Herman Melville First Editions

• Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life — 1846 · John MurrayMelville's first book. UK (John Murray, late February 1846): issued in Murray's Home and Colonial Library, titled 'Narrative of a Four Months' Residence Among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands,' set from Melville's manuscript. US (Wiley & Putnam, March 1846): titled 'Typee,' in two parts, set from proof sheets of the Murray edition; the first American issue retains the fuller original text that was…. Precedence by date belongs to the London John Murray edition (late February 1846), which preceded the New York Wiley & Putnam edition (March 1846). The expurgated 'Revised Edition' (Wiley & Putnam, later in 1846) is a distinct later state; the first American issue carries the earlier, fuller text. The revised/expurgated American printing and later Harper reissues postdate the first; check for the earlier unexpurgated text and the correct 1846 imprint.
• Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas — 1847 · John MurrayFirst published by John Murray, London, March 30, 1847, as part of Murray's 'Home and Colonial Library,' in an edition of 4,027 copies issued in both printed wrappers (two volumes) and bright red gilt-decorated cloth (one volume). The American edition followed from Harper & Brothers, New York, May 1, 1847 (two volumes), in an edition of 4,000 copies, most issued in wrappers with a smaller number bound in colored…. The London John Murray edition of March 30, 1847 precedes the New York Harper & Brothers edition of May 1, 1847 by about a month; the Murray sheets are the first edition of the book in any form. Later reprint and omnibus editions -- from Victorian cheap reprint series through the modern Library of America omnibus pairing Typee, Omoo, and Mardi -- reset the text under a single cover and binding; none reproduces the original two-volume wrappers or the gilt cloth-color variants (brown, purple, slate, black, red, or green) of the separate 1847 Murray and Harper first editions.
• Mardi: and a Voyage Thither — 1849 · Richard BentleyFirst published in three volumes by Richard Bentley, London, March 16, 1849 (Bentley paid Melville the printed price for British rights), followed by the first American edition in two volumes from Harper & Brothers, New York, April 14, 1849. The differing volume counts between the London three-decker and the New York two-volume format are themselves a basic identification point distinguishing the two national…. The London Bentley edition (March 16, 1849) precedes the New York Harper edition (April 14, 1849) by about a month. Later Harper reprintings and inclusion in 20th-century collected 'Works of Herman Melville' sets reset the text in uniform series bindings, distinct from the original three-volume Bentley or two-volume Harper first editions.
• Redburn: His First Voyage — 1849 · Richard BentleyThe true first edition is Richard Bentley's London printing of 29 September 1849, two volumes, which preceded Harper & Brothers' New York edition of 14 November 1849 by about six weeks. The American Harper printing can itself be identified in its earliest state by fourteen pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear (later states carry eighteen), together with unbroken 'perfect' type at pages 37, 153, 275,…. London (Bentley, 29 September 1849) precedes the New York Harper & Brothers edition (14 November 1849), giving the English two-volume edition bibliographic priority. In 1853 Bentley bound up his unsold Redburn sheets under a new cancel title page in uniform red cloth as a remainder issue, alongside similar red-cloth remainder reissues of White-Jacket and The Whale (Moby-Dick); copies bearing this 1853 title page and red cloth are the later remainder issue, not the true 1849 first.
• White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War — 1850 · Richard BentleyThe true first edition is Richard Bentley's London printing, two volumes, issued in an edition of only 1,000 copies, bound in blue morocco-grained cloth blind-stamped with a square-rigged ship on the upper cover and an anchor on the lower cover, spines lettered in gilt, with yellow endpapers and pastedowns carrying publisher's advertisements. It collates iv, [2], 322; iv, 315, [1] pages. The Harper & Brothers New…. London (Bentley, published either 23 January or 1 February 1850, sources differ) precedes the New York Harper & Brothers edition of 21 March 1850, giving the English edition bibliographic priority. Because sales of the Bentley printing were sluggish (under 400 copies sold by 1852), the publisher reissued unsold sheets under a cancel title page dated 1853, rebound in uniform red cloth; copies with this 1853 title page and red cloth are a later remainder issue, not the true first, which has the original blue blind-stamped cloth.
