American Editions Research Articles

The Early American Editions of "American Notes": Their Priority and Circulation

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Early American Editions of "American Notes": Their Priority and CirculationPeter S. BracherPeter S. Bracher Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America Volume 69, Number 3Third Quarter, 1975 Published for the Bibliographical Society of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/pbsa.69.3.24302445 Views: 1Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Bibliographical Problems in Melville

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS IN MELVILLE G. Thomas Tanselle* In recent years more attention than ever before has been focused on the bibliographical problems raised by nineteenth-century American fiction as a result of the large editorial projects now in progress under the auspices of the Center for Editions of American Authors. Many of these problems are common ones, occurring in connection with each author— indeed, common to editorial work in general—but their range and character can be better understood as more specific examples from individual writers are brought together. I think that a survey of some of the problems which have arisen in the course of editing Melville for the Northwestern-Newberry Edition and of preparing a descriptive bibliography of his works can illustrate some of these common issues, even though Melville cannot be regarded as a typical case. The fact that his books were not widely popular in his own time and that his reputation did not begin to rise until the 1920s has resulted in a different bibliographical situation from that which exists for most of the other nineteenth-century American novelists now highly regarded. In one respect this situation makes the bibliographer's task easier, and in another respect more difficult. It is easier because there are fewer early editions to deal with: no book of Melville's appeared in an authorized edition during his lifetime other than in the original American and English editions (and in seven instances there is not even an English edition),1 whereas The Scarlet Letter, for example, went through three authorized American editions during Hawthorne's lifetime, as well as one English;2 as for early posthumous editions, only four of Melville's books were newly set in type before 1920,3 in contrast to the series of uniform editions of Hawthorne which Osgood and Houghton Mifflin published during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. But if Melville is relatively uncomplicated in this respect, his belated recognition creates problems for bibliographers in locating copies of his books, since edition sizes were likely to be small4 and since individuals were not inclined to preserveor collect his books at an early date. The situation is *G. Thomas Tanselle, Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, is Bibliographical Editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville and has recently published a Guide to the Study of United States Imprints. 58G. Thomas Tanselle symbolized by two auctions at Bangs & Company in 1894: in November the Charles B. Foote collection of Hawthorne filled seven pages of the sale catalogue, and Foote's copy of The Scarlet Letter brought $27 and of Fanshawe $155; the following month four of Melville's books— including Moby-Dick—were lumped together as a single lot, which sold for a total of $8.13 (and three years later seven of his books in a single lot fetched only $12).5 Despite these special circumstances, bibliographical work on Melville does involve many of the same problems raised by other nineteenth-century authors, and I should like to call attention to some of them from the point of view of the descriptive bibliographer and of the editor—for the CEAA editions have furnished ample evidence of the inseparability of descriptive bibliography and editing. To begin with, the bibliographer and editor must attempt to uncover all extant documents relating to the publication of an author's works, and in particular the location of publishers' records is likely to be a problem for those working on nineteenth-century American authors, since fewer American than British records for that period seem to have survived (even allowing for the destruction of papers in London during the second World War) . The facts about printing and sales of the English editions of Melville in the files of the present-day John Murray and Longman firms and in the Bentley Papers in the British Museum are more extensive than what would be known about the American editions if one had to rely on material in publishers' archives. Fortunately, Melville saved most of his statements of account, which are now among his other papers in the Houghton Library; as a result, what appear to be...

A Doris Lessing Checklist

The following checklist is highly selective because of limitations of space. In the Selected Bibliography of the Works of Lessing, I have included the first English and American editions of novels, plays, autobiographical narratives, and collections of short stories and poems. In addition, I have included those poems, essays, book reviews, and letters which remain scattered in various periodicals. Lessing's short stories present a special problem: a large number of them were originally published in periodicals and several of them remained relatively unknown until the publication of The Temptation of Jack Orkney. I have not attempted to list subsequently collected items since they are more readily available in book form. I have, however, included the titles of all collections, even though many of the same stories appear in them more than once. Thus, for example, all the stories in This Was the Old Chiefs Country and four of the short novels in Five appear in African Stories; The Story of a Non-Marrying Man and Other Stories is simply the English edition of The Temptation of Jack Orkney. On the same principle that Lessing's work is more readily available in book form, I have eliminated a number of excerpts from her work which have appeared as separate entries of articles in previous bibliographies and checklists. I have also excluded translations, the numerous reissues and paperback editions of books, and the growing number of short stories on their way to becoming standard anthology pieces. Items are arranged chronologically within the follow-

<i>A Bibliography of Unauthorised American Editions of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter 1904–1980</i>, by John R. Turner (pp 294-296)

<i>A Bibliography of Unauthorised American Editions of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter 1904–1980</i>, by John R. Turner (pp 294-296)

