Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
"Benito Cereno" is based on an actual incident in 1805; Amasa Delano was even the real name of the American Captain fooled (for nine hours!) by mutinous slaves. (Source.)
Melville sold the rights to "The Encantadas" to Harper's magazine…and then sold the actual story to Putnam's. Great authors are sometimes sneaky. (Source.)
Melville's brother, Allan, was a Wall Street lawyer. Some critics think he may have inspired, or influenced, the lawyer in "Bartleby the Scrivener." (Source.)
The 2001 film Bartleby is little remembered, but it does have a scene in which an office worker photocopies his sandwich in order to alleviate the tedium. (Source.)