| The almost illegible manuscripts of Melville's last novel, Billy Budd, Foretopman , provide the only sustained example of his creative method in unproofed form. For the direct evidence which they give of how Melville wrote his novels, at the end of his life at least, they justify a complete transcription and analysis . . . [A]n exact edition of these manuscripts is necessary for a full understanding of his significance.(vii)
This book, therefore, is an attempt to present the first accurate transcription, with all variant readings, of the manuscripts of Billy Budd, the first publication of Melville's previously undiscovered short story, "Baby Budd, Sailor," out of which he wrote his last novel: the first extended analysis of the novel and short story, together with a biographical account of the neglected last years of his life-the years in which he wrote these works.(vii)
In my research on Billy Budd, I discovered the short story "Baby Budd, Sailor," embedded in the manuscripts of the novel, a discovery which was unexpected and gratifying. From the cut pinned or pasted pages of the manuscripts, from the smudged cancellations and confused pagination, a twelve-thousand-word short story appeared, buried in the thirty-six-thousand-word novel. The novel is an analytical presentation of the characters and problems concerned. The short story is an excellent example of Melville's ability to write a miniature tragedy.(vii)
A correct reading of the manuscripts showed that Melville's final prose and the last years of his life have been misunderstood. (viii)
Fortunately, the manuscripts of Melville's final short story and novel have been well preserved. Soon after Melville's death his wife, Elizabeth, sorted out [and changed and edited, though Freeman failed to recognize this] his many papers and, tying them into neat bundles, put them for safekeeping into a small trunk. (vii)
[T]he pressure of time made it impossible for Mr. Weaver to decipher accurately the crabbed penmanship and the confused pagination of the manuscripts, to uncover the hidden short story, or to record more than seven of the hundreds of variant readings. My transcription of the novel and short story is an effort to establish a definitive text, through the presentation of all variant readings.(viii)
The penciled notes at the beginning and end of the manuscripts [which Freeman assumed were all Herman Melville's notations] show that Melville began the tale of Billy Budd on or before November 16, 1888. He finished the revised version of the short story before March 2, 1889, when he began to expand it into the novel, the revision of which he completed on April 19, 1891. (ix)
I have, in excising and transcribing the short story, considered all additions or changes which Melville made in expanding the short story into the novel as parts of one long revision.(x)
Insertions: title page, dedication, and preface; the episodes of the Liverpool and of the Erie Canal sailor; the description of Captain Graveling, the drinking scene in which Billy's experiences with Red Whiskers are described, and the "portmanteau" episode; the Biblical references to Billy's flaw; the description of the Indomitable's scout duty; the chapter on Nelson; the analysis of the effects of the Nore and Spithead mutinies; the description of Captain Vere ashore, and of his aristocratic modesty; the entire second chapter on Vere's personality; the "Lawyers, Experts, Clergy" chapter; the recognition of the afterguardsman; chapters 17 and 18 of the novel, on evil and innocence; Billy's trust in Captain Vere; Vere's dilemma in its relation ship to the Nore mutiny; Billy under guard; a chaplain's position on a man-of-war; the death of Captain Vere; the "official" report of Claggart's death and Billy's hanging; Billy's fame and the poem about him; the Daniel Orme fragment.(x-xi)
Drastic expansions: the discussion of Billy's birth; the direct description of the Nore and Spithead mutinies; the first description of Claggart, the first discussion of his evil nature, and the "Pale ire, envy and despair" chapter; the conversation in the forechains; Claggart's talk with Captain Vere; the Surgeon's interview with Vere; the true nature of Billy's crime; the digression of the Surgeon and the Purser; and Billy's peaceful death.(xi)
Of the [insertions], the most important is the so-called "Daniel Orme" fragment. Melville's [Again, those of Elizabeth Melville, not necessarily Herman's] penciled note, "omitted of Billy Budd," shows that this fragment was once intended to be part of the, novel. (xi)
I have endeavored to transcribe the short story and novel with a minimum of scholarly data. The texts of both are complete transcriptions of Melville's manuscripts.(xi)
Melville's artistic aim is partially expressed in a sentence which he underlined in his copy of Hawthorne's short story, "Young Goodman Brown": "It shall be yours to penetrate, in every bosom, the deep mystery of sin." My purpose has been to present an accurate transcription and analysis of two of his most important works: "Baby Budd, Sailor," and Billy Budd, Foretopman.(xii)
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