Herman Melville

FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST PRINTING, and FIRST BINDING, with the publisher's circular device blindstamped on the front and back board. Publisher's original black cloth, rebacked, preserving the original gilt-stamped spine [but for the head and foot where the decorative gilt rules have been renewed] and the original brownish orange endpapers. Complete with double fly-leaves at the front and back, six pages of terminal advertisements and a final blank leaf as called for by BAL. There are a few small raindrop-sized dampstains to the cloth at the top of the front board, and a 1½ by 3 inch patch of residual wrinkling at the bottom. Internally, the book is quite clean, with only some light foxing, some typical show-through of the binder's paste on the endpapers, and the ink signature of the original purchaser, Lucien Carr of St. Louis, Mo., on the title-page. Lucien Carr [1829-1915], at the time an aspiring journalist for the St. Louis Missouri Republican, subsequently married Cornelia Crow, the daughter of the founder of George Washington University. Following the Civil War, he moved to Cambridge where he became assistant curator of Harvard University's newly-established Peabody Museum. A Very Good copy.

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Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1851. First Edition. FIRST BINDING, with the publisher's circular device blindstamped on the front and back board. Publisher's original red cloth with gilt-stamped spine, expertly rebacked with the loss only of a little of the decorative rule at the spine tips. There are a few light residual creases to the cloth on the spine, and a faint, semi-circular dampstain on the front board. Internally, the name R. G. Stockbridge is twice stamped in ink on the front free endpaper and there is some scattered foxing, mostly light, a little heavier on the flyleaves and preliminaries. Complete with the original brown-orange endpapers, the six pages of terminal publisher's ads, a terminal blank, and double flyleaves at both the front and back. A bright, Very Good copy in the appealing red cloth binding.

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The Modern Library, New York: 1930. Hardcover, no dustjacket. Very Good condition. In search of an adventure, a man named Ishmael leaves home to find work on a whaling ship. On the way, he befriends an experienced harpooner, and the two men agree to find jobs on the same ship. The whaling ship they find - the Pequod - is almost ready to embark on her next voyage. But it is not until they meet the Pequod's strange captain, a man named Ahab, that their incredible adventure truly begins. For Captain Ahab is interested in only one prey - a great white whale named Moby Dick

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Ishmael, a sailor, recounts the ill-fated voyage of a whaling ship led by the fanatical Captain Ahab in search of the white whale that had crippled him. Presented in comic book format.Misunderstood and unappreciated in its time, Melville's monumental work has become the classic epic of American literature. He tells the dual story of the initiation of young Ishmael, a schoolteacher, into the life of a seaman, and the tragedy of Captain Ahab's obsession with the white whale. The novel begins with a lengthy dissection of the word WHALE and its origins, and includes numerous citations about whales and the hunting of them, all taken from the extensive notes Melville accumulated during his research at the New York Public Library, and which he could not bear to leave out. After this rather pedantic beginning, the story proper begins. Another exploration of Melville's perennial themes of good vs. evil and the fundamental isolation of the human condition, MOBY-DICK is a layered, complex, allusive book that is part rip-roaring adventure tale, part quest, part travel chronicle, part picaresque coming-of-age novel. At the end of the wrenching narrative, Ishmael sets himself the task of telling the tale that would make Melville's reputation as one of the greatest American writers.

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The Lakeside Press, Chicago, IL, 1930. Hardcover. Light shelf/edge wear, Vol. II shows small splash stain when viewed at oblique angle, touch of sun at spines, light wear/sun at head and tail with touch of fraying, light ghosting opposite plate pages as is typical of the work, a few pages show minor closed tears near the gutter (professionally repaired, does not effect text or plates), there are a few pages that show rough opening, ghost at two leaves (non-plate) where newprint on set was laid in, else tight, bright and unmarred. Minor shelf wear to slipcase, very minor ding at fore-edge, else clean and clear. Black coated cloth boards, silver gilt lettering, black topstain, aluminum slipcase, original glassine DJs present. Small 4to. Var. pag. Illus. (b/w plates). Laid in ephemera (see below). Limited edition of 1000. Certainly one of Rockwell KentÕs most impressive works and undoubtedly the finest edition of the Melville classic. Includes the very scarce "The Christening of "Moby Dick" (an invitation to the publication gala printed by Lakeside Press (8vo)) and a copy of the also quite uncommon prospectus, also printed by Lakeside Press. An extremely handsome copy of this classic. Very Good+ in Near Fine Slipcase First Edition Thus/Limited Edition

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The Lakeside Press, Chicago, 1930. Hardcover. First edition thus. Three volumes silver decorated black cloth, 30cm., 279, 284, 282 pages. Limited to 1000 copies. Beautifully illustrated by Rockwell Kent who worked lovingly on the project for years. Rockwell Kent was originally approached in 1926 by Donnelley and Sons, Lakeside Press to do illustrations for Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. Kent rejected that idea but suggested "Moby Dick" instead. Kent was given complete freedom to design and illustrate the three-volume set. In the midst of the depression this deluxe edition sold out and the trade editions sold well also helping "Moby Dick" (which had been an obscure novel until rediscovered by critics in the 1920's) become even more popular. Melville would have loved the internet as parts of his novel reads like a Google search result. One of the finest American illustrated books ever done by an illustrator who was described in his New York Times obituary as ".a thoughtful, troublesome, profoundly independent, odd and kind man who made an imperishable contribution to the art of bookmaking in the United States." It is obvious that Kent cared much about the book and lavished his time and talent on it . One of Kent's drawings for "Moby Dick" appeared on a U.S. postage stamp in 2001. Very good condition, clean copies with no markings or bookplates inside. No slipcase.

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''Moby Dick or the Whale'' by Herman Melville. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. De Luxe Edition. Published by Garden City Publishing Co., Garden City, NY. 1937, Garden City Publishing Co., Inc. by special arrangement with Random House, Inc. Copyright 1930 by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. Hardcover book is approximately 6' by 8'' and has 824 pages. Water damage throughout book to edges of all pages. Water staining to covers. Fading to covers and spine. Rubbing to spine and corners. Bumping to spine and corners. Previous owners' name written in blue ink on front endpaper.

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Random House, New York, 1930. Pictorial Boards. Book Condition: Very Good. None. Rockwell Kent (illustrator). 12mo. One of the handsomest editions of Melville's classic. Front cover and spine decorated with silver-stamped illustration of breaching and sounding whale. Text illustrated with Rockwell Kent's superb drawings. Other than a slightly bumped upper corner of front board, a small book stamp of former owner on front pastedown and very light soiling at top edge of text block, this is a fine copy.

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