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
#6058 22395139_rot_p_4.jpg
hoops
circa 1884*-1891
#6176 22395149.jpg
physical
circa 1884*-1891
#6199 22395151_rot_p_3.jpg
aged
circa 1884*-1891
#6205 22395151_rot_p_4.jpg
eighteenth
circa 1884*-1891
#6344 22395159_rot_p_4.jpg
expression
circa 1884*-1891
#6346 22395159_rot_p_4.jpg
fair
circa 1884*-1891
#6753 22395191_rot_p_3.jpg
emblazoned
circa 1884*-1891
#6835 22395197_rot_p_6.jpg
concluding
circa 1884*-1891
#7158 22395219_rot_p_3.jpg
blood
circa 1884*-1891
#7268 22395234_rot_p_2.jpg
Faithful
circa 1884*-1891
#7549 22395271_rot_p_4.jpg
knights
circa 1884*-1891
#7680 22395285_rot_p_8.jpg
wrote
circa 1884*-1891
#7733 22395291_rot_p_2.jpg
Its
circa 1884*-1891
#7740 22395291_rot_p_4.jpg
sails
circa 1884*-1891
#7942 22395605.jpg
exp