J. Ross Browne, 1845 letter to Evert A. Duyckinck

"If you think the book would sell better by having a good deal of practical matter in it, I could enter more minutely into the habits and peculiarities of whales, the process of capturing them and procuring their oil &c; but in my opinion though this might be useful it would not be very interesting to the general reader. Scoresby, Wilkes, and other writers have left scarcely anything new to be said in relation to the practical part of the whaling business..." --J. Ross Browne, letter to Evert A. Duyckinck dated September 16, 1845.

Herman Melville reviewed Browne's whaling book as published by Harper & Brothers in 1846. The text of that review (originally published March 6, 1847 in The Literary World) is available online in another melvilliana post

Herman Melville's Review of Etchings of a Whaling Cruise

As advised, Browne did supplement his original narrative with "practical matter" taken from established authorities on whales and whaling. For Moby-Dick, Melville consulted the same books that Browne recycles in his appendix. R. D. Madison says "it's a toss-up whether Browne or The Penny Cyclopaedia was more useful" to Melville as "a shortcut to cetology" (The Essex and the Whale).

Newly digitized and available online From the New York Public Library, this 1845 letter reflects the active support that Browne was getting from Evert A. Duyckinck, then house literary editor for Wiley and Putnam. At Wiley and Putnam, Duyckinck superintended the new Library of American Books project. Ezra Greenspan explains:

By late February 1845 a deal between Duyckinck and Wiley was struck and terms set down, Duyckinck to serve as house literary editor with operating power to choose titles for the Library, to solicit contributions, and to help promote the new works via his pen and his numerous contacts in the press; and Wiley and Putnam to issue the works in attractive but inexpensive fashion both in new York and London. --"Evert Duyckinck and the History of Wiley and Putnam's Library of American Books, 1845-1847" in American Literature Vol. 64, No. 4 (Dec., 1992), pp. 677-693 at 682.

Perry Miller built a page or so from Browne's 1845 letter to Duyckinck:

"an ex-whaler submitted a manuscript, and though it was miserably written and required extensive editing, the material was of such intrinsic interest, and was so truly "American," that Duyckinck spent days working with J. Ross Browne over Etchings of a Whaling Cruise.  --The Raven and the Whale, page 137

Given that much editorial work by Duyckinck, Perry Miller figured Wiley and Putnam must have published Etchings. Edward L. Widmer repeated Miller's mistake in the fascinating book Young America: The Flowering of Democracy in New York City (page 115), placing Browne's Etchings in the Library of American Books.

Browne's experience with competing American publishers was the reverse of Melville's: passed over by Wiley and Putnam, Browne's book was actually published by Harper & Brothers in 1846--the year Wiley and Putnam got Typee, but only after the Harpers (famously, now) had rejected it in manuscript. Eugene Exman in The Brothers Harper (page 293) credits Browne's Etchings as "the Harper book which had influenced George Putnam to publish Typee." (Ah, but there Exman must be thinking of Dana's Two Years Before the Mast, as shown in the letter from Putnam to Duyckinck that Ezra Greenspan quotes in George Palmer Putnam: Representative American Publisher.)

In advising Browne, Duyckinck evidently had urged revisions of content and style. Browne defended instances of coarse language in his narrative as the real talk of sailors, truthfully presented. In the same vein, Melville's review anticipates and answers "fastidious objections" of hypothetical critics:

The scenes presented are always graphically and truthfully sketched, and hence fastidious objections may be made to some of them, on the score of their being too coarsely or harshly drawn. But we take it, that as true, unreserved descriptions, they are in no respect faulty; and, doubtless, the author never dreamed of softening down or withholding anything with a view of rendering his sketches the more attractive and pretty. The book is eminently a practical one, and written with the set purpose of accomplishing good by revealing the simple truth.  --Herman Melville, Review of Browne's Etchings of a Whaling Cruise

When Melville wrote that, "fastidious objections" had already been published. The London Spectator, for example, criticized Browne's "unpleasant" realism, and more:

Browne is not a man of genius, scarcely of ability, but a fair enough specimen of the fluent, obtrusive, self-confident, half-educated American, such as one continually encounters in their books of travels. The reflections are in a high-flown sentimental manner; the descriptions of the actual are lengthy and literal. Like some other of his countrymen, Mr. Browne falls into the habit of reporting conversations or dialogues at full length: a very good practice when the persons and topics are of importance, but scarcely needed in the case of whalers with their mere “chaffing,” or pointless jokes, or the quarrels of the captain with his mate and crew. The author is also deficient in art and delicacy. An artist catches and presents the spirit of the lowest scenes, but sinks their material of physical coarseness. Mr. Browne gives them literally as they are; so that he produces much the same unpleasant effect upon the mind as if the reader were actually present—bating the life. The slender interest the book possesses is entirely owing to its nautical subjects—the hardships and excitement of the service, and the characters of the crew, unpleasant as some of the latter are. --The Spectator, Volume 19 - November 28, 1846

From The New York Public Library Digital Collections:

J. Ross Browne, Letter to Evert A. Duyckinck - September 16, 1845
From The New York Public Library Digital Collections

J. Ross Browne, Letter to Evert A. Duyckinck - September 16, 1845
From The New York Public Library Digital Collections

J. Ross Browne, Letter to Evert A. Duyckinck - September 16, 1845
From The New York Public Library Digital Collections

J. Ross Browne, Letter to Evert A. Duyckinck - September 16, 1845
From The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Transcribed below:

Washington City, Sep. 16th 1845

Dear Sir:

I am under obligations to you for the friendly suggestions contained in your letter of the 13th. Fully appreciating the arduous nature of your engagements, I shall make my reply as brief as possible.

