Melville's Letters to Hawthorne

None of Hawthorne's letters to Melville appear to have survived, but a number of Melville's have been preserved and collected. Some of these are little more than notes, but several vividly reveal Melville's intellectual excitement and the depth of trust and affection that he felt for Hawthorne in the early, happy days of their friendship.

• An invitation to Arrowhead
• The House of the Seven Gables; Hawthorne; and metaphysics
• The aristocracy of truth; the composition of Moby-Dick; fame
• The "secret motto" of Moby-Dick
• A note of greeting
• An emotional response to Hawthorne's praise of Moby-Dick
• Letter to Sophia Hawthorne
• Letter to Julian Hawthorne
• On Hawthorne's success as an author
• The "Agatha Letter"
• A further suggestion on "Agatha"
• Reclamation of the Agatha story

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