Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals In Two Volumes, Volume I. — Background and Themes

A Son's Editorial Stance

The preface is the most explicit statement of editorial method in the volume. Edward Lind Morse acknowledges that 'the judgment of a son may, perhaps, be biased,' but asserts he has tried to avoid that fault. He claims to have found 'but little to deplore' in his father's character, while conceding that Morse 'had his faults, and made mistakes.' This is a careful balancing act: the editor positions himself as both intimate and objective. Readers should note that the preface does not specify which faults or mistakes will appear; it merely promises that they will not be hidden. The inclusion of the Benson quotation—which argues that biography should show 'patient struggling with faults'—sets a high standard. Whether the letters themselves fulfill that promise is a question that lingers over the entire volume.

The Artist's Voice in Charleston

The earliest letters in the excerpts date from 1818–1819, when Morse was establishing himself as a portrait painter in Charleston, South Carolina. His tone is buoyant: he writes of 'continual applications' and commissions totaling 'three thousand dollars' in a single season. He tells Allston that he is 'exerting my utmost to improve' and draws two hours each evening from antique casts. The letters are full of specific details—a 'fine Venus de Medicis without a blemish,' a broken Apollo he reassembled—that ground his ambition in daily practice. He also mentions a small academy formed with local artists, suggesting a collaborative spirit. Yet the editor's interjection that 'as a chronicle of fair weather... is apt to grow monotonous' hints that this period of success may not last. The reader is primed to watch for shifts in fortune or mood.

Domestic Life and Patronage

Interspersed with professional news are glimpses of Morse's domestic arrangements. In December 1818, he reports that his wife Lucretia 'is well and contented' and 'makes many friends.' He notes that she is 'esteemed quite handsome here' and that they are 'as happy in each other as you can possibly wish us.' These passages serve a dual purpose: they humanize the inventor-to-be and provide context for his mobility. The couple lodges with 'Uncle Finley' at ten dollars per week; Morse's brother Richard is in Savannah, 'quite delighted with the hospitable people of the South.' The letters thus map a network of family and patronage that supported Morse's career. The editor's decision to include these domestic details—rather than focusing solely on artistic or technical matters—suggests that the volume aims to present a full life, not just a professional summary.

Anticipating the Inventor

Readers coming to this volume for Morse's telegraph work will find no mention of it in these early excerpts. The letters are exclusively concerned with painting, patronage, and family. The editor's preface does not telegraph (so to speak) the later invention; it focuses on character and biography. This restraint is significant: it means the volume must be read as a portrait of the artist as a young man, not as a prelude to the telegraph. The word 'telegraph' does not appear in the excerpts, and the catalog subjects list 'Telegraph' alongside Morse's name, but the text itself resists teleology. A first-time reader should approach the letters as evidence of Morse's formation—his work ethic, his social networks, his artistic ideals—without assuming that every detail points toward his later fame.

The opening volume of Morse's letters and journals rewards a patient reading. The editor's preface asks us to watch for both strengths and flaws, and the early correspondence delivers a vivid, self-assured young artist. But the gaps are as telling as the content: what Morse omits, what the editor chooses to skip, and what later letters may reveal about the 'faults' only hinted at. Read these pages as a documentary of a life in progress, not as a rehearsal for a single invention.