H. Melville is an artist. 1 work is cataloged here, principally at Victoria and Albert Museum.

This 19th-century printmaker created the H. Beard Print Collection, a set of wood-engraved scenes that look like theatrical stills. The images show sailors, harbors, and whaling ships with hatched lines and cross-hatching you can feel under your finger. A viewer in Boston or London would have pinned these prints above their desk to keep a piece of the sea close.

Flip to the H. Beard Print Collection and zoom into “Off to the Whaler” to see how every rope and wave was carved from a single block of pear wood.