Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy - photo 1
Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy - photo 2
Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy - photo 3

Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy

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$ 176 400
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 967581
Lot 115 | Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy
Typee, inscribed, the Bradley Martin copy

Herman Melville, 1846

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1846.



The Groves-Bradley Martin copy of the first American edition of Melville's first book, a presentation copy; inscribed in the month of publication, "Mrs Tomlinson from the author March 18 1846."



Presentation copies of Melville's work are rare; only three others are recorded by RBH and of these, only the copy to his cousin Maria Peebles was dated in the month of publication. The identity of Mrs Tomlinson remains unconfirmed, however; the Melville Log suggests it is "Mrs [Theodore E.?] Tomlinson," that is, Abigail Esther Walden (1820-1907), who married Theodore Tomlinson (1817-1887) in December 1844. Mr Tomlinson was a friend of Melville's brother Gansevoort, a fellow lawyer with whom he shared an office in Albany. Recent scholarship has also suggested another possible candidate: Anna Staples Tomlinson (1806-1873), resident of Albany, New York, and wife of Oliver M. Tomlinson, a cousin of Theodore and co-manager of the "magnificent" Stanwix Hall Hotel in Albany (see Melvilliana online, "Another Mrs Tomlinson"). In his biography of Melville, Hershel Parker noted that "Gansevoort was attentive to many women married to powerful men, women somewhat older than he"—a description, perhaps, more fitting to Anna than Abigail (p.399). In any case, Mrs Tomlinson must have held some importance as her presentation from the author was given ahead of even the dedication copy to Lemuel Shaw on 19 March and the presentation to Mrs Peebles on 20 March (Melville Log, pp. 125, 207).



Typee was a resounding success, and Melville's most popular work during his lifetime. Melville returned from his adventures in the South Seas in October 1844 and wrote his debut the following spring. It was based on his desertion of the whaling ship Acushnet in 1842 and subsequent adventures through the Marquesas Islands with Richard Tobias Greene, who would inspire the main character, Toby. Harper's, much to their later regret, initially rejected Typee on the grounds that it was too incredible to be believed as an autobiographical tale. BAL 13653; Leyda Melville Log p.207.



Octavo, two volumes in one. Frontispiece map of the Marquesa Islands, 6 pages of ads at rear (numbered [v]-x) (some foxing internally). Blue publisher's cloth (spine a little faded, cloth worn at upper edge of rear joint and foot of spine); modern chemise and morocco pull-off box. Provenance: John Stuart Groves, 1881-1958 (bookplate, his sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 5 & 6 April 1943, lot 321) – H. Bradley Martin (his sale, Sotheby's New York, January 1990, lot 2141).



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