MELVILLE, HERMAN. Pierre; or, the Ambiguities. 8vo, original slate blind-stamped cloth, uneven browning, soiling to rear board, gilt-lettered on spine (darkened), splits along joints and spine tips; Henry McBride booklabel, usual spotting to front and end matter. First edition.The follow-up to Moby-Dick. The notorious opprobrium of the critics towards Melville's later novels likely reached their zenith as regards the reception of Pierre, with the objections such that his sanity was called into question. Today, the work is considered perhaps "the best psychological novel that had yet been written in English" (Higgins and Parker, p. 196). A large portion of the first edition of Pierre was destroyed in the 1853 fire at Harper & Brothers. BAL 13666. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852