Major Collection of Works by Herman Melville Received by The Morgan
Herman Melville. Billy Budd. Introduction by William Plomer (London: John Lehman, 1946).
The Morgan Library & Museum has received a gift from William Palmer Johnston of works by Herman Melville constituting one of the most comprehensive collections of the author in print.
The gift adds more than 200 items to an existing collection of rare Melvilliana at the Morgan featuring more than 40 early and first editions, letters, and musical adaptations.
Among the highlights of the new acquisition are:
- an excellently preserved copy of the first American edition of Moby-Dick (1851)
- a deluxe edition of Moby-Dick illustrated by Barry Moser from Arion Press, complete with 100 prints and 10 drawings by Moser
- signed, original pen and ink illustrations done by Rockwell Kent for the Lakeside Press edition of Moby-Dick
- rare and important poetic works John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) and Timoleon (1891), each originally printed in editions of only 25 copies
- periodical publications with Melville contributions, such as Harper’s New Monthly Magazine and Putnam’s Monthly, and the first editions of Typee (1846) and Pierre (1852)
Recently, Johnston curated the exhibition Melville’s Billy Budd at 100, a commemoration of the centenary of the posthumously published novella Billy Budd (1924), which was on view at the Grolier Club and Oberlin College Libraries in 2024. “I am honored that my Melville Collection, decades in the gathering, has found a permanent home at the Morgan," he said.
