resonated with his own marriage: "These marks are by some unfortunate deceased stranger, the present owner being guiltless of any in the book. H.M." He makes one more sideline on the facing page, and then no more appear in the book, suggesting that Melville reached this point and, whether disturbed by it or merely put off by it, gave up on reading the remainder of the book. Christie's thank Mr. Douglas Robillard for his assistance with this catalogue description. (2)
2 volumes, 8
HERMAN MELVILLE'S MARKED COPY OF GEORGE CRABBE'S POEMS, A HERETOFORE UNDISCOVERED BOOK FROM MELVILLE'S LIBRARY. On the flyleaves facing the titles in each volume, Melville has inscribed in pencil: "H. Melville Aug 29, '71 N.Y." (vol. 1), "H. Melville N.Y." (vol. 2) and he has marked passages or lines on some twenty pages. Underneath the date in the imprint in vol. 2 is pencilled the year 1880, and then 61, the number of years between that year and the date of publication of Tales of the Hall.
At the time Melville purchased Crabbe's Tales of the Hall in 1871, his career as a writer of prose was larger over. Only Billy Budd remained to be written. He had turned principally to the writing of poetry, with Battle-Pieces having appeared in 1866 and his Clarel his main current endeavor. A number of Melville's own copies of poetic works exist and show a fairly consistent manner of reading and marking, with sidelines on the left or right margins, occasionally double or triple sidelines and checkmarks. Brief passages are sometimes underscored.
While the rhymed pentameter couplets of Crabbe's verse were little used by Melville, Crabbe's mastery of characterizing the actors in his dramas may have influenced his own forays into narrative verse, both in Clarel and the later poems. The review of Tales of the Hall in the July 1819 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, notes that the book "consists of many poems, in which the lives of so vast a number of individuals are unfolded, that it may almost be said that a general view is given in them of the moral character of the people of England." This broad lens may well have inspired Melville's own late verse compositions.
Melville marked lines or passages on some twenty pages, and those he has chosen reveal a penchant for psychological investigation, especially those which, as on p. 169, vol. 1, show the mind working through turmoil: "A mind prepared and steady--my reform Has fears like his, who, suffering in a storm, Is on a rich but unknown country cast, The future fearing, while he feels the past; But whose more cheerful mind, with hope imbued, Sees through receding clouds the rising good." Or, on p. 302, he double-scores the line: "They preach till they are proud, and pride disturbs the brain." On page 80, Melville corrects a typographical error ("me" for "my").
Melville annotates a passage on page 104, vol. 2, with significant auto-biographical implications. In the poem "The Natural Death of Love," Crabbe writes of a husband and wife arguing over the power of books and their affect on their marriage: "Was it the pages, or the praise [of friends] you loved? Nay, do not frown--I much rejoiced to find Such early judgment in such gentle mind; But, since we married, have you deign'd to look On the grave subjects of one favourite book? Or have the once-applauded pages power T' engage their warm approver for an hour." Melville's note in the top margin may well provide insight into how these lines resonated with his own marriage: "These marks are by some unfortunate deceased stranger, the present owner being guiltless of any in the book. H.M." He makes one more sideline on the facing page, and then no more appear in the book, suggesting that Melville reached this point and, whether disturbed by it or merely put off by it, gave up on reading the remainder of the book. Christie's thank Mr. Douglas Robillard for his assistance with this catalogue description. (2)