The Works of Herman Melville

London, Bombay, Sydney: Constable and Company Ltd, 1922-1924. The Standard Edition, complete. Limited to 750 sets, including the first publication of one of Melville's masterworks, the novella Billy Budd, which was discovered in manuscript among Melville's papers at the time. BAL 13680, noting that the volume containing The Confidence-Man also contains a bibliography of the first editions of Melville's prose works by Michael Sadleir. BAL entries also exist for individual volumes which include first editions: Billy Budd, BAL 13682, noting the contents which represent "pieces here first located in book form", including the title story, which was "never before published"; Poems: Battle-Pieces, John Marr and Other Sailors, Timoleon and Miscellaneous Poems, BAL 13683, noting that the "Author's Note", p. 162, "Miscellaneous Poems", pp. (297)-349, and "At the Hostelry", pp. (351)-434, first appear here in book form. Regarding the format of the Constable set, BAL specifies: "LP cloth: blue. Maroon-coated endpapers. Top edges gilt." descriptions to which the present set conforms. We are not aware, however, of another variant printing of the set. The Standard Edition was published episodically, with the inevitable consequence that complete sets are rare. Seven of the volumes in the present set are in their original dust jackets, which are extremely rare and fragile, having been printed on heavy, acidic paper. The dust jacketed volumes include the first four volumes: Typee, Omoo, and Mardi (Vols. III-IV), and Vols. X-XII: The Piazza Tales, Israel Potter, and The Confidence Man. Remnants of other dust jackets, chiefly inside flaps, are included in a few of the other volumes. The set is in exceptionally fine condition, with all hinges firm and tight, and with no fading to the spines, and no wear or tear. 16 volumes, tall 8vo, original cloth, t.e.g., dust jackets. The set is in exceptionally fine condition, with all hinges firm and tight, and with no fading to the spines, and no wear or tear.