Notice of The Whale in Bell's Weekly Messenger

THE WHALE. By Herman Melville. Three Vols. London: Bentley.—Sprightly in composition, amusing in anecdote, and sparkling for its wit, are epithets which every one must apply to these volumes after giving them a careful perusal. When once they are begun they will not be laid down till they are read through, for scene after scene, and anecdote after anecdote, follow each other in such rapid succession, that they carry the reader on in spite of himself to the end, and make him regret that he has arrived at the last page. There are not many books of this class, which will bear a second examination, but this will gain upon all who have once gone through it; and be more and more admired every time it is taken up. The author is, we believe, an American, of whom it is not too laudatory to say that he has the vivacity of his lamented predecessor, Fenimore Cooper, with much of the quaint, dry, and quiet humour of Judge Halliburton. We ought not to envy America the authorship of these volumes, but we really should have been proud if it could have been said that Mr. Melville was a native of the mother country. We are sure that an extensive and growing popularity awaits the circulation of these deeply interesting volumes. --Bell's Weekly Messenger, Saturday, 1 November 1851; found at The British Newspaper Archive

Judge Halliburton is Thomas Chandler Haliburton, creator of Sam Slick.