First American edition, Harper and Brothers, New York; the scan cited throughout this record.
Historical record
A demonstration record, compiled from public archives. Herman Melville did not write it; the institutions cited here did. Sources and clearance →
1819 to 1891
Herman Melville
The record holds Herman Melville's appointment as Inspector of Customs in New York, a post held for nineteen years, and the manuscript that outlasted it: Billy Budd, finished near the end of his life and left unpublished at his death.
§1Statement
Herman Melville was born August 1, 1819, at No. 6 Pearl Street, New York City. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale was published in New York in November 1851 by Harper and Brothers. He married Elizabeth Shaw on August 4, 1847. On December 5, 1866, he was appointed Inspector of Customs in New York, a post Weaver's account holds him in until 1886, nineteen years by that span. By Weaver's account, Billy Budd existed only in manuscript at Melville's death, and was completed three months before his death. He died September 28, 1891, at 104 East 26th Street, New York. Billy Budd reached print for the first time in 1924, in a volume issued by Constable and Company, thirty-three years after his death.
§2Engagements
Published by Harper and Brothers, New York, the year after Moby-Dick.
First print appearance of Billy Budd, thirty-three years after Melville's death, in a volume issued by Constable and Company.
§3Schedule of record
| 1819 | BornBorn August 1, 1819, at No. 6 Pearl Street, New York City. |
| 1847 | MarriedMarried Elizabeth Shaw, August 4, 1847. |
| 1851 | Moby-Dick publishedMoby-Dick; or, The Whale published in New York by Harper and Brothers. |
| 1852 | Pierre publishedPierre; or, The Ambiguities published by Harper and Brothers, New York. |
| 1866 to 1886 | Inspector of CustomsAppointed Inspector of Customs in New York on December 5, 1866. The record carries two accounts of the closing date, so this span states 1866 to 1886 and no single day. |
| 1891 | DiedDied September 28, 1891, at 104 East 26th Street, New York, with the manuscript of Billy Budd among his papers. |
| 1924 | Billy Budd first printedBilly Budd reached print for the first time, in a volume issued by Constable and Company, thirty-three years after his death. |
§4Figures of record
| 19 years | Span of the Inspector of Customs post, 1866 to 1886. |
| 1851 | Year Moby-Dick was published, fifteen years before the customs appointment. |
| Dec 5, 1866 | The date of the appointment as Inspector of Customs in New York. |
| 33 years | Years between Melville's 1891 death and Billy Budd's first printing in 1924. |
§5Notes
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Chapter XII, 1851
"Queequeg was a native of Kokovoko, an island far away to the West and South. It is not down in any map; true places never are." Read in the Duke University Libraries scan of the first American edition, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1851.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, Chapter XXIV, 1851
"And, as for me, if, by any possibility, there be any as yet undiscovered prime thing in me; if I shall ever deserve any real repute in that small but high hushed world which I might not be unreasonably ambitious of; if hereafter I shall do anything that, upon the whole, a man might rather have done than to have left undone; if, at my death, my executors, or more properly my creditors, find any precious MSS. in my desk, then here I prospectively ascribe all the honor and the glory to whaling; for a whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard." Read in the Duke University Libraries scan of the first American edition, Harper and Brothers, New York, 1851.
§6Matters commonly raised
01
What did the record show Herman Melville doing between 1866 and 1886?
It shows him serving as Inspector of Customs in New York, appointed December 5, 1866, a post Weaver's biography holds him in until 1886, nineteen years by that span.
02
How did Herman Melville himself describe the customs post, late in life?
In a letter quoted in Weaver's biography, as "an outdoor custom house officer."
03
What did Raymond Weaver's 1921 biography say about the state of the Billy Budd manuscript at Melville's death?
It says the novel was "finished within a few months before the end of Melville's life" and, elsewhere in the same book, that it was "completed three months before his death."
04
When did Billy Budd first appear in print?
In 1924, thirty-three years after Melville's death, in a volume titled Billy Budd and Other Prose Pieces, issued by Constable and Company.
05
What did the record find about Herman Melville's death?
He died September 28, 1891, at 104 East 26th Street, New York. Weaver's biography records that The New York Times missed the news at first and published an editorial on it a few days later.