I'm posting the font I'm looking for over top of the best match so far, Harrowgate. The lowercase h is very different, and the uppercase B doesn't match. Also I can't tell if the tops of the stems of the b,h, etc. have those little flares. If anyone recognizes this lowercase h, please let me know!

I think you've done very well to get that close to something that was printed over 150 (?) years ago. I can't find anything closer. It's hard to understand why 'a typesetting project' would require you to get closer than you have.

May I quote one of the authors:

"We expect to make your life hell, Lorraine, but not sheer hell."

I think the font is not considered sheer.

I'm not sure I understand that. The 'authors' cannot be Melville or Hawthorne, so whose inscription are you trying to replicate?

What is the age of the inscription?

Do the 'authors' know that not all type has been converted to digital form, and that finding metal type that matches might be almost impossible?

I have looked at ALL the blackletter typefaces in Mac McGrew's book of 'American Metal Typefaces of the 20th Century' and nothing matches, even though many of the types originated back into the 19th century. So it suggests that this was not American type, or it was an antique type that was no longer used into the 20th century, or it was hand-lettered. (I know it looks very uniform, but can you see the original? ) There were people who made their living lettering things like that by hand. Today, maybe they would be font designers.

To me, something that adds to the hand-lettered idea is that the little dangling bit on the 'h' is very similar to Engraver's Old English, but shows the pen's limitations on trying to imitate such a fine 'stroke'. The B in your sample also seems somehat simplified, or poorly copied from the original model the lettering artist may have been using, if we assume it looked like 'Harrowgate'.

I still feel (maybe because I am not trying to make your life hell) that you have come remarkably close, and that I would probably not notice the differences unless I were looking at the two samples side by side.

- I'm not sure I understand that. The 'authors'
- cannot be Melville or Hawthorne, so whose
- inscription are you trying to replicate?

Oops, sorry, that is confusing. They're making an annotated edition. The inscription is indeed the original from Melville.

Thank you so much for checking for me! I feel more confident saying "accept this close proximation, or settle for a ratty scan."

well one more option... you can always tweak the outlines in Illustrator to make it match. I don't see why more designers don't think of this option???