Inhabiting the River : Musings on Boulevards and Arteries

Abstract

When Herman Melville wrote “A Thought on Book-Binding,” his brief review of a revised edition of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Red Rover, he resorted to a truly maverick strategy of praise. Instead of elaborating on the contents of the already famous novel, he concentrated solely upon the elegant binding of Putnam’s 1850 edition, which gave him an opportunity to share the following reflection with his readers [...].