Society for History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing Conference Recap
BSU also has a digital humanities initiative which includes Melville's Marginalia, a website publishing marginal notes of Herman Melville in the books he owned and marked. Scholars like Tara bring intelligence, wit, and passion to this exploding field and give us all a glimpse into why this conference is so interesting and relevant. Without History of the Book scholars like Tara and her colleagues, we wouldn't know that Herman Melville had a copy of Thomas Beale's Natural History of the Sperm Whale in his library. The half title page is inscribed with Melville's signature and the note: "New York, July 10, 1850." And the contents of the book enumerate chapters with information about the habits and nature of sperm whales. Will the real Moby Dick please stand up! Moby Dick is another one of my favorite books, in fact I own a copy of every book Melville wrote, but it was instructive to know the origins of that astonishing tale.
- Companies:
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Places:
- Philadelphia
- United States