- description
- # Introductory Note
## Overview
This frontmatter entity is an "Introductory Note" authored by H. C., extracted from the document [The Apple-Tree Table and Other Sketches](arke:01KG8AJ803DW4WSW6CRCMBBSX2). It spans lines 40-63 of the source text and serves as a preface to the collection of prose sketches by Herman Melville.
## Context
The "Introductory Note" is part of [The Apple-Tree Table and Other Sketches](arke:01KG8AJ803DW4WSW6CRCMBBSX2), a document within the larger [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. It immediately follows the main title page [THE APPLE-TREE TABLE AND OTHER SKETCHES](arke:01KG8AJJJCP4XE85TY59ARXMG2) and precedes the [CONTENTS](arke:01KG8AJJJMKCQ6RRA7HAB1CTX4) section of the book. The text was extracted from the digital file [the_apple_tree_table_and_other_sketches.txt](arke:01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX).
## Contents
The note explains that the reprinted prose sketches by Herman Melville were originally published in *Harper's* and *Putnam's* magazines between 1850 and 1856. It highlights "Hawthorne and His Mosses" as the sole piece of criticism in the collection, noting its interest in light of Melville's friendship with Hawthorne in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The author, H. C., describes the other sketches as covering "homely subjects treated by Melville with a fresh humor, richly phrased and curiously personal." The note also clarifies that while other longer prose pieces from the same period were collected as "Piazza Tales," none of the sketches in this volume had been previously gathered into a book. The publication aims to meet a demand for accessible reprints of Melville's work and respond to the literary appeal of the sketches themselves, with Melville's original phraseology and punctuation preserved.
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- Introductory Note
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- 63
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- text
- Introductory Note
_The various prose sketches here reprinted were first published by
Melville, some in Harper's and some in Putnam's magazines, during the
years from 1850 to 1856. "Hawthorne and His Mosses," the only piece of
criticism in this collection, is particularly interesting viewed in the
light of Melville's friendship with Hawthorne while they were neighbors
at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The other sketches cover a variety of
homely subjects treated by Melville with a fresh humor, richly phrased
and curiously personal. Longer and in some ways more ambitious prose
pieces written about this same time have been collected under the
title of "Piazza Tales," but none of the sketches which follow have
heretofore been gathered into a book. This has now been done not only
to answer a growing demand for accessible reprints of Melville's work
but also in response to the literary appeal of the sketches themselves.
The author's phraseology and punctuation have, of course, been,
followed exactly._
H. C.
- title
- Introductory Note