Clear example of the signature of the author of Moby Dick and other classic tales of the sea and the Pacific. Melville's signature is extremely difficult to come by, as noted by Charles Hamilton, "Herman Melville's authograph is of great rarity. It was his custom to throw out, as soon as answered, all the letters he received, and apparently his correspondents followed the same policy. One explanation for the scarcity of Melville's autograph is that during the last years of his life and the first thirty years following his death in 1891, he was almost forgotten. Few bothered to preserve his letters. But with the publication of Weaver's critical work in 1921, Melville was recognized as a great creative writer and there was a scramble for first editions and autographs, a scramble in which many collectors were doomed to disappointment."