Three Stories

This volume gathers three of Melville's shorter narratives of clerks, ships, and the sea. In one, a Wall Street copyist named Bartleby answers every request with a quiet refusal and remains in the office after the work is gone. In another, an American captain boarding a Spanish slaver off Chile finds a ship whose order has been inverted by a revolt he must read from signs and silences. The third follows a foundling sailor, Billy, on a British man-of-war, where innocence, accusation, and naval law close around him. Settings are counting-houses, decks, and isolated commands. The book is a trio of independent tales, not a novel and not a life of the author.

Bound in blue linen with an illustrative design in darker blue by Palmer. Grey endleaves. Dark blue slipcase.