# Is "Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas" by Herman Melville a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas by Herman Melville (John Murray, 1847) is identified by: First 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 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First 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 cloth (brown, purple, slate, black, red, or green), gilt
- BAL 13656 covers the Harper first American edition, tracking the various cloth-color variants
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Herman Melville |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Year | 1847 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First published by John Murray, London, March 30, 1847, as part of Murray's 'Home and Colonial Library,' in an edition of 4,027 copies… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First 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 cloth (brown, purple, slate, black, red, or green), gilt. BAL 13656 covers the Harper first American edition, tracking the various cloth-color variants.

## Is this the true first?
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.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas* by Herman Melville a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/omoo-a-narrative-of-adventures-in-the-south-seas
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.