En 1851, Herman Melville publicó su sexta novela. Le reportó $1.260, la de peor venta hasta el momento. ¿Su título? Moby Dick.

Vota!

Fuentes

Melville, Herman. "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale". Volume 6, Scholarly Edition. Edited by Harrison Hayford, G. Thomas Tanselle, and Hershel Parker. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, September 1988. ISBN 978-0-8101-0269-9. pp. 689

On 18 October, the English edition, The Whale, was published in a print- ing of only 500 copies bout 1,500 copies were sold within eleven days, and then sales slowed down to less than 300 the next year. After three years the first edition was still available, almost 300 copies of which were lost when a fire broke out at the firm in December 1853. In 1855 a second printing of 250 copies was issued, in 1863 a third of 253 copies, and finally in 1871 a fourth printing of 277 copies, which sold so slowly that no new printing was ordered. Moby Dick was out of print during the last four years of Melville›s life, having sold 2,300 in its first year and a half and on average 27 copies a year for the next 34 years, totaling 3,215 copies. Mel- ville's earnings from the book add up to $1,260: the £150 advance from Bentley was equivalent to $703, and the American printings earned him $556, which was one hundred dollars less than he earned from any of his five previous books. Melville's widow received another $81 when the United States Book Company issued the book and sold almost 1,800 copies between 1892 and 1898. (Tanselle, 1988, pp. 810-812)