Original research and riffs on Herman Melville, authorship, and nineteenth-century American literature.
"Join the celebration and shared reading of the complete book, Saturday, Nov. 21 and Sunday, Nov. 22, from 8 am to 10 pm both days at the end of Windward Avenue, on Venice Beach near the breakwater rocks." --Yo! VeniceFor details with audio, click the whale at the Venice Oceanarium website.
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| Convent of Mar-Saba, 1857 Photo by Francis Frith |
Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program.
Getty Museum Collection:
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| Image Credit: Library of Congress |
Private & Confidential
Lexington Ky September 15th, 1844General Andrew Jackson
My dear Sir,It is with great pleasure that according to your request I communicate to you the result of the Democratic meeting held yesterday in this city which is the Jerusalem of Whiggery and as yet under the dominion of a false God. At 2 PM the meeting which was very large was called to order. It was held at the Court-House. Many Whigs were present. The people were overflowing with enthusiasm and so hungry for good democratic doctrine that they compelled me to talk full four hours and then still cried “Go on” “Go on!”— In the course of my remarks I reviewed the manifold inconsistencies of the political career of Henry Clay and endeavored to expose the dangerous and anti-republican tendency of the measures now advocated by the Whig party and “the great embodiment” and put the gaff to the aforesaid “great embodiment” as well as I was able and with hearty good will. Altho’ so many Whigs were present no interruption was offered from beginning to end. In the eve[nin]g the Hon. J. F. Marshall spoke a couple of hours at the same place and with his usual marked ability. The Democracy here are in fine spirits and say that if in October we elect Tod in Ohio and Shunk in Pa that the Kentucky Democracy can prostrate Mr. Clay at home. God grant that this may be the case. Let him be defeated not only in the Union—but in his own state—and the rebuke will be the greater to Henry Clay and his associated political profligates, and the moral lesson the deeper and the more abiding.
In the mo[rnin]g I leave for Cincinnati where I have an appointment the following day and thence to Columbus, Cleveland, Erie & Buffalo and thence through the state of N. York to the city speaking at the points named & other prominent ones on the route. On my arrival in New-York I promise myself the pleasure of communicating to you full particulars of our bright prospects there.
With remembrance of my visit to the Hermitage that never can be effaced, and which will be prized as long as memory remains, and with my most respectful regards to the ladies of your family to Andrew Jackson Jr. and Major Donelson
I amWith sentiments of reverence and loveYour humble friend & obdt servant
Gansevoort Melville
His Excellency
General Jackson
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| Gansevoort Melville to Andrew Jackson, September 15, 1844 Andrew Jackson papers via Library of Congress |
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| Gansevoort Melville to Andrew Jackson, September 15, 1844 Andrew Jackson papers via Library of Congress |
Hello AllListed at the New York Public Library, Fulton History is a national treasure worthy of support from Melville fans everywhere, and from all students of American history. Thank you Tom Tryniski and best of luck with your new hardware.
Could you please pass the word around that www.fultonhistory.com is down due to a Power spike that took out my DNS server, WAN and Link balancer .My email address tryniski@fultonhistory.com will also not resolve as the MX pointer records were also affected. New hardware has been ordered and will be shipped by Fedx tonight from Taiwan. Count of 4-6 days before I'm back up. I have spares on most of my hardware but due to cost that one piece of equipment was not..You can reach me using gmail ttryniski@gmail.com ****Tom Tom Tryniski
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| Detail of erased annotation in Channing's Works, vol. 3 Enhanced image of the full page is at Melville's Marginalia Online |
Bottom margin] erased pencil x and annotation:
"Could not this [point] with still m[ore]
force be applied to Mahomet?‒who after
age forty [&] less probably [mad], first delivered
his Gospel?" --Melville's Marginalia Online
<https://melvillesmarginalia.org/Share.aspx?DocumentID=76&PageID=26311>Mad or Zeid? Zaid? Better yet (if that initial letter is a capital "K") how about Khadija? (alternatively, Kadija). Someday with improved technology we might find out for sure. Acknowledging that "technical methods of recovery are still in their infancy," Steven Olsen-Smith, General Editor of Melville's Marginalia Online, remains optimistic that
"The content of erasures in Melville’s marginalia, and the identities and motives behind it, will likely become clearer as technical means of recovery become more effective."
