Christopher Patterson recently discovered this notice of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale in the Poughkeepsie Eagle for December 6, 1851. It's not collected in Herman Melville: The Contemporary Reviews, edited by Brian Higgins and Hershel Parker (Cambridge University Press, 1995). The Poughkeepsie Eagle was a weekly newspaper, then published every Saturday morning in Poughkeepsie, New York by Isaac Platt and William Schram.
MOBY-DICK; OR, THE WHALE. By Herman Melville, author of "Typee," "Omoo," "Redburn," &c
—The above work is founded on
"That sea beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean stream."
It is full of interest from beginning to end, and promises to be the most popular of Melville's writings. The characters are various, each imparting peculiar interest to the reader. We respectfully dedicate it to all of our numerous readers. For slae [sale] by W. Wilson.
I'm counting this newly discovered notice of Moby-Dick in Poughkeepsie as favorable 🥰 and will add it to the census of early reviews, here:-- Poughkeepsie Eagle, December 6, 1851; found on newspapers.com
Christopher Patterson already has it registered as a five-star review on the Moby-Dick - Initial Reception page of his wonderful literary website, Literature's Pretty Long History. 👍👍👏👏🎉 Check it out!
