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Herman Melville Collection

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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist and storywriter. Not financially successful from his writings, he held the position of customs inspector for the City of New York for nineteen years. Moby-Dick, or The Whale, published in 1851, is today considered one of the masterpieces of American and world literature.

The collection consists of photostats of letters by Herman Melville used by Willard Thorp in his selection of Melville's writings published as Representative Selections (1938), as well as photographs of Melville and his family, and printed matter about Melville and his works, including magazine articles, movie adaptations and stage versions, comic books, pamphlets, reprints, material on centennial celebrations, and book jackets.

Unprocessed

Publications: Representative Selections, with Introduction, Bibliography and Notes by Willard Thorp (New York: American Book Co., 1938).

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Container list prepared by Allyse Terrell '14 in 2011.

Publisher
Manuscripts Division
Finding Aid Date
2008
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Collection Inventory

Moby-Dick Book Jackets, undated. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Centennial Celebrations, 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Comic Books, undated. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Dramatic Versions for the Stage, 1947-1955. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Music, 1940-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Radio, 1948-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Translations, 1952. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Russian Translation, undated. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Illustrators, 1931-1952. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Raido-Script (German), 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Wales and Whaling, 1890-1956. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Whaling Books Sources, 1821-1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Clippings, Book Reviews etc, 1929-1953. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Melville, Herman, Moving Picture Adaptations of his Works, 1955-1956. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Portraits, Photos of Herman Melville and His Family, 1841-1869. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Photostatic Copies of Letters Used by Willard Thomp, 1846-1862. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Clippings, 1961 May 6. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Pamphlets & Reprints, 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

"Arrowhead" Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1951. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Moby-Dick Magazine Articles, 1955-1964. 1 folder.
Physical Description

1 folder

Print, Suggest