Thanks to HarperCollinsPublishers (@HarperCollins), below is the original contract between Herman Melville and Harper and Brothers for the 1851 publication of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.
Notice: Hand written. No advance. 50% of net.
Here’s the transcription of the above images.
Agreement made between Harper and Brothers of the city of New York, Publishers of the onepart and Herman Melville of Pittsfield, Massachusetts of the other part [?]. That the said Harper and Brothers have agreed to publish and sell and keep for sale a certain work entitled “The Whale” whereof the said Herman Melville is the author upon the following terms ____
First. The copyright of the said work is to be the sole property of the said Herman Melville (subject to this contract) and shall be entered and stand in his name as author and proprietor.
Second. The said Harper and Brothers are to be the sole publishers of the said work in the United States of America during the continuance of this agreement. Third. In consideration of the sole right to publish said work hereby granted to them, the said Harper and Brothers hereby agree, to publish said work from the stereotype plates now in the possession of R. Craighead, at their own cost and expense paying said Craighead for the cost of said plates, and to pay to said Herman Melville one half of the net profits accruing from the publication and sale of said work. Provided that at any time after the cost of the stereotype plates shall have been liquidated the said payment shall is the said Herman Melville demand it be commuted for a [?] certain per copy for all copies sold. Fourth. Harper and Brothers agree to make [?] annual settlements with said Herman Melville on the first days of February and August in each year, so long as this agreement remains in force and the balance due said Herman Melville shale be paid by the notes of the said Harper and Brothers at three months from those dates, or in cash interest off. Fifth. This agreement shall continue for seven years from the day of publication by said Harper and Brothers; at the expiration of which time the said Herman Melville shall have the right to possession and complete ownership of the stereotype plates of the said work on paying to the said Harper and Brothers one half of their original cost deducting a fair valuation for the wear and tear they may have sustained in their use or injury from other causes, upon which payment which may be made at any time after the expiration of the said seven years, the said stereotype shall belong to the said Herman Melville as his sole property. Sixth. The said Harper and Brothers are to have the right to dispose of all copies of said work remaining on hand at the expiration of this agreement: they accounting upon the sale of said copies as herein provided. Seventh. It is distinctly understood that this agreement refers solely to the publication of said work in the United States of America. In [?] whereof the parties hereto have hereunto subscribed their names this twelfth day of September one thousand eight-hundred and fifty-one.
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