Literature in English

John Bryant
A comprehensive exploration of Melville's formative years. 2 vols.

Andrew Delbanco
Chronicles the life and career of Melville, uncovering autobiographical elements in his diverse works, discussing the historical and cultural implications of his writing, and assessing his accomplishments as a writer.

Leon Howard
Seeks to uncover the mind and life of Melville in a historical, intellectual, and literary context.

Jay Leyda
2 vols., a documentary life of Melville, with illustrations.

Eleanor Melville Metcalf
Letters by, to, and about Melville with commentary by Melville's granddaughter.

Edwin Haviland Miller
Depicts the delicate balance between Melville's life and his creativity and examines the impact of family members upon Melville's artistic experience.

Steven Olsen-Smith
Combining recently discovered evidence with new transcriptions of long-known but rarely consulted testimony, this collection offers commentary on Melville by individuals who knew him.

Hershel Parker
2 vols., traces Melville's life from his childhood in New York, through his adventures abroad as a sailor, to his creation of "Moby-Dick," and forty years later, to his death, in obscurity.

Laurie Robertson-Lorant
Commentary using five hundred newly discovered family letters.

Merton Sealts
Letters, portraits, and inscriptions.

Wilson Walker Cowen
2 vols., originally presented as Cowen's thesis (Ph. D.) -- Harvard, 1965.

M.R. Davis and W.H. Gilman, eds
Collection of Melville's published and unpublished letters.

Howard C. Horsford and Lynn Horth, eds
Melville's three known journals.

313 texts (letters by Melville) and 88 texts (letters to Melville).

Mark Niemeyer, ed
Volume of Melville's letters to Hawthorne, along with supplemental material, highlighting the relationship between these luminaries of American letters.

A guide to the story of Melville criticism as it has developed over the past century and a half.

4 vols., collection of 257 critical essays on Melville's writing.

Reprints of all the known contemporary reviews of Herman Melville's writings from the 1840's until his death in 1891.

Collection of criticism, multiple editions.

Collection of every source suggested by scholars to have been used by Melville.

Collection of rare editions, scholarly books and papers, and artworks.

An interactive digital archive of images, manuscripts, books, and multimedia objects.

Browse the books owned and borrowed by American author Herman Melville with this digitized collection of annotated books from his library.

420 prints and engravings Melville acquired and preserved between the late 1860s and his death in 1891.

Access to complete electronic texts, criticism, reviews, publishing history, and other biographical news.

Online version of Melville’s Moby Dick, each of its 135 chapters read out aloud by celebrities and the unknown.

Electronic edition with digital images, a transcription of each manuscript page, corresponding print texts, and a dynamic reading text.

Collection of essays discussing Melville's aesthetics and the relationship between aesthetic criticism, historical analysis, and contemporary theory.

18 essays, exploring the convergences and divergences of Douglass's and Melville's literary lives.

A critical introduction to Melville's work.

16 essays, inquiry into Melville's infamous whaling captain and materialism.

Collection of essays examining Melville's works in light of their ongoing afterlife and seemingly permanent relevance.

Samuel Otter
Contextual readings of four of Herman Melville's novels: Typee, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick, and Pierre.

Samuel Otter
On "Benito Cereno."

Tom Nurmi
Examines some of Melville's less-read works in order to place him as an ecological writer.

Richard J. King
Illustrations and interviews with contemporary scientists, fishers, and whale watch operators.

Geoffrey Sanborn
Examines the distinctive qualities of Melville's style, focusing on Moby-Dick, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," "Benito Cereno," and Billy Budd.

Charles Olson
Literary criticism on Shakespearean influence on Melville's writing of Moby-Dick.

Michael Shelden
Story of Melville's affair with a married woman Sarah Morewood and its influence on Moby-Dick.

Mark Beauregard
Novel offering a new window on Herman Melville's relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne and how it transformed Moby-Dick.

Jay Parini
Historical novel about the life of Herman Melville.

Dan Beachy-Quick
Entries inspired by Moby-Dick.