Melville's Nine Prints in the Osborne Collection in Texas

Five of the nine prints from Herman Melville's collection of art in the Osborne Collection of Melville Materials at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, had not been included in the 1985 exhibition from that collection or in the catalog documenting its contents. They had not been exhibited or cataloged because they were in poor condition: "torn, foxed, or stained." Each of these prints, however, is an important addition to the 400-plus prints from Melville's art collection that have surfaced since the 1985 exhibition in Texas. Three are after paintings by J. M. W. Turner; the other two are etchings of images by Claude Lorrain and Jacob van Ruisdael. All five prints have since been restored under guidance from Duncan Osborne, Melville's great-great-grandson, who established the Osborne Collection in Texas. Each is reproduced here in its restored condition and analyzed, along with the four previously cataloged prints in the Collection.