Order of Book Series
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Herman Melville Books in Order

17 books are credited to Herman Melville, published between 1846 and 2021; 3 of them appeared after Herman Melville's death in 1891. The first book is Typee (1846) and the newest is I Would Prefer Not To (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
17
Published
1846–2021
Pages on record
3,219 in 10 of 17 books
Reading time
54–80 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,219 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 10 of 17 titles with a page count on record.

See all 17 books in order Printable Herman Melville checklist
Photo of Herman Melville, author

Sea voyages, sailors and the Pacific fill Herman Melville's fiction. The catalogue holds 17 titles, from Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847) through Mardi (1849), Redburn (1849), White-Jacket (1850) and Moby Dick (1851) to Pierre (1852), Bartleby: The Scrivener (1853) and Benito Cereno (1855). Polynesia, mutiny and travel recur as subjects, and later editions carry the listing to 2021.

How many Herman Melville books are there?

Herman Melville has 17 books, released between 1846 and 2021. 3 of them were published after Herman Melville's death in 1891.

Herman Melville Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 17 Herman Melville books in the order they were released, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Omoo by Herman Melville (1847)
  2. Cover of Mardi by Herman Melville (1849)
  3. Cover of White-Jacket by Herman Melville (1850)
  4. Cover of Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
  5. Cover of Pierre by Herman Melville (1852)
  6. Cover of Billy Budd by Herman Melville (1924)
  1. 1
    Typee1846 · 188 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1846188
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Omoo1847 · 374 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1847374
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Mardi1849 · 681 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1849681
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Redburn1849 · 262 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1849262
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    White-Jacket1850 · 336 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1850336
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Moby Dick1851 · 544 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1851544
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Pierre1852 · 384 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1852384
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Bartleby: The Scrivener1853 · confirmed 2/4
    1853–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 10
    The Bell-Tower1855 · confirmed 2/4
    1855–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 11
    Benito Cereno1855 · confirmed 2/4
    1855–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 12
    Israel Potter1855 · 124 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1855124
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 13
    The Piazza Tales1856 · confirmed 2/4
    1856–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 14
    The Confidence-Man1857 · 166 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1857166
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 15
    The Apple-Tree Table1922 · confirmed 2/4
    1922–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 16
    Billy Budd1924 · 160 pages · confirmed 2/4
    1924160
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 17
    I Would Prefer Not To2021 · confirmed 2/4
    2021–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Herman Melville books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Standalone books

17 books

17 Herman Melville titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Herman Melville Books in Chronological Order

By publication date, the Herman Melville books run from Typee (1846) to I Would Prefer Not To (2021), the sequence in the table above. No separate story order is recorded for Herman Melville in the book listings this catalogue merges, so publication order is the only order on record.

Do you have to read Herman Melville books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 17 Herman Melville books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Herman Melville

Start with Typee (1846), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Herman Melville book?

I Would Prefer Not To (2021) is the newest Herman Melville book released so far.

Is there a new Herman Melville book coming?

No next Herman Melville book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Herman Melville has won

Wikidata records 1 award for Herman Melville. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • National Book Award for Nonfiction1951Won

Herman Melville at a glance

Died
Herman Melville died in 1891, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Herman Melville are still being published after Herman Melville's death in 1891; the newest appeared in 2021.
Release pace
Herman Melville books have appeared about one every 11 years on average.
Length
3,219 pages across the 10 of 17 books with a recorded length, a median of 299 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Herman Melville books, 10 of 17, were published in the 1850s.

What the Herman Melville books are about

7 of the 17 Herman Melville books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: classic literature is tagged on 2 of 7. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.