A Textual Comparison of the First British and American Editions of D. H. Lawrence's "Kangaroo"

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Textual Comparison of the First British and American Editions of D. H. Lawrence's "Kangaroo"F. P. JarvisF. P. Jarvis Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America Volume 59, Number 4Fourth Quarter, 1965 Published for the Bibliographical Society of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/pbsa.59.4.24300704 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Illustrations of American Editions of "The Pilgrim's Progress" to 1870

Illustrations of American Editions of "The Pilgrim's Progress" to 1870

The Reception of Thornton Welder's Plays in Germany

THE RECEPTION OF THORNTON WILDER'S PLAYS IN GERMANY1 IN 1945, the Germans were confronted with the problem of becoming acquainted again wit.h some of the literary and cultural developments which had been going on in the outside world during the twelve years of the Hitler regime. In their theater American and French playwrights soon caused surprise, at times confusion, and frequently excitement. Two writers in particular, Jean Anouilh and Thornton Wilder, became the center of spirited discussion and were often looked upon as representatives of the modern French and American drama respectively. The work of both men was considered unusual in form and content, but by 1957 there was every evidence that 'Wilder's reputation in Germany had far outshone that of Anouilh. Wilder was fairly well known in Germany before the last war. The Cabala and The Bridge of San Luis Rey (translated by Herbert E. Herlitschka) appeared in 1929, and the German versions of The Woman of Andros and Heaven's My Destination were both published soon after the appearance of the first American editions. In the early thirties, the German critics followed Wilder's work with great interest and found that he was different from most of the other American writers and that he showed close affinity with European traditions. In general, they agreed that The Bridge was his masterpiece in which he displayed best his narrative technique. There was less agreement on The Cabala.2 Hans Egon Holthusen, in the only major attempt at summarizing Wilder's work toward the end of the thirties, found consistently stronger expressions of his ideas from one book to the next. In The Cabala, he saw Wilder reveal, in a satirical and compassionate way, the poor and suffering soul; he said of The Woman of Andros that there was nothing more impressive than the American writer's "unpathetisches Bekenntnis zum Geist," and in Heavens My Destination he found that Wilder leads man to nihilism and despair only to show, by a negative approach, where truth and hope really lie.s The American edition of his short plays was noticed in some quarters but found in no way comparable to his works of fiction. Immediately after the war it was as a playwright that Wilder attracted considerable attention. In the first season (1945/46) Our Town and 1. Grants from the American Philosophical Society and the Indiana University Graduate School have enabled me to collect the material for this study. For valuable assistance I am indebted to the staff of the Theater Collection of the University of Hamburg and to Mr. Claus Cluever of the English Department at the same institution. 2. Gregor Heinrich in Hochland, XXX (1932), 176, and Harry Bergholz in Englische Studien LXVI (1931/32), 450. 3. Hans Egon Holthusen in Hochland, XXXV (1938), 197. 123 124 MODERN DRAMA September The Skin of Our Teeth were produced on several Gennan stages, and some of the best directors became interested in these two plays; and by the end of the second season there was hardly a major Gennan theater which had not staged Wilder's plays. Heated discus~ions ensued wherever they were shown. There was great enthusiasm; also there were negative reactions. Critics and public alike disagreed on both the meaning and the fonn of the plays. Often the critical appraisal depended to a large extent on the varied interpretations of the Wilder plays in production. Ernst Penzoldt, for instance, commented favorably on the simplicity, the decency, and the humanity of the inhabitants of Our Town (as interpreted by Erich Engel in the Munchener Kammerspiele in December, 1945);4 Ernst Lewalter, in reviewing the second Berlin production in the spring of 1946, spoke of these people as average-as being "halb Marionetten, halb Menschlein" but had to add that, in the third act of Our Town, they become wise and understanding.5 Wilder with all his gifts does not succeed, the reviewer of the Frankfurt production maintained in the Frankfurter Rundschau, in hiding his sadness behind irony-he is actUally a pessimist but one who has preserved a deep faith.6 After a production at Kiel (March, 1947), one critic wondered about the warmth that was...

Sender's “Spherical” Philosophy

Ramón sender, perhaps the most gifted of living Spanish novelists, has been, since 1946, an American citizen. Since 1947 he has been Professor of Spanish at the University of New Mexico. Nine of his fourteen published novels have been translated into English, and have appeared in both American and British editions.