• Moby-Dick; or, The Whale — 1851 · Harper & BrothersUS first (Harper & Brothers, New York, 14 November 1851): titled 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,' issued in a single volume in a printing of about 2,915 copies; it CONTAINS the Epilogue (in which Ishmael survives) plus roughly thirty-five further passages that the earlier London edition omitted or altered. First-issue copies are bound in publisher's cloth found in several colors (recorded examples include black, blue,…. This is a REVERSE-PRECEDENCE case: the London Bentley 'The Whale' (three volumes, 18 October 1851) PRECEDES the New York Harper 'Moby-Dick' (14 November 1851) by about four weeks and is the earliest by date. Bentley, however, set his text from Harper proof-sheets and — without Melville's knowledge — expurgated it and dropped the Epilogue, so the Harper edition is the first COMPLETE and textually fuller text…. Any single-volume 'The Whale,' or any post-1851 'Moby-Dick,' is later. The three-volume format identifies the UK first; the single-volume Harper & Brothers 1851 imprint with the Epilogue present identifies the US first. Orange endpapers are the usual Harper state but are NOT the sole determinant — genuine firsts with marbled or other endpapers exist without priority — so identify by imprint, single-volume format,….
• Pierre; or, The Ambiguities — 1852 · Harper & BrothersFirst edition, published by Harper & Brothers, 329 & 331 Pearl Street, New York, 1852, collating viii, 495 pp. The publisher's binding is purple cloth decorated in blind, with the spine lettered in gilt; a minority of dealer descriptions instead call the cloth slate or gray, likely reflecting fading in individual copies rather than a distinct binding state. Harper's catastrophic December 1853 fire at the Franklin…. The novel was not reprinted in America for decades after its commercial failure; 20th-century scholarly and trade reprints (beginning in the 1920s Melville revival) are clearly modern editions and do not reproduce the original blind-decorated purple cloth and gilt spine lettering of the 1852 first edition.
• Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile — 1855 · G. P. Putnam & Co.First serialized in Putnam's Monthly Magazine from July 1854 to March 1855, then published in book form by G. P. Putnam & Co., New York, in March 1855. Original binding is tan cloth boards stamped in blind with a decorative motif, titles ruled in gilt on the spine. Identification rests on the Putnam 1855 book-form imprint together with BAL's recorded first-printing points, distinguishing it from the later,…. The Putnam's Monthly serialization (July 1854-March 1855) precedes the March 1855 first book publication; the magazine appearance is the true first publication of the text, though the book form is what collectors generally seek as the 'first edition.'. A 1923 limited edition (BAL 13680) reprints the text in a small press run for collectors; it postdates the 1855 first edition by nearly seventy years and should not be mistaken for it despite occasionally appearing in the same dealer categories.
• The Piazza Tales — 1856 · Dix, Edwards & Co.First edition, published May 1856 by Dix, Edwards & Co., New York (contract signed March 17, 1856; advertised 'in press' April 5; copy deposited for copyright May 20), printed by Miller & Holman as a duodecimo of 431 pages plus seven pages of publisher's advertisements. Covers are ornamented with a border of rules and rosettes; the spine displays title, author, and publisher stamped in gold. Collects six tales…. The Dix & Edwards New York printing (May 1856) is the true first edition; copies bearing the 'London: Sampson Low, Son & Co.' imprint on the title page are the same Miller & Holman-printed American sheets reissued under an English title leaf about a month later, in June 1856, not a separately typeset British edition. Later 20th-century trade reprintings of The Piazza Tales (beginning with the Melville revival) carry modern publishers' names and omit the original rule-and-rosette cover ornament and the seven pages of period advertisements at the rear.
• The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade — 1857 · Dix, Edwards & Co.First edition, published by Dix, Edwards & Co., New York, and deliberately released on April Fools' Day, April 1, 1857 (though not deposited for copyright until May 2) -- an apt date given the novel's subject. Collates [6, blank], vi, 394, [2, blank] pp.; the correct first-printing copyright page carries the 'Miller & Holman' printer's imprint, and BAL notes an initial blank leaf pasted under the front endpaper…. The New York printing (Dix, Edwards & Co., April 1, 1857) and the London printing (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, a separate setting issued within days in early April 1857) appeared almost simultaneously; the American printing described here, catalogued as BAL 13670, is what collectors and booksellers generally treat as 'the first edition.'. The novel went unreprinted for decades; later 20th-century scholarly editions (beginning with early Melville-revival reprints) are plainly modern productions and do not replicate the blindstamped arabesque cloth or the pasted-blank-leaf construction of the 1857 first printing.
• Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War — 1866 · Harper & BrothersFirst edition, published August 17, 1866, by Harper & Brothers, New York, collecting 72 Civil War poems along with a prose 'Supplement' setting out Melville's views on Reconstruction. The copyright page of this single 1866 printing carries a small, well-documented typographical slip -- the word 'hundred' is misprinted as 'hnndred' -- present in every genuine copy since only one printing was ever issued; the error…. Later reprintings of Melville's poetry (beginning with early-20th-century collected editions after the Melville revival) reset the text entirely and correct the 'hnndred' misprint; any copy without the misprint on the copyright page is not the true first printing.

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