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    Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, the third child of Maria and Allan Gansevoort Melvill. (The final e was added to the family name later.) His father’s financial difficulties and his early death while Melville was still a youth disrupted his formal education. Instead, Melville tried his hand at a variety of occupations before joining the crew of a merchant ship bound for England in 1839. Two years later he sailed to the South Seas aboard the whaler Acushnet. His early fiction, like the novels Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), drew upon and often embellished his exotic maritime adventures, earning him both popular and critical acclaim. But by the time he published Moby-Dick in 1851, his writing career was in decline, as both sales and praise of his works dwindled. Although he would subsequently publish two more novels and a number of short stories—including the masterpieces “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno”—Melville spent the last three decades of his life primarily writing poetry. Largely forgotten at the time of his death on April 19, 1891, Melville, along with his unfinished novella Billy Budd, was rediscovered and his reputation revived in the early decades of the twentieth century.

    Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, the third child of Maria and Allan Gansevoort Melvill. (The final e was added to the family name later.) His father’s financial difficulties and his early death while Melville was still a youth disrupted his formal education. Instead, Melville tried his hand at a variety of occupations before joining the crew of a merchant ship bound for England in 1839. Two years later he sailed to the South Seas aboard the whaler Acushnet. His early fiction, like the novels Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), drew upon and often embellished his exotic maritime adventures, earning him both popular and critical acclaim. But by the time he published Moby-Dick in 1851, his writing career was in decline, as both sales and praise of his works dwindled. Although he would subsequently publish two more novels and a number of short stories—including the masterpieces “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno”—Melville spent the last three decades of his life primarily writing poetry. Largely forgotten at the time of his death on April 19, 1891, Melville, along with his unfinished novella Billy Budd, was rediscovered and his reputation revived in the early decades of the twentieth century.

    Books by Herman Melville

    • The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville

      Herman Melville

      Paperback, 1978

      Contents: Benito Cereno; Bartleby the Scrivener; The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles; Billy Budd, Foretopman.

    • Melville's Short Novels: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Dan McCall

      First Edition, Paperback, 2002

      Collected in this volume are Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd—presented in the best texts available, those published during Melville's lifetime and corrected by the author.

    • The Confidence-Man: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Hershel Parker, Mark Niemeyer

      Second Edition, Paperback, 2006

      The text of The Confidence-Man reprinted here is again that of the first American edition (1857), slightly corrected.

    • Pierre Or, The Ambiguities: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Robert S. Levine, Cindy Weinstein

      First Edition, Paperback, 2017

      Magnificent and strange, Pierre is a richly allusive novel mirroring both antebellum America and Herman Melville’s own life.

    • Moby-Dick: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Hershel Parker

      Third Edition, Paperback, 2018

      From the foreword to the selected bibliography this is the most up-to-date and comprehensive documentary source for the study of Moby-Dick.

    • Pierre Or, The Ambiguities: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Robert S. Levine, Cindy Weinstein

      First Edition, E Book, 2021

      When Pierre was published one year after Moby-Dick, expectations were high. Readers expected—and Melville delivered—adventure, humor, and brilliance. Magnificent and strange, Pierre is a richly...

    • Moby-Dick: A Norton Critical Edition

      Herman Melville, Hershel Parker

      Third Edition, E Book, 2021

      From the foreword to the selected bibliography this is the most up-to-date and comprehensive documentary source for the study of Moby-Dick.

    • Moby-Dick (The Norton Library)

      Herman Melville, Jeffrey Insko

      First Edition, Paperback, 2023

    • Moby-Dick

      Herman Melville, Jeffrey Insko

      First Edition, E Book, 2023

    • Moby-Dick (The Norton Library)

      Herman Melville, Jeffrey Insko

      First Edition, E Book

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