Citation:
Olsen-Smith, Steven. "Recovering Melville’s Hand: An Inaugural Report on Digital Discovery and Analysis at Melville’s Marginalia Online." Leviathan, vol. 17 no. 2, 2015, p. 36-40. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lvn.2015.0024.While we're waiting on the right equipment... For essential background, popular biographies of the prophet Mahomet (an old spelling of "Muhammad") could be of some help in figuring out what Melville wrote in the erased, now partially recovered marginalia in the third volume of William Ellery Channing's Works. Melville's wife Elizabeth owned and also marked in the set of Channing's Works, given her by her father Lemuel Shaw.
“In the 40th year of his age, Mohammed announced to his wife Khadijah, his slave Zeid, his pupil Ali, and his friend Aboo Beker, a direct commission from God to preach the doctrine of his Unity.""Outlines of History" from LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOPAEDIA is listed as number 164 in the 1837 Catalogue of Books in the Library of the Albany Young Men's Association.
Those who first believed in him were those who knew him best. He gained adherents very slowly. The first was his faithful wife, now between fifty-five and sixty years of age. "So Khadijah believed," runs the tradition, "and attested the truth of that which came to him from God. Thus was the Lord minded to lighten the burden of His prophet; for he heard nothing that grieved him touching his rejection by the people, but he had recourse unto her, and she comforted, reassured and supported him." Two other members of his household followed Khadijah. One of these was Zeid, an Arab of a Christian tribe, who had been taken captive and become a slave of Khadijah. By her he had been given to Mohammed, and so great an affection grew up between the slave and the master that Mohammed gave Zeid his liberty and made him his adopted son, and Zeid refused the permission offered him to return to his father and his tribe. Then there was the youthful Ali, a person of great importance in the history of Islam. He was the son of Abu Talib, and had been taken by Mohammed to be brought up as his son, and was now some thirteen years of age. It is said that the old Abu Talib saw Mohammed and Ali praying together, and that in answer to some inquiry which he made, Mohammed commended to him the new faith as the religion of God and of His angels and of His prophets, the religion of Abraham. Abu Talib replied, "I am not able, my nephew, to separate from the religion and the customs of my forefathers, but I swear that, so long as I live, no one shall dare to trouble thee." Then turning to his son, the youthful Ali, he said, "Well, my son, he will not call thee to aught but that which 'is good: wherefore thou art free to cleave unto him." A fourth amongst the earliest believers was Abu Bekr. He was an intimate friend of Mohammed, wealthy and of high character, who became an adherent without the least hesitation, and continued to be a stanch supporter and most useful associate. Ali became afterward a son-in-law, and Abu Bekr a fatherin-law, to Mohammed, and they were both caliphs or successors of the Prophet. It is said that in the first three or four years a small group of thirty or forty converts were the fruits of Mohammed's preaching.Here's Washington Irving from a section of his biography headed "Conversion of Zeid":
The tenets of the religion adopted by these converts were but few: that there was only one God, and that Mohammed was His prophet; that a paradise of bliss awaited the faithful, and a terrible hell the ungodly; and that the faithful ought to be just.... --Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine
CHAPTER VII.
Mahomet inculcates his doctrines secretly and slowly Receives further revelations and command.—Announces it to his kindred.—Manner in which it was received.—Enthusiastic devotion of Ali.—Christian portents.
For a time Mahomet confided his revelations merely to his own household. One of the first to avow himself a believer, was his servant Zeid, an Arab of the tribe of Kalb. This youth had been captured in childhood by a freebooting party of Koreishites, and had come by purchase or lot into the possession of Mahomet. Several years afterwards his father, hearing of his being in Mecca, repaired thither and offered a considerable sum for his ransom. "If he chooses to go with thee," said Mahomet, "he shall go without ransom: but if he chooses to remain with me, why should I not keep him?" Zeid preferred to remain, having ever, he said, been treated more as a son than as a slave. Upon this, Mahomet publicly adopted him, and he had ever since remained with him in affectionate servitude. Now, on embracing the new faith, he was set entirely free, but it will be found that he continued through life that devoted attachment which Mahomet seems to have had the gift of inspiring in his followers and dependents.
The early steps of Mahomet in his prophetic career, were perilous and doubtful, and taken in secrecy. He had hostility to apprehend on every side; from his immediate kindred, the Koreishites of the line of Haschem, whose power and prosperity were identified with idolatry; and still more from the rival line of Abd Schems, who had long looked with envy and jealousy on the Haschemites, and would eagerly raise the cry of heresy and impiety to dispossess them of the guardianship of the Caaba. At the head of this rival branch of Koreish was Abu Sofian, the son of Harb, grandson of Omeya, and great-grandson of Abd Schems. He was an able and ambitious man, of great wealth and influence, and will be found one of the most persevering and powerful opponents of Mahomet.*
Under these adverse circumstances the new faith was propagated secretly and slowly, insomuch that for the first three years the number of converts did not exceed forty; these, too, for the most part, were young persons, strangers, and slaves...