Two American editions of Leslie's 'short and easie method'

Two American editions of Leslie's 'short and easie method'

American Editions of "Festus": A Preliminary Survey

American Editions of "Festus": A Preliminary Survey

LXI The Editorial Policies of Charles Dickens

During his busiest years as a novelist Charles Dickens was also the editor, and for twenty years the controlling proprietor, of a series of periodicals, the greatest of which attained a circulation larger than that of the London Times of the period. At the same time, he issued successful American editions of his periodicals, developed distinctive editorial methods, became a pioneer in the art of serialization in weekly publications, and throughout his entire career as a journalist was activated by certain well-considered editorial policies. In this article I shall confine my remarks to the general policies, or principles, that guided Dickens in the development of his periodicals, with special attention to those practiced in Household Words and All the Year Round.

The Poe-Griswold-Harrison Texts of the "Marginalia"

S INCE POE'S death there have been three important American editions of his writings, Griswold's, Stedman and Woodberry's, and Harrison's. Griswold must have known of various installments of Marginalia published by Poe, though he made no attempt to print them as they originally appeared. Instead, as will be shown, he made a new text, dropping and adding for no apparent reason. Stoddard merely copied Griswold, except for a correction in numbering items. Stedman and Woodberry, following Griswold's lead, made their own text, rearranging and combining items so that it is almost impossible to find t:hem in originals. In his introduction to Marginalia Harrison states that the entire body of 'Marginalia' that Poe wrote and signed as his is given here and every item occurs in place where it originally stood.' Unfortunately, Professor Harrison overlooked two installments printed below. The actual installments were as follows (asterisks indicate items omitted by Harrison):

First American Editions of the Brontë Novels

AbstractDr. Ruff, the writer of the following article is Lecturer in English at Yale University.If there had been no American editions of “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” to annoy Charlotte Bronte, her famous first visit to her publishers might have been delayed for years. But she heard that American publishers were misusing her name, and were advertising her sister's novels as her own.

Conrad's Revision of Six of His Short Stories

Some years ago Mr. T. J. Wise said that “Many of Conrad's books may, in fact, be studied profitably in three published states: (1) the serial state (England and America), (2) the partly-revised state from the serial (America), and (3) the finally-revised state (England).” He suggested that a collation of the texts of the magazines with those of the books “would yield very remarkable results.” I have attempted a collation of six of Conrad's short stories: (a) “An Outpost of Progress,” “The Lagoon,” and “Karain,” published with two other stories in Tales of Unrest (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1898); and (b) “Youth,” “Heart of Darkness,” and “The End of the Tether,” published in Youth (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1902). This collation does not include the American serial and book texts. I have found only “Hearts of Darkness” published serially in America. Moreover Conrad paid little attention to his American editions. For example, of the first American edition of Tales of Unrest Conrad wrote: “Uncorrected by me. Probably differences of text from 1st English edon.” Of the first American edition of Youth Conrad wrote: “1st U.S. edition printed from unrevised proofs. Probably much nearer the Maga text than the 1st Eng. edition.” Mr. Richard Curie declares:Conrad always regarded his English book-text as the one that mattered. He was not much concerned about perfecting his text for serial publication and not greatly concerned, even, if the American book-text was not his finally revised one.

Some Americanisms in Moby Dick

HE results of a comparison between the first American and English editions of Moby Dick have recently been summarized in American Literature.' the English Edition there are, as Mr. Sadleir has pointed out, thirty-five omissions; that is, thirty five omissions of a sentence or more in the text itself, or thirty seven, counting an omitted foot-note and the important Epilogue. In addition there are approximately 150 omissions or changes of less than a sentence in length, and innumerable changes in spelling, punctuation and style. In Chapter XVI alone there are 106 variations in the details of composition. Among these details are several which are changed because certain American usages were not approved in England, and others which may be of interest in themselves.

Bowdler and the Whale: Some Notes on the First English and American Editions of Moby-Dick

Bowdler and the Whale: Some Notes on the First English and American Editions of Moby-Dick

Some Recent American Editions of Old French Texts

Some Recent American Editions of Old French Texts

The Revision Of Roderick Hudson

In an interesting paper which appeared in March, 1924, Miss Hélène Harvitt discussed “How Henry James Revised Roderick Hudson.” The investigations on which this article was based were made in Paris where original American editions were presumably not available, for we are told that “All quotations from the revised version of Roderick Hudson refer to the Macmillan edition of 1921, those from the first edition, to that of 1883 (2 vols).” If the author had been able to refer to an American edition published after 1882, she would have noticed the two copyrights (one issued to the publishers in 1875, and one to the author in 1882) and the “Note” (which has a page to itself): ‘Roderick Hudson’ was originally published in 1875. It has now been minutely revised, and has received a large number of verbal alterations. Several passages have been rewritten.“ That is, she would have seen that the text which she quotes throughout her article as from the first edition, comes in reality from a thoroughly revised later version.

American Editions of English Books

American Editions of English Books

American Editions of English Books

American Editions of English Books