There was barely any mention of Herman Melville’s passing when he died, and what’s worse, the very short obituary in the New York Times misspelled the title his book. It reads, “Herman Melville died yesterday at his residence, 104 East Twenty-sixth Street, this city, of heart failure, aged seventy-two. He was the author of “Typee,” “Omoo,” “Mobie Dick” and other seafaring tales, written in earlier years.”. [1]
Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, died of a heart attack in his New York City home shortly after midnight on 28 September 1891. He was 72 years old, and his last novel, The Confidence-Man, had been published more than three decades earlier.
Young Herman Melville was 21 years old when he went to sea, eventually signing aboard a Pacific Ocean whaling ship. His adventures inspired a series of very successful autobiographical novels, beginning with Typee, in 1846. Melville wrote three more successful books before he was inspired to write his best-known work, Moby-Dick.
Beginning work in early 1850 and finishing some 18 months later, Moby-Dick took a year longer than Melville anticipated. It was unlike anything he had previously written and was a complete and utter failure when published. Only about 3,200 copies were sold during Melville’s lifetime, and it earned him just $1,200. It was out of print at the time of his death.
Although he continued writing for a time, after Moby-Dick, Melville’s professional career had effectively come to an end. Unable to support himself as an author, Melville had to take a job as a customs inspector, and by the time of his death, most of his novels had gone out of print.
Melville is buried next to his wife Elizabeth Shaw in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
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