... Nothing discouraged by the failure of his first attempt, Mahomet called a second meeting of the Haschemites at his own house, where, having regaled them with the flesh of a lamb, and given them milk to drink, he stood forth and announced, at full length, his revelations received from heaven, and the divine command to impart them to those of his immediate line.
'' Oh children of Abd al Motalleb," cried he, with enthusiasm, "to you, of all men, has Allah vouchsafed these most precious gifts. In his name I offer you the blessings of this world, and endless joys hereafter. Who among you will share the burden of my offer. Who will be my brother: my lieutenant, my vizier?"
All remained silent; some wondering; others smiling with incredulity and derision. At length Ali, starting up with youthful zeal, offered himself to the service of the prophet, though modestly acknowledging his youth and physical weakness.* Mahomet threw his arms round the generous youth, and pressed him to his bosom. "Behold my brother, my vizier, my vicegerent," exclaimed he; "let all listen to his words, and obey him."
The outbreak of such a stripling as Ali, however, was answered by a scornful burst of laughter of the Koreishites; who taunted Abu Taleb, the father of the youthful proselyte, with having to bow down before his son, and yield him obedience.
* By an error of translators, Ali is made to accompany his offer of adhesion by an extravagant threat against all who should oppose Mahomet. --Irving's Lives of Mahomet, vol 1Another popular treatment, this from Treasury of History:
Mahomet was in the 40th year of his age when he assumed the character of a prophet; he had been accustomed for several years, during the month of Ramadan, to withdraw from the world, and to secrete himself in a cave, three miles distant from Mecca: “conversation,” says Mr. Gibbon, “enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.” During the first three years, he made only fourteen proselytes, among which were his wife Khadijah; his servant, or rather slave, Zeid Ali, who afterwards married the prophet's favourite daughter Fatima, and was surnamed “the lion of God:” Abubekar, a man distinguished for his merit and his wealth; the rest consisted of respectable citizens of Mecca. The Koreishites, although the tribe from which he sprung, were the most violent opposers of the new religion. In the tenth year of his prophetic office his wife died; and the next year, his enemies having formed a design to cut him off, and he being seasonably apprized, fled by night to Medina on the 16th of July, 622, from which event the Hegira commenced: he was accompanied only by two or three followers, but he made a public entry into that city, and soon gained many proselytes, on which he assumed the regal and sacerdotal characters. As he increased in power, that moderation and humility, which had before distinguished his conduct, were gradually erased, and he became fierce and sanguinary; he began to avow a design of propagating his religion by the sword, to destroy the monuments of idolatry, and, without regarding the sanctity of days or months, to pursue the unbelieving nations of the earth. The Koran inculcates, in the most absolute sense, the tenets of faith and predestination....Possibly then Dr. Channing's reference to the humble circumstances of Jesus might have led Melville to recall and somehow note the key role of early converts in Mahomet's own household. According to any number of popular histories in Melville's day Mahomet's grand revelation--his "Gospel" (or is it "Qur'an?") of God's Unity--was first embraced by improbably domestic disciples: Khadija, Zeid, Ali, and Abu Bekr.
In a little town to which business called me: in the midst of a driving snowstorm: just toward dusk: and with everything cheerless about me I learn of the death of George. It is a great shock: for I did not even know he was ill: & I shall not, I fear, reach town to attend the funeral, but shall try.Hall's moving letter of condolence is in the Duyckinck family papers at NYPL. Quoted above from Hershel Parker's Herman Melville: A Biography, V2.534. Also transcribed at Parker's blog, Fragments from a Writing Desk.
You know Evert I have knocked around the edges of society of all sorts & have for a man of my years seen a great deal of the bad side of life without being in it or of it. I can therefore well admire & esteem such a meek and unaffectedly just man as was George. To me he stands out in very bold relief as such a man. He was guileless, charitable to the failings of others, detesting wrong & deceit. You see I dwell on the things which to me seem great virtues. Others will speak of his talents, & literary labors & of his mind & its acumen. But to me a good man & that my friend is praise above all praise....
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| George Long Duyckinck (1823-1863) Image Credit: NYPL Digital Collections |
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