Moby-Dick
Did you know that Herman Melville's 1851 novel, Moby-Dick, or, the Whale, was disliked by Melville's fans and critics alike? Critics not only disliked it, but reported it to be terrible. It wasn't until 70 years after it was published that historians discovered it on the dusty shelves of a library and came to see it in a new light as a brilliant, allegorical tale.
It is now lauded as one the two greatest novels of the nineteenth century (the other being The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain).
The coffee chain, Starbucks, got it's name from Captain Ahab's level-headed first mate, Starbuck.