Fine Books & Manuscripts

MELVILLE, Herman (1819–1891). Moby–Dick; or, The Whale. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. 8vo (191 x 127 mm). 6 pp. publisher’s advertisements at rear. Original publisher’s drab purple–brown cloth blindstamped with the publisher’s circular device at center within blind rule on each cover, brown–orange coated endpapers, two flyleaves at front and three at end (covers a bit rubbed, upper cover with a faint circular dampstain, some fraying at extreme ends, title and contents mildly foxed); folding cloth chemise, custom quarter morocco gilt slipcase. Provenance: A. L. Johnson (signature on title–page dated 1852); B. Dawson of Montreal (bookseller’s ticket). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, FIRST BINDING (BAL A cloth) following the 3–volume English edition by a month and contains thirty–five passages not present in that edition. In Grolier’s One Hundred Influential American Books, Melville’s great novel can best be described as containing “the sounds and scents, the very flavor, of the maritime life of our whaling ancestors” and in Johnson’s High Spots a “masterpiece” after rising from semi–obscurity in the 20th century. BAL 13664; Grolier American 60; Johnson’s American First Editions p. 247; Johnson, High Spots of American Literature p. 57.