Which American publisher issued Moby-Dick in 1851?

Harper & Brothers issued the American edition of Moby-Dick in 1851. The New York publisher released Herman Melville’s book under the full title Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, after the British edition had appeared as The Whale.

Melville’s publication history was unusually complicated. He first arranged for the London publisher Richard Bentley to issue the British edition, partly because international publishing practices affected copyright protection for American authors. That edition appeared in October 1851 in three volumes. The American edition followed through Harper & Brothers in New York.

The first American printing contained 635 pages and was issued in an initial run of 2,915 copies. The American text also differed from the British edition in important ways, including title, punctuation, and some passages. The book was not an immediate commercial success and was largely out of print by the time Melville died in 1891.

G. P. Putnam, D. Appleton & Company, and Ticknor and Fields were real American publishing names, but they did not issue this first American edition. Richard Bentley was the British publisher, not the American one.