Manuscripts & Books

The fundamental documents for a scholarly edition of Melville’s works are his surviving manuscripts and the books published in his name. They are sequential witnesses to his creative process, his relation to editors, and his circulation among readers. MEL’s goal is to acquire digital images of all manuscripts and books related to Melville’s works, to use them in building our editions, and to display those books in our editions and separately here, for independent inspection, in the MEL archive.