Billy Budd, Sailor
Herman Melville

                                      Billy Budd, Sailor¹

                                             by Herman Melville

^{A short novel completed in draft form in 1891, first published in 1924.}

^{In an era of naval mutinies, seaman Billy Budd accidentally kills a malicious superior and then willingly suffers the dire consequences.}

           BILLY BUDD, FORETOPMAN

WHAT BEFELL HIM IN THE YEAR OF

THE GREAT MUTINY

Begun--Friday, November 16, 1888

Revision begun--March 2, 1889

Finished--April 19, 1891.

DEDICATED TO

JACK CHASE

ENGLISHMAN

WHEREVER THAT GREAT HEART MAY NOW BE

HERE ON EARTH OR HARBOURED IN PARADISE

CAPTAIN OF THE MAINTOP² IN THE YEAR  1843

IN THE U.S. FRIGATE UNITED STATES

¹ Text: From Billy Budd, Foretopman. Edited by Raymond Weaver (The Works of Herman Melville, Vol 8., London: Constable, 1924; revised in The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville. New York: H. Liveright, 1928).

PORTRAIT: Herman Melville (photographer unknown).

CITATION INFORMATION (in MLA format): Padilla, David, editor. Herman Melville's Billy Budd. U Virginia. Gleeditions, 17 Apr. 2011, www.gleeditions.com/billybudd/students/toc.asp?lid=101. Originally published on Hypertexts, American Studies at the University of Virginia, 2001, xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/bb/bb_main.html.