Today in History

Stumbled on this little document while browsing Harvard Library's fantastic Mirador Viewer: a receipt for $10 paid to Samuel Bartoll on May 25, 1804, for "painting the [Marblehead] Custom house boat including oars, mast, etc.

Using some white-pages search websites, there was no "Bartoll" or "Bartol" currently listed in Marblehead, Salem, or Lynn.

This could be him—born 12/24/1786 in Marblehead, thus 17 years old when this job was done; more likely it was his father, "Samuel Bartol Drummer 1776 W 6 Painter," 39 years old at that time.

Let's stop now before going farther down the geneological rabbit-hole. A road-trip to Marblehead's cemeteries would be interesting.

Marblehead Harbor Master

Using blogmate Lemuel's favorite conversion tool, Measuring Worth, the current value of that $10 paid to Samuel in 1804 ranges from $195 to $364,000(!). From my ignorance of things economic, it looks like the "labor value" applies, "using the unskilled wage"—$2,730 in 2017 dollars.

Given the scale of the Marblehead Harbor Master's current boat, that doesn't sound unreasonable.

FYI: Here is Harvard's fascinating cache of "customs documents, correspondence, and United States Treasury Department circulars sent to the Marblehead Custom House, dated from 1789 to 1878."

For the dorm room wall...

...a poster of the text of the first 26 chapters of Moby-Dick, artfully spaced to form a thematic silhouette. (The website lets you zoom in for close inspection.)

They also offer a poster of the first eight chapters of Ulysses.

Gift idea?

The Moby Dick Card Game is another Kickstarter project. It was fully funded, and the first run has shipped. The artwork looks terrific, but the game is unavailable to the general public at present.

Even without a knowledge of the novel, playing the game will clue you into the relationships between key sailors and the various perils and processes of hunting whales in the 19th century.

As important as the visuals are, the game could not exist without Melville's voice. Every card features a choice quotation from the book, tying the action at hand to the grand tale itself.

Keep an eye on their Facebook page and their website—they promise a webstore soon.

Hat tip: Kiwi.

Gift idea?

Emoji Dick is a crowd sourced and crowd funded translation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick into Japanese emoticons called emoji.

It's a free country. I can't help but agree with one commenter, "That's astoundingly useless."


Hat-tip to techie Megan.

I Want One.

If you're not already sitting down, I strongly suggest you do so before clicking on this link to a new post at Iron-bound Bucket.

Ray Bradbury interview

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Was Ray Bradbury a mercenary philistine with no appreciation for his literary source? Read Steve Biodrowski's 2008 interview in the magazine Cinefantastique, "Ray Bradbury on Adapting Melville’s Allegorical Sea Monster, Moby Dick."
Mr. Bradbury, who turns 91 in August, discusses his work with director John Huston to adapt our beloved book to a 2-hour film. In true Melvillian fashion, the story is not without its ambiguities and exigencies.
We note also that the hymn we sing in the Seamen's Bethel as part of the MDM, The Ribs and Terrors of the Whale, was composed by Philip Sainton as part of his soundtrack for the Huston/Bradbury film. (HT: blog-fellow Lemuel.)
Think back -- was it this movie that led you to reading Moby-Dick?

Moby-Dick Ephemera at the Sign of the Iron-bound Bucket

A blog entitled Iron-bound Bucket has photos of some neat ephemera connected with Moby-Dick, including something near and dear to my heart, Melville's contract with Harper & Bros. for the book. 

IBB was also kind enough to link to Ahab Beckons, for which, thank you!

("Iron-bound bucket" is an allusion to Ch. LXXVIII, "Cistern and Buckets."  A very apt image for a blog about Moby-Dick, I can assure ye.)