Clarel, with autograph letter on pulping the edition - photo 1
Clarel, with autograph letter on pulping the edition - photo 2

Clarel, with autograph letter on pulping the edition

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$ 75 600
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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USA, New York
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ID 967644
Lot 138 | Clarel, with autograph letter on pulping the edition
Clarel, with autograph letter on pulping the edition

Herman Melville, 1876

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1876.



[With:] Autograph letter signed ("H.Melville") to G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 27 March 1879. The pulping of Clarel, Melville's last regularly published book.



A fine copy of the rare first edition together with Melville's autograph letter directing that the 224 remaining copies be sent to the paper mill. After a long run of financial failures, this allegorical epic poem was the last book Melville wrote to be accepted for publication. He authored two further volumes of poetry in the last three years of his life, but both of these were published privately. G.P. Putnam's printed just 350 copies of Clarel and less than three years after publication Melville would instruct in the present letter: "Please dispose of cases 2 & 3 ("Clarel") containing two hundred and twenty-four copies, in my account, to paper mill. H. Melville." Further annotated by the publisher: "Sent to Paper Mill April 18/79" with an accounting of the remaining copies, including their weight: "305 pounds of Clarel."



Inspired by his travels to Palestine in 1857, Clarel was published in two volumes on 3 June 3 1876 by G. P. Putnam & Company at the expense of Melville's uncle, Peter Gansevoort. It was a heavy burden on Melville, taking him nearly 20 years to complete against a backdrop of personal tragedy, including his son's Malcolm's suicide and the deaths of his brother, mother, and cousin. The four-part poem, comprising 150 cantos and almost 18,000 lines (close to twice as long as Paradise Lost), is about a naïve American named Clarel. A fine copy, one of only 126 which escaped pulping by the publishers. BAL 13674.



Two volumes, octavo (170 x 115mm). Original green cloth, gilt-stamped spines (expert repair to inner hinges, small shadows where labels were removed from spines). Provenance: Herman M. Schroeter (bookplate) – Joseph J. McCann (his sale, Anderson Galleries, 29 & 30 April 1937, lot 348) – Saul Cohn (his sale, Parke-Bernet, 18 & 19 October 1955, lot 711).



Letter: One page, 255 x 202mm, wear at creases and loss to one margin; annotated by the publisher. Modern chemise and slipcase.

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