New York Sun, 9 June 1856.

The author of "Omoo" and "Typee" has given us a delightful companion for an afternoon lounge in this volume of tales. They are just such dreamy, wild, sketchy narrations, and far-away, hazy scenes, as would naturally float on the surface of memory in the cool leisure of an afternoon on the vine-shaded piazza, or under the influence of the moonlight sleeping on the lawn in front. The author has a vivid fancy, and holds a practiced and graceful pen. He has the art of conveying deep expression by simple touches, each suggestive of a picture, the details of which appear on careful examination. His style is felicitously adapted to the subject. "Benito Cereno" is a strangely conceived story of a negro mutiny on board a Spanish vessel; "Bartleby" of a pallid, mysterious scrivener, whose existence is a wonder to every body, and whose insane "local attachment" causes a public disturbance. Six tales are comprised in the volume.