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
#7466 22395259_rot_p_3.jpg
blazoning
circa 1884*-1891
#6374 22395161_rot_p_3.jpg
borne
circa 1884*-1891
#7658 22395283_rot_p_6.jpg
buoying
circa 1884*-1891
#7323 22395241_rot_p_5.jpg
evidence
circa 1884*-1891
#6112 22395141_rot_p_6.jpg
exclamation
circa 1884*-1891
#7009 22395209_rot_p_5.jpg
grade
circa 1884*-1891
#6524 22395171_rot_p_1.jpg
pardon
circa 1884*-1891
#7043 22395211_rot_p_4.jpg
peculiar
circa 1884*-1891
#6113 22395143_rot_p_2.jpg
sort
circa 1884*-1891
#6982 22395207_rot_p_1.jpg
tan
circa 1884*-1891
#9702 22395145.jpg
To
circa 1884*-1891
#7221 22395227_rot_p_5.jpg
upright
circa 1884*-1891
#7652 22395281_rot_p_4.jpg
urge
circa 1884*-1891
#6158 22395147_rot_p_3.jpg
weather
circa 1884*-1891
#6739 22395189_rot_p_4.jpg
whose