Melville
Melville names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Melville one of the Parry Islands
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the Parry Islands, a sound, and a peninsula in the polar regions ions of North America. The island is crossed by lat. 75° N. and long. 110° W., and is separated on the W. by Fitzwilliam Strait from Prince Patrick Island; greatest length, 200 miles; greatest breadth, 130 miles. In 1819 Parry, who gave the island its name, passed the winter here with his crews. The sound, about 250 miles long by 200 broad, extends S. E. of the island, and communicates with the Arctic Ocean on the W. by Banks Strait, and with Baffin Bay on the E. by Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound. The peninsula projects from the continent at its N. E. corner, and has on the N. the Fury Fury and Hecla Strait, and on the E. Fox Channel. It is 250 miles in length by about 100 in average breadth.
Melville ANDREW, a Scotch reformer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ANDREW, a Scotch reformer; born in Baldovie, Forfarshire, Scotland, Aug. 1, 1545. After completing his education at St. Andrew's University, he was appointed, in 1574, principal of Glasgow College, and took a leading part in the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland. In 1582, being then the principal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrew's, Melville was the first to sign the well-known Remonstrance of the Presbyterian clergy against the royal policy in ecclesiastical affairs. He was then summoned before the Privy Council on a charge of treason, and sentenced to imprisonment. He evaded the latter, however, by escaping into England, returning to Scotland, eventually, in 1585. In 1595, Melville was elected Lord Rector of St. Andrew's University. Expatriated to France for political offenses, Melville was made Professor of Theology at the University of Sedan. He died in Sedan, France, in 1622.
Melville GEORGE WALLACE, an American naval officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE WALLACE, an American naval officer; born in New York City, Jan. 10, 1841. He entered the United States navy in 1861, rising through the various grades to that of Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering. He accompanied the unfortunate "Jeannette" polar expedition in 187 878; also that of the Hall relief expedition in the United States steamer "Tigress"; also the Greely relief expedition in 1884. In the "Jeannette" expedition he underwent the severest sufferings and hardships, but reached Irkutsk in safety. He became a rear-admiral in 1899, and retired in 1903. He died March 17, 1912.
Melville HERMAN, an American author
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
HERMAN, an American author; born in New York, Aug. 1, 1819. Going to sea as a cabin boy, he spent a number of years in travel. His most famous books were "Typee" (1846), and "Omoo" (1847), narrating his adventures in the Marquesas Islands; others were "White Jacket" (1850), "Moby Dick" (1851), and a number of other stories, and three volumes of poems. He died in New York, Sept. 28, 1891.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 called "Typee" (1846) and "Omoo" (1847) Herman Melville's "most famous books," listing "Moby Dick" almost in passing among "a number of other stories" — a fair summary of his standing at his death in 1891, when obituaries barely noticed him. That judgement was overturned almost as the volume went to press: Raymond Weaver's biography appeared in 1921, the unpublished manuscript of "Billy Budd" was printed in 1924, and by mid-century "Moby-Dick" was routinely called the great American novel and taught as such. The Arctic entries have kept their geography but changed hands and names: the sound is now usually Viscount Melville Sound, and both it and Melville Peninsula lie in Nunavut, created in 1999, while the ice through which Parry wintered in 1819 now clears in some summers enough for ships to pass. Andrew Melville and Rear-Admiral George Wallace Melville stand much as described.
Written for this edition, 2026.