A Note on the Texts

The texts of Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (Harper and Brothers, 1866), John Marr and Other Sailors (The Devine Press, 1888), and Timoleon, Etc. (The Caxton Press, 1891) are based on facsimiles of the first editions that have been compared with Melville’s own corrected copies. Two copies of Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) with corrections in Melville’s and his wife’s hand are in the Houghton Library at Harvard University. A corrected copy in Melville’s hand of John Marr and Other Sailors is held at the New York Public Library. There is no manuscript of Battle-Pieces but the manuscripts of John Marr and Other Sailors; Timoleon; and Weeds and Wildings Chiefly: With a Rose or Two are also at the Houghton Library. Houghton Library also holds a corrected copy in Melville’s hand of Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (Putnam, 1876). I have used the 1924 John Constable Standard Edition of Melville’s work for the texts of both unpublished and uncollected poems as well as for Clarel.