{"id":"01KG8AM2S3TNS154VVNMCMT07P","cid":"bafkreibl5zxe72cxasfheto6bxa4h7gnz62znn7fffi26nvygqc4uxiigi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":472,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":406,"text":"July 21, 1886.\r\n\r\nMY DEAR Mr. MELVILLE, Your letter has given me a very great and singular\r\npleasure. Your delightful books carry the imagination into a maritime\r\nperiod so remote that, often as you have been in my mind, I could\r\nnever satisfy myself that you were still amongst the living. I am glad,\r\nindeed, to learn from Mr. Toft that you are still hale and hearty, and I\r\ndo most heartily wish you many years yet of health and vigour.\r\n\r\nYour books I have in the American edition. I have ‘Typee, ‘Omoo,’\r\n‘Redburn,’ and that noble piece ‘Moby Dick.’ These are all I have been\r\nable to obtain. There have been many editions of your works in this\r\ncountry, particularly the lovely South Sea sketches; but the editions\r\nare not equal to those of the American publishers. Your reputation here\r\nis very great. It is hard to meet a man whose opinion as a reader is\r\nworth leaving who does not speak of your works in such terms as he\r\nmight hesitate to employ, with all his patriotism, toward many renowned\r\nEnglish writers.\r\n\r\nDana is, indeed, great. There is nothing in literature more remarkable\r\nthan the impression produced by Dana’s portraiture of the homely inner\r\nlife of a little brig’s forecastle.\r\n\r\nI beg that you will accept my thanks for the kindly spirit in which you\r\nhave read my books. I wish it were in my power to cross the Atlantic,\r\nfor you assuredly would be the first whom it would be my happiness to\r\nvisit.\r\n\r\nThe condition of my right hand obliges me to dictate this to my son;\r\nbut painful as it is to me to hold a pen, I cannot suffer this letter\r\nto reach the hands of a man of so admirable genitis as Herman Melville\r\nwithout begging him to believe me to be, with my own hand, his most\r\nrespectful and hearty admirer, W. Clark Russell.\r\n\r\nIt should be noted here that Melville’s increased reputation in England\r\nat the period of this letter was chiefly owing to a series of articles\r\non his work written by Mr. Russell. I am sorry to say that few English\r\npapers made more than a passing reference to Melville’s death. The\r\nAmerican press discussed his life and work in numerous and lengthy\r\nreviews. At the same time, there always has been a steady sale of his\r\nbooks in England, and some of them never have been out of print in that\r\ncountry since the publication of ‘Typee.’ One result of this friendship\r\nbetween the two authors was the dedication of new volumes to each other\r\nin highly complimentary terms--Mr. Melville’s ‘John Marr and Other\r\nSailors,’ of which twenty-five copies only were printed, on the one\r\nhand, and Mr. Russell’s ‘An Ocean Tragedy,’ on the other, of which many\r\nthousand have been printed, not to mention unnumbered pirated copies.\r\n\r\nBeside Hawthorne, Mr. Richard Henry Stoddard, of American writers,\r\nspecially knew and appreciated Herman Melville. Mr. Stoddard was\r\nconnected with the New York dock department at the time of Mr.\r\nMelville’s appointment to a custom-house position, and they at once\r\nbecame acquainted. For a good many years, during the period in which\r\nour author remained in seclusion, much that appeared in print in America\r\nconcerning Melville came from the pen of Mr. Stoddard. Nevertheless,\r\nthe sailor author’s presence in New York was well known to the literary\r\nguild. He was invited to join in all new movements, but as often felt\r\nobliged to excuse himself from doing so. The present writer lived for\r\nsome time within a short distance of his house, but found no opportunity\r\nto meet him until it became necessary to obtain his portrait for an\r\nanthology in course of publication. The interview was brief, and the\r\ninterviewer could not help feeling although treated with pleasant\r\ncourtesy, that more important matters were in hand than the perpetuation\r\nof a romancer’s countenance to future generations; but a friendly family\r\nacquaintance grew up from the incident, and will remain an abiding\r\nmemory.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPEC473FXAMQWHHC31BK","peer_type":"frontmatter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM2SCGBSEA79QT55A3BN9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.379Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.572Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}