University of Virginia Library

D3. "British Library" edition. Because the Galignani-Baudry edition was pirated, it is of no textual significance for the scholars wishing to establish Melville's intended text. But its text was the one most readily available to readers on the continent in the 1850s, and its very existence is an important fact of Melville's nineteenth-century publishing history. It was the only edition of Redburn in English, other than the two authorized ones, to appear in the nineteenth century, and it was one of only five unauthorized editions in English of Melville's works during the century. I would give it full bibliographical treatment—as I would all editions and printings of Melville's books (in the original language, that is) during his lifetime. Others might wish to draw the line differently (this question is further discussed below, at D4a).