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Moby-Dick or The Whale (The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books)
by Herman Melville
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Collectible: Very Good
- Seller
-
Smyrna, Georgia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
The Franklin Library / Oxford University Press, 1981. Leather. Collectible: Very Good. Special Edition (1981) prepared for subscribers of The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books. VERY GOOD+ GIFT QUALITY - Unread. Includes a portfolio of 19th century whaling prints selected and introduced by Willard Thorp. Has previous owners bookplate on inside cover. Usual Franklin Library features with genuine quarter-leather binding, high quality paper, pages that are sewn not glued into the binding, gilt page edges, and three raised bands. Sewn in satin ribbon book mark tucked into pages in the original new position.
Synopsis
Melville's classic was first published in England as three volumes titled The Whale in October 1851. Slow sales of Melville's previously books convinced Publisher L. Richard Bentley to reduce the printing to only 500 copies, and of that, only 300 sold in the first 4 months. The remaining unbound sheets were bound in a cheaper casing in 1852, and in 1853 there were still enough remaining sheets to again bind into an even cheaper edition. Melville changed the title to Moby Dick a month later, November 1851, when the American Version was published in one volume by Harper & Brothers in NY. Of the 2,951 copies printed, 125 were review copies. About 1,500 sold in 11 days, but then sales slowed to less than 300 the next year. After two years copies of the first edition were still available, and almost 300 were destroyed in the 1853 fire of Harper's warehouse. Most of the first editions have orange end-papers, although there are 2 known volumes with rare white-endpapers. Because of Nineteenth-century printing practices, and the time-lapse between when the first-editions were published and Melville became collectible, oxidized paper, bumped and chipped spines, and brittle wrappers are all common for even the most expensive and collectible of these books, which can sell from $35,000 to $100,000. Also, expect heavy wear and maybe even minor repair. Another collectible edition is the 1930 first edition illustrated by Rockwell Kent, a three-volume set published by the Lakeside Press with acetate dust jackets in an aluminum slipcase. These range in value from $9,000 to $11,000. A total of 3,215 copies of Moby-Dick were sold during Melville's life (he died in 1891). Today, Moby-Dick is considered one of the greatest American novels. -
Read More: Identifying first editions of Moby-Dick or The Whale (The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books)
Reviews
On Mar 9 2016, a reader said:
Why would this be 600 since the original was in 1851?
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Details
- Bookseller
- Antique Mall Books, LLC
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 2401280017
- Title
- Moby-Dick or The Whale (The Oxford Library of the World's Great Books)
- Author
- Herman Melville
- Format/Binding
- Leather
- Book Condition
- Used - Collectible: Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- The Franklin Library / Oxford University Press
- Date Published
- 1981
- Weight
- 1.00 lbs
Terms of Sale
Antique Mall Books, LLC
30-day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Antique Mall Books, LLC
Biblio member since 2023
Smyrna, Georgia
About Antique Mall Books, LLC
We have been in the used book business for over 20 years. We started in 2002 in Georgia with an online business. A cornerstone of our business model over the years was to provide the best possible customer service and strive for 100% customer satisfaction. We received almost 7,000 customer feedbacks on our Amazon sales over the past 20 years, with a 99.7% positive rating.
In March of 2023, after 14 years in Steubenville, Ohio, we sold our brick-and-mortar bookstore and moved back to Georgia. We understand both the used and collectible book business along with customer service. We will be happy to provide you with a quality book if you find one of our offerings worthy of being added to your library. We will provide pictures if you do not see one in our listing. We strive to have detailed and accurate listings, and when we sell a book, we do our best to ship it within 24 hours.
In March of 2023, after 14 years in Steubenville, Ohio, we sold our brick-and-mortar bookstore and moved back to Georgia. We understand both the used and collectible book business along with customer service. We will be happy to provide you with a quality book if you find one of our offerings worthy of being added to your library. We will provide pictures if you do not see one in our listing. We strive to have detailed and accurate listings, and when we sell a book, we do our best to ship it within 24 hours.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Good+
- A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Raised Band(s)
- Raised bands refer to the ridges that protrude slightly from the spine on leather bound books. The bands are created in the...
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