Herman Melville, 1893

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). Typee. London: John Murray, 1893.

Elizabeth Shaw Melville’s copy, with her ownership signature: “Mrs Herman Melville 105 East 18th Street.” Shaw, known as "Lizzie," was the daughter of Elizabeth Knapp Shaw and Lemuel Shaw, the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court (Lemuel was also the dedicatee of the first edition of Typee, published in 1846). She and Herman were married on 4 August 1847. The present copy is the "new edition," published posthumously and included a memoir of the author. The address used here is notable; following Herman's death, Lizzie sold her home on 26th Street and moved with her daughter Elizabeth to the apartment at 105 East 18th Street, where she would live for the rest of her life.

Octavo. Frontispiece, two maps at rear, and several in-text illustrations (a little spotting to edges of text block). Original blue gilt-stamped pictorial cloth (front hinge tender). Custom clamshell box. Provenance: Elizabeth Shaw Melville (1822-1906) – Swann Galleries, 29 October 1996, lot 540.