Moby-Dick Published: Melville's Tale Emerges
Herman Melville published Moby-Dick on October 18, 1851, under the title The Whale in London. The British edition sold poorly. The American edition, published in November with the now-famous title, sold worse: roughly 3,000 copies in Melville's lifetime. Critics called it rambling and incoherent. Melville had staked his career on the book after modest successes with Typee and Omoo. The failure devastated him financially and professionally. He spent the next 40 years working as a customs inspector on the New York waterfront. The novel was rediscovered in the 1920s during the 'Melville Revival' and is now considered the great American novel. 'Call me Ishmael' is among literature's most recognizable opening lines. Captain Ahab's monomania has become a metaphor so universal that people who've never read the book understand it.
October 18, 1851
175 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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