Handwriting History collection:
Herman Melville wrote and revised the manuscript for Billy Budd from approximately 1884—1891. Melville had a wide range of handwriting styles, from carefully considered to hastily scribbled. His range of writing offers us a sterling opportunity to explore variations in personal handwriting styles and to test our abilities to read them.
The ink examples on the website are drawn from chapters 1—5; the pencil examples are from chapter 20.
The words and phrases have been checked for accuracy against the Melville Electronic Library edition.
Contact us for scholar or instructor access if you would like it.
Please send questions and requests for access to david@americanpaleography.org
David Kaminski
See an assortment of the exhibited words and other polygons here:
circa 1884*-1891
#7498 22395267_rot_p_3.jpg
anon
circa 1884*-1891
#7190 22395225_rot_p_3.jpg
call
circa 1884*-1891
#6364 22395161_rot_p_2.jpg
craft
circa 1884*-1891
#7644 22395281_rot_p_4.jpg
deplorable
circa 1884*-1891
#7816 22395685_rot_p_2.jpg
excitement
circa 1884*-1891
#7305 22395236_rot_p_4.jpg
expressive
circa 1884*-1891
#6014 22395135_rot_p_4.jpg
instance
circa 1884*-1891
#7215 22395227_rot_p_1.jpg
original
circa 1884*-1891
#6336 22395159_rot_p_2.jpg
preposessing
circa 1884*-1891
#6237 22395153_rot_p_3.jpg
put
circa 1884*-1891
#6533 22395171_rot_p_6.jpg
quarrels
circa 1884*-1891
#7254 22395232_rot_p_6.jpg
smack
circa 1884*-1891
#6318 22395157_rot_p_4.jpg
troubled
circa 1884*-1891
#6854 22395197_rot_p_6.jpg
wanting
circa 1884*-1891
#7875 22395689_rot_p_1.jpg
Who