In January 1852, Harper ads in New York City briefly quoted three British reviews of
The Whale. One of these, the mixed review in the London
Atlas (First Notice, November 1, 1851), was also excerpted with a positive spin in the January 1852 issue of
Harper's New Monthly Magazine. Along with the
Atlas, the Harpers quoted the London
Leader (November 8, 1851) and
Literary Gazette (December 6, 1851). A different, longer excerpt from the
Leader showed up in
Harper's magazine for April 1852. Herman Melville's brother Allan knew the whole
Leader review, as Hershel Parker relates in
Herman Melville: A Biography Volume 2, 1851-1891 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002) pages 99-100. And reminds in a comment on the Melvilliana post,
Moby-Dick widely praised.
These particular London blurbs do seem underwhelming next to the most appreciative and insightful British responses we know about now, for example in the London
Morning Advertiser,
Morning Post,
Weekly News and Chronicle, and
Daily News.
The
Leader review first glossed
The Whale as "a strange, wild weird book, full of poetry and full of interest." But the Harper ad skips the weirdness and poetry. Instead, the text of the
Leader blurb has been clipped and combined from bits of another passage, describing Melville's
Whale as
"a strange, wild work, with the tangled overgrowth and luxuriant vegetation of American forests, not the trim orderliness of an English park. Criticism may pick many holes in this work; but no criticism will thwart its fascination."
The compressed
Leader text still anticipates and answers negative criticism, without getting specific:
"A strange, wild work--no criticism will thwart its fascination."
On the bright side, the
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer and
The Literary World supplemented the London quotations with very high praise from the Washington, DC
National Intelligencer ("actually Shakspearean") and New York
Tribune (for "the author's originality and power"). In the
Literary World for January 17, 1852 the full page ad for "HARPER & BROTHERS' LATEST PUBLICATIONS" listed "MOBY DICK; OR, THE WHALE" as the sixth of nine new works.
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| The Literary World - January 17, 1852 - page 60 |
VI.
MOBY DICK; OR, THE WHALE
By HERMAN MELVILLE.
12mo. muslin, $1 50.
"A prose Epic on Whaling. Mr. Melville's delineations of character are actually Shakspearean—a quality which is even more prominently evinced In 'Moby Dick' than in any of his antecedent efforts." —National Intelligencer.
"Nothing like it has ever before been written of the Whale." —Literary World.
"It gives us a higher opinion of the author's originality and power than even the fragrant and first fruits of his genius, the never to be forgotten 'Typee.' " —N. York Tribune.
"A strange, wild work—no criticism will thwart its fascination." —Lond, Leader.
"Equal to anything we have ever met with" — London Literary Gazette.
"That Herman Melville knows more about whales than any from Jonah down, we do really believe."—London Atlas.
https://books.google.com/books?id=XjwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA60&lpg#v=onepage&q&f=false>
Below, the same ad in the New York
Courier and Enquirer. In the quote from the
National Intelligencer, William A. Butler's word "Shakespearean" is spelled "Shaksperean"; the
Literary World version has it "Shakspearean" on January 17 but "Shakspearian" on February 14, 1852.
 |
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer - January 8, 1852
via FultonHistory |
MOBY DICK; OR THE WHALE.
By Herman Melville. 12mo, muslin, $1.50.
"A prose Epic on Whaling. Mr. Melville's delineations of character is actually Shaksperean--a quality which is even more prominently evinced in "Moby-Dick" than in any of his antecedent efforts." --National Intelligencer.
"Nothing like it has ever before been written of the Whale." --Literary World.
"It gives us a higher opinion of the author's originality and power than even the fragrant and first fruits of his genius, the never to be forgotten 'Typee.' --N. Y. Tribune.
"A strange, wild work--no criticism will thwart its fascination." --London Leader.
"Equal to anything we have ever met with." --London Literary Gazette.
"That Herman Melville knows more about whales than any man from Jonah down, we do really believe." --London Atlas.
Thursday, January 8, 1852 is the first day the new Harper & Brothers ad ran in the
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer. On the previous day, January 7th, the Harper ad for
Moby-Dick contained only one quotation--from the London
Times review of
Typee.
 |
Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer - January 7, 1852
via FultonHistory |
The Harper & Brothers ad in the New York
Evening Post on January 17, 1852 features the three new quotations from London reviews of
The Whale, but no American blurbs.
In February the Harper ad for
Moby-Dick in the
Literary World provided a different selection of London quotes. The revised ad drops the
Leader and
Literary Gazette texts, while substituting a juicier quotation from the London
Atlas, and adding a new one from the otherwise negative notice in the
London Examiner. The Valentine's Day 1852 version keeps the high praise of
Moby-Dick from major American newspapers the New York
Tribune and Washington
National Intelligencer, but omits the previously included endorsement from the
first Literary World review ("Nothing like it has ever before been written of the Whale"). Transcribed below from the New York
Literary World, February 14, 1852, page 128:
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| The Literary World - February 14, 1852 - page 128 |
Moby Dick;
Or, The Whale. By HERMAN MELVILLE. 12mo. Muslin, $1 50.
"It gives us a higher opinion of the author's originality and power than even the fragrant and first-fruits of his genius, the never-to-be forgotten 'Typee.'" —New York Tribune.
"A prose Epic on whaling. His delineation of character is actually Shakspearian —a quality which is even more prominently evinced in 'Moby Dick' than in any of his antecedent efforts."—National Intelligencer.
"Fully and freely is the book to be commended to all who are curious in such matters." —London Examiner.
"Herman Melville plunges among the whales as if he loved them, and counted them the grandest and most glorious of the creatures of the globe. Upon the whale, its mysteries and its terrors, he dwells as if the subject had enchantment for him." —London Atlas.
https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA128&lpg=&id=XjwZAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false
