Herman Melville, 1888

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). John Marr and Other Sailors. New York: De Vinne Press, 1888.

The Bradley Martin copy of a great Melville rarity. “The deaths of various relatives provided Melville with sufficient inheritances to retire from the customs house at the end of 1885 and live his last years in relative prosperity. He published this small collection of poems in an edition of twenty-five copies. With [Timoleon], it is the rarest of his published works” (Reese). ABPC records only this copy selling at auction in 1990; prior to that, RBH records the Frank Hogan copy at Parke Bernet in 1945, at which time it was already described as "excessively rare." According to Henry Wessells' census of 19 known remaining copies, this is the only one in private hands. BAL 13676.

Octavo. Original printed wrappers (repairs to spine, front cover nearly detached, dampstain to rear cover). Provenance: pencil notations to front cover and preliminaries – H. Bradley Martin (bookplate, his sale, Sotheby’s New York, 30 January 1990, lot 2165).

Exhibited: "A Herman Melville Collection ... on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, from the collection of William S. Reese," Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 1991, no. 38.