Moby Dick, or, the Whale by Melville, Herman. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent - 1930

New York: Random House, 1930. Hardcover. Duodecimo. xxxii, 825 pages. Near fine in a very good dust jacket. Bound in black cloth over boards with titles and illustration stamped in silver on spine and upper board. A touch of browning to endpapers along hinges. Binding sound. Jacket has a .25" chip to tops of both joint folds, some ubbed wrinkles at head of spine and upper joint folds, a couple of smaller nicks at heel of spine, and moderate browning to spine. Quite clean and lovely overall.. Rockwell Kent. A stunning copy of what is widely regarded as the definitive edition of Moby Dick. Melville's great book was not well received when published in 1851, and languished in relative obscurity through the rest of the 19th century. It was this particular edition, however, with its deeply inspired illustrations by Rockwell Kent, which revived Moby Dick and cemented the book's status as an American classic. <br /> <br /> Rockwell Kent was a superstar in the the late 1920s world of fine illustrated editions. He produced these nearly 300 illustrations for a lavish edition that was printed in three volumes by The Lakeside Press in 1930. His inspiration came from his immersion in Melville's text as he worked over a period of years. The result was the closest thing to a Kent-Melville collaboration as was possible. <br /> <br /> Random House got permission to reprint Lakeside's Kent-illustrated edition, and this handsome single volume trade edition was the result. Kent's illustrations had generated a lot of attention, so this was a coup for the trade publisher. Their eagerness to reprint Kent's designs led to an embarrassing blunder, however, as Random House chief Bennett Cerf recalled: "We were so excited about it, we forgot to put Herman Melville's name on the cover, so our edition of Moby Dick, to the vast amusement of everybody (The New Yorker spotted it), said only: 'Moby Dick, illustrated by Rockwell Kent.'" (Cerf. At Random, p. 72).<br /> <br /> The accidental slight to Herman aside, Random House did a great job on this trade edition. Everything about it is pleasing, from the superbly reproduced illustrations and the simple typography, to its agreeable heft and perfect fit in the hands. Its slight chunkiness is just enough to subtly evoke its subject. In short, this a great book in every sense--literarily, visually, and tactually. <br /> <br /> We are very pleased to offer this beautiful copy of this pivotal edition, in original dust jacket.