Upon reflection, I am convinced that I have been unwise in attempting to “write a book.” It is a task attended by difficulties sufficiently formidable to discourage a more experienced writer than myself. I do not think I am deficient in perseverance; but I fear perseverance in this matter would be a weakness. It is my perfect consciousness of the defects indicated in your letter that discourages me. Were I to obviate them a thousand others would spring up, as if to prove to me that I am entirely disqualified for the task. I regret, therefore, having imposed upon the good nature of my friends in putting them to so much trouble.

There is one consideration which influences me in continuing my efforts to have the journal published. An intimate and esteemed friend of mine, now in Paris, studying the art of painting, is in great distress for want of a small sum of money to enable him to prosecute his studies this approaching winter. He is a young man of uncommon talent and high moral character; and poor indeed, would be the friend, who for want of a little exertion, would see him suffer. $200 would be the means of enabling him to attain eminence in his profession. If I could send him that or even one half of it, I should consider myself fortunate, and to remove any doubt that might exist upon the subject, I am quite willing if I can get that much for the copy-right, to give you his address and ask you to oblige me by sending him the money. This is the only prospect I have of aiding him, for my salary is too small to do him any service. If you knew what a kind and good friend he is, and how great is his distress, I am sure you would second my efforts, if for no other reason than this.

I agree with you in regard to the necessity of re-writing some passages of the narrative, and making alterations in the dialogues. When writing them, I knew there was rather too much roughness and profanity in them to suit a refined taste; and my reason for not making them more polished was that I did not suppose such a work would be read by literary men, and sailors would like it all the better for familiar roughness. However, I am not skilled in these matters, and I submit to your better judgement—merely assuring you that if you think sailors are a refined class of men, or that I have at all exaggerated their profanity, you are much mistaken. That many portions are but indifferently executed, I admit; and profiting by your friendly suggestions I shall do all in my power to make them readable.

As to the number of pages of M.S. or the amount of practical information which I could give, I leave that to be determined by yourself or the publisher. One volume would probably sell better than two—especially two from an unknown writer. I have matter for a volume about the size of Hawthorne’s African Cruizer, which I think is a good size—say 300 or 330 pages of M. S. like this. A friend of mine, who is now draughtsman in the Patent Office, would willingly make a series of handsome illustrations from my rough sketches, which might add materially to the success of the volume. Of course these paintings would cost the publisher nothing. I could have twenty or thirty such sketches as the enclosed, by myself, well executed by my friend.

If you think the book would sell better by having a good deal of practical matter in it, I could enter more minutely into the habits and peculiarities of whales, the process of capturing them and procuring their oil &c; but in my opinion though this might be useful, it would not be very interesting to the general reader. Scoresby, Wilkes, and other writers have left scarcely anything new to be said in relation to the practical part of the whaling business. Graphic descriptions of forecastle life, scenes of cruelty and suffering, and now and then something in the way of observation, would, I think, be more likely to succeed. My opportunities of acquiring practical information were very limited—I had neither books nor intelligent companions to guide me, and the most I could think of making would be an interesting narrative of novel and exciting incidents. I was nearly four months on board a merchantman. An account of my voyage home would show the difference between the merchant service and the whale-fishery, and would perhaps derive interest from the contrast. I am very confident the public know little or nothing of the detestable cruelties practiced on board of our whalers; and to show these in their true colors is my main object. I could give a good deal of practical information in relation to the commerce, products &c of Zanzibar. This would be new, and no doubt interesting to many. Ellis has, in his history of Madagascar, so fully described that island that it would be useless to attempt a practical account of its trade or products. Boteler & Owens have more than I could say about the Comoro Isles. The Azores & Cape de Verdes are too well known to need description. A narrative of incidents would therefore be in the main all I could give.

So far as regards the profits, I would take almost anything.. I have stated to you my only object in desiring any remuneration for my labor. Any arrangement you may think proper to make will suit me.

I have materiel for a very wild and thrilling sea-story; and shall introduce something of that kind if you think it advisable.

In conclusion, I would thank you to call upon Messers Wiley & Putnam, and (if you approve of it) present to them the enclosed note. State the nature character of the work—your opinion of it, your desire to befriend the author; and if you can procure from them a definite and conclusive promise that they will publish it, as soon as I can revise and complete it, then wrap it up and send it to me at the earliest possible moment, and I shall set to work and get it in readiness for publication within a month. You will oblige me by doing this without delay. With many thanks for the trouble you have already taken in my behalf,

I remain
Yours Truly,

J. Ross Browne