Herman Melville, 8 October [1855?]

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). Autograph letter signed ("H Melville") to Harper & Brothers, Pittsfield, 8 October [1855?]

One page, bifolium, 191 x 126mm (light vertical crease). Blue cloth chemise and slipcase. Quarter brown morocco slipcase.

Melville submits an article to Harper's while pressing for remuneration. “Gentlemen: — Herewith is an article, which, if it suit, will you, according to what you have said to me, send me the money for, without further trouble to yourselves or me.” Published in Horth (p. 281) who surmises that considering the type of stationery used as well as Melville's insistence on payment, this would date from 1855 when his financial circumstances were becoming dire. The "article" in question would have been "The Apple-Tree Table," which was published by Putnam's in May 1856 (Ibid, p. 282).