“We immediately saw that it was a very large whale and when we looked closer we saw it was a giant sperm whale with huge teeth.”
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Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was not well known to the public, but 1919, the centennial of his birth, was the starting point of a Melville rev…
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culture · American writer (1819–1891) · teacher · sailor · lecturer · poet · writer · novelist · essayist · literary critic · art collector · customs officer · also Herman Melville, Herman Melvill, Hermann Melville, Melville
Born 1 August 1819 · Died 28 September 1891 · Q4985
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2026· 15 entries
“shrouded in blackness, ten times black”
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“The reading of this wondrous story upon the landless sea, & close to the very latitude of the shipwreck had a surprising effect upon me”
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news.artnet.com: There’s a Sexy Herman Melville Statue Out There—and Other Art World Matters
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City of New Bedford Official Website (.gov): Herman Melville Statue Unveiled at Seamen’s Bethel
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Yahoo: ‘Law & Order’ star appears at Herman Melville statue unveiling in New Bedford
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SouthCoastToday.com: Herman Melville statue unveiled in front of Seamen's Bethel in NB
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WJAR: New Bedford unveils Herman Melville statue
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Yahoo: Herman Melville statue unveiled in New Bedford
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WPRI.com: Herman Melville statue to be unveiled this Friday
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The Times of India: Quote of the Day by Herman Melville, 'There are certain queer times and occasions in life when a man tak
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EV Grieve: At Ecce, come for the pizza, stay for the Herman Melville tribute
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The Boston Globe: The new Herman Melville statue in New Bedford is . . . hot
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The New Bedford Light: New Bedford finally gives Herman Melville his due
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Chargers Wire: New Bedford nearly ready to unveil Herman Melville statue
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2024· 1 entry
The Guardian: Poem of the week: In the Prison Pen by Herman Melville
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2005· 1 entry
As "the most ambitious book ever conceived by an American writer"
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1996· 1 entry
And 2002, based on extensive original research and his involvement as editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Melville edition
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1986· 1 entry
“Secular Jewish Identity: Yidishkayt in America”
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1985· 1 entry
The New York City Herman Melville Society gathered at 104 East 26th Street to dedicate the intersection of Park Avenue South and 26th Street as Herman Melville Square, where Melville lived from 1863 to 1891 and where he
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1984· 1 entry
As part of the Literary Arts Series of stamps, the U
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1983· 1 entry
And Pierre, Israel Potter, The Confidence-Man, Tales, and Billy Budd, published in 1985
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1982· 1 entry
The Library of America (LOA) began publishing works in honor of Melville's central place in American culture; the first volume contained Typee, Omoo, and Mardi
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1962· 1 entry
The Melville scholars Harrison Hayford and Merton M
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1951· 1 entry
Awarded National Book Award for Nonfiction (1951).
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1945· 1 entry
The Melville Society was founded, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of Melville's life and works
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1919· 1 entry
Coincided with a renewed interest in his writings known as the "Melville revival", during which his work experienced a significant critical reassessment
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1917· 1 entry
With Carl Van Doren's article on Melville in a standard history of American literature
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1891· 3 entries
Died 1891-09-28.
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“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”
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“Se a natureza não é contra nós, também não é por nós.”
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1889· 1 entry
Melville became a member of the New York Society Library
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1886· 2 entries
Stanwix, their younger son, died in San Francisco at age 36, from tuberculosis
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His other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired
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1885· 1 entry
After several of his wife's relatives further supported the couple with supplementary legacies and inheritances
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1884· 1 entry
Lizzie received a legacy that enabled him to buy a steady stream of books and prints each month
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1876· 1 entry
But sales failed miserably and the unsold copies were burned when Melville was unable to buy them at cost
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1867· 2 entries
Malcolm, the Melvilles' older son, died in his bedroom at home at the age of 18 from a self-inflicted gun shot, perhaps intentional, perhaps accidental
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His eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot
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1866· 1 entry
Melville became a customs inspector for New York City
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1864· 1 entry
Melville visited the Virginia battlefields of the American Civil War
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1863· 2 entries
Bought his brother's house at 104 East 26th Street in New York City and moved there
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Eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector
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1860· 1 entry
Melville boarded the clipper Meteor for California, with his brother Thomas at the helm
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1857· 2 entries
Melville published his last full-length novel, The Confidence-Man
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Traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857)
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1855· 1 entry
The Melvilles' fourth child, Frances (Fanny), was born
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1854· 2 entries
“The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles”
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Three years following publication of Moby-Dick, Melville, New York, on Long Island, was named in Melville's honor
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1853· 1 entry
Melville's third child and first daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) was born, and on or about that day Herman finished work on the Agatha story, Isle of the Cross
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1852· 1 entry
Headlined "HERMAN MELVILLE CRAZY"
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1851· 2 entries
The Melvilles' second child, Stanwix, was born
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The Whale was published in Britain in three volumes, and on November 14 Moby-Dick appeared in the United States as a single volume
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1849· 2 entries
The Melvilles' first child, Malcolm, was born
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Melville acquired an edition of Shakespeare's works printed in a font large enough for his tired eyes, which led to a deeper study of Shakespeare that greatly influenced the style of his next book, Moby-Dick (1851)
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1847· 1 entry
Melville tried unsuccessfully to find a "government job" in Washington
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1842· 1 entry
The ship approached the Galápagos Islands from the southeast
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1840· 1 entry
The ship measured some 104 feet in length, almost 28 feet (8
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1839· 2 entries
Gansevoort, then living in New York City, wrote that he was sure Herman could get a job on a whaler or merchant vessel
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As a common sailor on the merchant ship St
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1835· 1 entry
While still working in the store, Melville enrolled in Albany Classical School, perhaps using Maria's part of the proceeds from the sale of the estate of his maternal grandmother in March 1835
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1834· 1 entry
The bank considered him competent enough to be sent to Schenectady, New York, on an errand
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1832· 3 entries
Maria and her children discovered Allan, somewhat unscrupulously, had borrowed more than his share of his inheritance, meaning Maria received only $20 (equivalent to $600 in 2025)
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Died, two months prior to reaching his 50th birthday
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Left the family in dire financial straits
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1830· 1 entry
The Gansevoorts ended their financial support of the Melvilles, at which point Allan's lack of financial responsibility had left him in debt to both the Melvill and Gansevoort families for a sum exceeding $20,000 (equiva
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1829· 1 entry
Both Gansevoort and Herman transferred to Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School, and Herman enrolled in the English Department on September 28
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1826· 1 entry
The year that Herman contracted scarlet fever, Allan Melvill described him as "very backwards in speech & somewhat slow in comprehension" at first, but his development increased its pace and Allan was surprised "that Her
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1825· 1 entry
Herman and his brother Gansevoort enrolled in New York Male High School
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1824· 1 entry
The Melvilles moved to a newly built house at 33 Bleecker Street in Manhattan
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1819· 2 entries
The third of eight children to Allan Melvill and Maria (Gansevoort) Melvill
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Born 1819-08-01.
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1814· 1 entry
Allan, who subscribed to his father's Unitarianism, married Maria Gansevoort, who was committed to her family's more strict and biblically oriented Dutch Reformed version of the Calvinist creed
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