The chart below is from The Life and Works of Herman Melville.
Note: This chart does not represent Melville’s entire literary production. It does not list earnings for the magazine articles or for Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, and The Confidence-Man, for which surviving records are incomplete; nor does it give figures for the volumes of poetry that were published at private expense.
UNITED STATES UNITED KINGDOM TOTALS Copies Copies Total Total Title Sold Earnings Sold Earnings (a) Sales Earnings -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Typee 9,598 1,138.61 6,722 708.40 16,320 1,847.01 Omoo 7,403 1,719.78 5,932 644.00 13,335 2,363.78 Mardi 2,900 740.88 1,000 970.65 3,900 1,711.53 Redburn 4,718 683.57 750 484.00 5,468 1,167.57 White-Jacket 4,922 969.44 1,000 968.00 5,922 1,937.44 Moby-Dick 3,215 556.37 500 703.08 3,715 1,259.45 Pierre 1,821 157.75 -- -- 1,821 157.75 Battle-Pieces 471 - 229.71 (b) -- -- 471 - 229.71 ------ -------- ------ -------- ------ --------- TOTALS 35,048 5,736.69 15,905 4,478.13 50,953 10,214.82
Does anybody know what these numbers would be in modern-day dollars?
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If the total is $10,214.82, and you start at, say 1855 (a few years after Pierre was published), the figure is $366,815.44, according to this inflation calculator—http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html — although I’m not really sure how accurate it is, because I really don’t know much about the science or history of economics.
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Total earnings in the final column: about $426.00 in today’s money. ($24.00 in the mid 1800’s being about $1.00 in today’s money.)
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Who cares about dollars? It’s the number of copies. I was going to have my daughter put “Posthumous Doesn’t Count” on my grave marker, but I just changed my mind.
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[…] much did Herman Melville make in his literary earnings? […]
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After Typee and Omoo were published Herman Melville was able to marry and buy a home in Pittsfield, MA from his book earnings. He remained in that home for 13 years writing. There are great passages in Typee about our culture damaging the indigenous people of the South Pacific.
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[…] Herman Melville’s Lifetime Literary Earnings. Probably not bad if you adjust for inflation. […]
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[…] Herman Melville’s Lifetime Literary Earnings. Probably not bad if you adjust for inflation. […]
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[…] and grandchildren will get their proportion of any benefit that may accrue.” Though Melville didn’t make a great deal of money from his books, he had a steady job as a customs […]
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[…] and grandchildren will get their proportion of any benefit that may accrue.” Though Melville didn’t make a great deal of money from his books, he had a steady job as a customs […]
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[…] will get their proportion of any advantage that could accrue.” Although Melville didn’t make a great deal of money from his books, he had a regular work as a customs […]
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