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
#5983 22395133_rot_p_4.jpg
surround
circa 1884*-1891
#6093 22395141_rot_p_3.jpg
bar
circa 1884*-1891
#6189 22395151_rot_p_1.jpg
Such
circa 1884*-1891
#6283 22395155_rot_p_4.jpg
surprise
circa 1884*-1891
#6308 22395157_rot_p_3.jpg
everybody
circa 1884*-1891
#6357 22395159_rot_p_4.jpg
unobstructed
circa 1884*-1891
#6555 22395171_rot_p_5.jpg
virtue
circa 1884*-1891
#6567 22395173_rot_p_1.jpg
whiskers
circa 1884*-1891
#6658 22395179_rot_p_1.jpg
going
circa 1884*-1891
#7138 22395215_rot_p_4.jpg
contradition
circa 1884*-1891
#7206 22395225_rot_p_9.jpg
crookedness
circa 1884*-1891
#7248 22395232_rot_p_6.jpg
untampered-with
circa 1884*-1891
#7579 22395273_rot_p_6.jpg
American
circa 1884*-1891
#7609 22395277_rot_p_4.jpg
extent
circa 1884*-1891
#7758 22395293_rot_p_4.jpg
return