November 14, 1851 –
Harper and Brothers published Herman Melville’s most famous novel, on this date.
Called Moby Dick, the tale is teeming with seamen, spermaceti, and rigid harpoons. Scholars continue to debate its symbolism. The British publisher accidentally left out the ending of the book, the epilogue. This confused a lot of British readers, because without the epilogue there was no explanation of how Ishmael, the narrator, lived to tell the tale. It seemed like he died in the end with everyone else on the ship. The reviews from Britain were harsh, and costly to Melville.
Oops.
In America, Moby-Dick sold for $1.50 but contained the epilog (the great savings were seen by leaving off the ue). At the time, Americans deferred to British critical opinion, and a lot of American newspaper editors reprinted reviews from Britain without actually reading the American version with the proper ending. One reviewer said the book wasn’t worth more than 25 cents. It took only two weeks for the publisher to see that Moby-Dick would sell even fewer copies than Melville’s previous books. In his lifetime, Melville’s royalties added up to a total of about $10,000.
These days, college students buy 20,000 copies of Moby-Dick every year.
These days, college students buy 20,000 copies of Moby-Dick every year.
Melville said, “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
The Haus of Dcaligari 