THE PIAZZA TALES. By Herman Melville, author of Typee, Omoo, etc. etc. New York: Dix and Edwards, 321 Broadway. London: Sampson Low, Son and Co. 1856. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4¾ × 7⅛). Pp. (vi) + 431 + (11). No printed half-title. Publishers' advertisements, unpaged and undated, occupy pp. (433)-(439). Purple-brown cloth, blocked in gold and blind. Grey-blue end-papers.
Contents: The Piazza—Bartleby—Benito Cereno—The Lightning-Rod Man—The Encantadas; or Enchanted Islands—The Bell-Tower.
Notes—(i) This book was published in May or June, 1856.
(ii) It is doubtful whether copies of this book were ever actually issued in England, despite the fact that Sampson Low and Co. advertised the book at 9s. in June, 1856. At the most, copies may exist with an English cancel title, but even this is improbable in view of the joint imprint on the New York edition. It will be noted that when previously Low imported Melville sheets (cf. Pierre, 1852) they inserted their own title-page and bound the book differently for English issue, but in that case their name was not printed on the American edition.
(iii) Copies of the first American edition exist, with pale yellow end-papers. These are thinner in quality than the grey-blue ones above mentioned, and not chalk surfaced to the extent usual with American tinted papers of the period. Indeed, they have more the appearance of English than of American end-papers, but it is difficult to believe that Sampson Low and Co. could have imported sheets and cases from America, merely carrying out in this country the process of binding.
1857
THE CONFIDENCE MAN: His Masquerade. By Herman Melville, Author of The Piazza Tales, Omoo etc. etc. New York: Dix Edwards and Co., 321 Broadway. 1857. 1 vol. Cr. 8vo (4⅞ × 7½). Pp. (x) [paged as vi] + 394 + (4). No printed half-title. Purple-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Dark green end-papers.
1857
THE CONFIDENCE MAN: His Masquerade. By Herman Melville, author of The Piazza Tales, Omoo, Typee etc. etc. Authorized edition. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts. 1857. 1 vol. Fcap. 8vo (4¼ × 6¾). Pp. vi + 354. No half-title. Publishers' catalogue, 24 pp., dated September, 1855 [sic], bound in at end. Yellow-brown cloth, gilt, blocked in blind. Brick-red end-papers, partially printed with publishers' advertisements.
Note—This book was published in April, 1857.