Select Works of Herman Melville (5 vols.)

by Herman Melville

Publishers:

Dix & Edwards; Sampson Low, Son and Co.; L. C. Page & Company

and

2 more

, 1847–1922

Overview

In the early twentieth century, the Melville revival revealed the genius that was Herman Melville. Largely overlooked during his lifetime, Melville produced 10 works in 11 years before his career as a writer came to an end. About 30 years after his death, a series of books, essays, and dissertations helped realize the writer who is now widely regarded as one of the great American novelists. The Melville Society, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1945 to ensure that the literary world would never neglect him again.

Melville’s works are known for their unparalleled depictions of life at sea and his metaphysical explorations. His time aboard whaling vessels provided him with an abundance of experiences to draw from, including three weeks spent among the Tai Pi Vai cannibals, described in his first novel, Typee. Typee and its sequel, Omoo, earned Melville a reputation as a prominent American author, but his later works were largely unappreciated, and finances remained a constant struggle. Today, many of Melville’s works are widely recognized as significant literary landmarks. Included in the five-volume Select Works of Herman Melville are Moby Dick, The Piazza Tales, Typee, Omoo, and The Confidence-Man.

In the Logos editions, these volumes are enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Powerful searches help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Tablet and mobile apps let you take the discussion with you. With Logos Bible Software, the most efficient and comprehensive research tools are in one place, so you get the most out of your study.

Key Features

• Five works by one of the greatest American novelists
• Significant contributions to the Western canon
• A volume of Melville’s best short stories

Product Details

• Title: Select Works of Herman Melville
• Author: Herman Melville
• Volumes: 5
• Pages: 2,260

Moby Dick

• Author: Herman Melville
• Publisher: Constable and Company
• Publication Date: 1922
• Pages: 725

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Melville’s masterpiece never received the praise it deserved in his lifetime, but over 100 years later, Moby Dick is widely recognized as one of the great American novels. Melville’s own experiences at sea transformed into a fictional quest for glory and vengeance, bringing readers aboard the whaling vessel, Pequod, with Captain Ahab and Ishmael. The epic hunt for the white whale begins with one of the most recognized lines in all Western literature: “Call me Ishmael.”

The greatest of American novels.

—The Atlantic Monthly

[Moby Dick] began to gather fame a generation after Melville’s death, and today it is recognized universally as a work of genius.

—Hennig Cohen, former John Welsh Centennial Professor of History and English Literature, University of Pennsylvania

. . . Moby Dick is now more popular than ever with both sexes and all ages as the greatest sea story ever told, recognized as a national literary treasure arising from the deeply troubled mid-nineteenth century. Turning away from the notion of good literature as something that makes you feel good about yourself just as you are, readers are welcoming Moby Dick as evidence that good literature has power to challenge, exalt, and even transform.

—from the preface of the Norton Critical Edition

. . . the most ambitious book ever conceived by an American writer.

—Dr. Andrew Delbanco, director, American studies, Columbia University

The Piazza Tales

• Author: Herman Melville
• Publisher: Dix & Edwards
• Publication Date: 1856
• Pages: 431

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Piazza Tales contains six short stories, five of which appeared in Putnam’s Monthly. The text includes “The Piazza,” “Bartleby,” “Benito Cereno,” “The Lightning-Rod Man” “The Encantadas,” and “The Bell-Tower.”

This volume contains six stories, all bearing the unmistakable marks of the author’s genius.

—The Merchant’s Magazine and Commercial Review

His short tales, ‘Bartleby’ and ‘Benito Cereno,’ are carefully crafted and profoundly sensitive critiques of his own age that emerge as fables applicable to a later day.

—Hennig Cohen, former John Welsh Centennial Professor of History and English Literature, University of Pennsylvania

Typee: A Real Romance of the South Seas

• Author: Herman Melville
• Publisher: L. C. Page & Company
• Publication Date: 1892
• Pages: 389

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Typee, Melville’s first novel, remained his most popular work throughout his lifetime. The story is partially based upon his own experiences as a captive on the island of Nuku Hiva, and it earned him a reputation as the man who lived among cannibals.

. . . it is a lively and pleasant book, not over philosophical perhaps.

—Evert Augustus Duyckinck, publisher

Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas

• Author: Herman Melville
• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication Date: 1847
• Pages: 321

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Omoo is a sequel to Typee. In this novel, the protagonist boards a whaling vessel that heads to Tahiti and mutinies. Melville claims the text came “from simple recollection,” but decades later, scholars discovered a wealth of source texts Melville had drawn from. Melville’s own adventures significantly influenced his writing, but he filled in gaps with information he gleaned from books and pamphlets.

The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade

• Author: Herman Melville
• Publisher: Dix & Edwards
• Publication Date: 1857
• Pages: 394

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Confidence-Man is Melville’s last novel. The story follows a mysterious man who sneaks onto a Mississippi steamboat and tries to scam the passengers. Several characters are satires of nineteenth-century literary figures, including Mark Winsome as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Egbert as Henry David Thoreau, Charlie Noble as Nathaniel Hawthorne, and a beggar as Edgar Allan Poe.

. . . an uncanny tour de force.

—Hennig Cohen, former John Welsh Centennial Professor of History and English Literature, University of Pennsylvania

About Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American teacher, sailor, novelist, and lecturer. His most significant contributions to Western literature include Moby Dick, Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd, Sailor. His first novel, Typee, was an overnight sensation, giving him both a reputation as a great American writer and the man who lived with cannibals. Melville’s writing never earned him significant financial success, and his reputation as a writer was constantly in a state of decline after his first novel. Largely misunderstood in his day, Melville’s writings were almost entirely forgotten after his death. Decades later, significant scholarship emerged on Melville, and his genius was finally realized in the Melville revival of the twentieth century. Melville was the first writer whose works were published by the Library of America. His other works include Mardi and a Voyage Thither, Redburn, White-Jacket, Pierre, and Israel Potter.