New York Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, 6 June 1856

This volume contains six tales, The Piazza, Bartleby, Benito Cereno, The Lightning Rod Man, The Encantadas, and The Bell Tower, five of which, at least, have appeared in Putnam's Magazine. Three of them are fine specimens of the author's widely recognized power as a story teller. The first part of the story of the scrivener has a singular fascination, which it was impossible, in the nature of things, to keep up; The Encantadas is more in the vein of the wonderous traveller's tales, the sober telling of which won Mr. Melville his reputation; and The Bell Tower is a happy emulation, though not an imitation, of the style of Poe. The book is clearly printed; but we suggest to the publishers that by the use of type a very little smaller they would have lost nothing in the appearance of the page, and gained much in the appearance and convenience of the volume.