# Is "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale" by Herman Melville a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville (Harper & Brothers, 1851) is identified by: US 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. 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- US 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, grey, green, purple-brown, red, and slate) with NO established priority among them; orange-coated endpapers are the usual and most-recognized state, though copies with other endpapers — including marbled — are recorded without priority
- UK first (Richard Bentley, London, 18 October 1851): titled 'The Whale,' three volumes, about 500 copies, sea-blue cloth boards with cream spines stamped in gilt with a whale device; set from Harper proof-sheets and expurgated, with the Epilogue dropped
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Herman Melville |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1851 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | US first (Harper & Brothers, New York, 14 November 1851): titled 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale,' issued in a single volume in a printing of… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
US 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, grey, green, purple-brown, red, and slate) with NO established priority among them; orange-coated endpapers are the usual and most-recognized state, though copies with other endpapers — including marbled — are recorded without priority. UK first (Richard Bentley, London, 18 October 1851): titled 'The Whale,' three volumes, about 500 copies, sea-blue cloth boards with cream spines stamped in gilt with a whale device; set from Harper proof-sheets and expurgated, with the Epilogue dropped.

## Is this the true first?
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 (Epilogue plus roughly thirty-five restored/uncut passages). Collectors value both: 'The Whale' as the date-first (and far scarcer, at about 500 copies), 'Moby-Dick' as the first complete text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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, and the presence of the Epilogue rather than by endpaper color alone.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Moby-Dick; or, The Whale* by Herman Melville a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/moby-dick-or-the-whale
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.