# Is "Redburn: His First Voyage" by Herman Melville a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Redburn: His First Voyage by Herman Melville (Richard Bentley, 1849) is identified by: The 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. London (Bentley, 29 September 1849) precedes the New York Harper & Brothers edition (14 November 1849), giving the English two-volume edition bibliographic priority.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The 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, 290, and 387
- Because the Harper & Brothers warehouse fire of December 1853 destroyed unsold Redburn stock, complete first-edition sets in the earliest advertisement state are correspondingly scarce
- Publisher imprint reads Richard Bentley
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Herman Melville |
| Publisher | Richard Bentley |
| Year | 1849 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition is Richard Bentley's London printing of 29 September 1849, two volumes, which preceded Harper & Brothers' New York… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The 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, 290, and 387. Because the Harper & Brothers warehouse fire of December 1853 destroyed unsold Redburn stock, complete first-edition sets in the earliest advertisement state are correspondingly scarce.

## Is this the true first?
London (Bentley, 29 September 1849) precedes the New York Harper & Brothers edition (14 November 1849), giving the English two-volume edition bibliographic priority.

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

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Redburn: His First Voyage* by Herman Melville a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/redburn-his-first-voyage
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.