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Moby Dick Or The White Whale
by Melville,Herman
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good /No Jacket
- Seller
-
Ribble Valley, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: G.P. Putnam's Sons. This is a Very Good Copy of this Book.This is the First Putnam's Sons UK Edition with 1901 date to the bottom of the title page and there is one previous inscription to the half titole page dated Christmas 1901 and one small previous owner's name to the front endpaper.First Edition Thus and in it's original blue cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine and upper cover and with an attractive design to the front cover in pale blue and white.The work has an introduction by Louis Becke and is illustrated with a frontispiece and 2 further plates by A. Burnham Shute.The outer boards are a little worn and with a couple of scuff marks present to the front cover.Cloth is showeing 2 small splits to the cloth at head of spine and the corners are a little knocked and frayed.Internally the contents are pretty clean with some age toning to the text block edges,light offsetting to the endpapers.There is a 1cm tear to bottom edge of page 7/8 and with very slight cracking to the front hinge join.Very light water type stain marks to the edges of pages 10-30 noted but really not bad and are only 2-3mm in width and at the fore-edge of the pages.All in all a decent copy of a much sought after titles.The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaling ship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby-Dick, a white whale of tremendous size and ferocity. Comparatively few whaling ships know of Moby-Dick, and fewer yet have encountered him. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to exact revenge.8vo 533pp [plus epilogue and extracts so pagination is complete at 545pp First UK Putnam's Edition [1901] . Very Good. Hardcover. First Thus. 1901.
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 White Whale
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
- Richard Thornton Books
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 79132
- Title
- Moby Dick Or The White Whale
- Author
- Melville,Herman
- Illustrator
- A Burnham Shute
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Thus
- Publisher
- G.P. Putnam's Sons
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1901
- Size
- 8vo.
- Keywords
- Moby Dick Herman Melville Stalybridge Collection Shute
- Bookseller catalogs
- LITERATURE;
Terms of Sale
Richard Thornton Books
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About the Seller
Richard Thornton Books
Biblio member since 2005
Ribble Valley, Lancashire
About Richard Thornton Books
We are Lancashire based booksellers specialising in Modern First Editions,Childrens,Sporting and Military Books in Very Good to Fine condition.In addition we have two large bookrooms with over 11,000 titles.You would be most welcome to come along and browse through our stock.Please search through our inventory of books,which are at very competitive prices,and payments can be made easily through our business here in North London as we accept all Major Credit and Debit Cards as settlement.Shipping:We ship Internationally by Air-Mail 7-14 days or Surface Post delivery 3-8 weeks or within the UK either Royal Mail 24 Tracked or Royal Mail 48 Tracked.Please note that all books are fully insured at no extra cost to you the buyer,and all have return address labels applied to shipments.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- G
- Good describes the average used and worn book that has all pages or leaves present. Any defects must be noted. (as defined by AB...
- 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...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
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