Melville’s Letter to the World

Abstract

In a formerly undated letter to the editor of the New-York World, Melville disowns The Refugee, a retitled pirating of his novel Israel Potter. Here, the note’s publication date is firmly traced to early 1876, suggesting that Melville wrote it to set straight his publication record before the appearance of Clarel that summer. Small though it is, this letter of “disavowal” is now officially Melville’s last known correspondence to see print in his lifetime.