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Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) Paperback - 2009

by Herman Melville; Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick; Tony Millionaire (Illustrator)

Three American masterpieces in dazzling graphic packages

These novels played a unique and lasting rolein the development of American literature, and each one remains abeloved and widely read work of fiction. The Adventures of HuckleberryFinn-arguably the great American novel. Ethan Frome-an enduringrural tragedy. And Moby-Dick or, The Whale-a profound inquiry intocharacter, faith, and the nature of perception. Now, Penguin Classics isproud to present these three novels in gorgeous graphic packages featuringcover art by some of the most talented illustrators working today.


About this book

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.
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Summary

 

Buy a poster of the Moby Dick jacket art designed by Tony Millionaire

These novels played a unique and lasting role in the development of American literature, and each one remains a beloved and widely read work of fiction. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-arguably the great American novel. Ethan Frome—an enduring rural tragedy. And Moby-Dick or, The Whalea profound inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. Now, Penguin Classics is proud to present these three novels in gorgeous graphic packages featuring cover art by some of the most talented illustrators working today..


From the publisher

Herman Melville's masterpiece, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history Over a century and a half after its publication, Moby-Dick still stands as an indisputable literary classic. It is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature. Never losing its cultural presence, Melville's nautical epic has inspired many films over the years, including the film adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson, and directed by Ron Howard. Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. This Penguin Classics deluxe edition features a foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick and cover art by Tony Millionaire. This edition prints the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville's text, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions and the Center for Editions of American Authors of the MLA. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

First Edition Identification

Melville's classic was first published by L. Richard Bentley in England in 1851 as a three-volume set entitled The Whale. Only 500 copies were printed. 

The US version, published a month later in November 1851 by Harper & Brothers, titled Moby Dick had 2,951 in the first printing. The U.S. version contained substantial textual differences even aside from the prominent change of title, including 35 passages that were wholly deleted from the English version. 

Details

  • Title Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
  • Author Herman Melville; Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick; Tony Millionaire (Illustrator)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 672
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, U.S.A.
  • Date 2009-10-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Deckle Edges, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780143105954 / 0143105957
  • Weight 1.52 lbs (0.69 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.58 x 5.42 x 1.73 in (21.79 x 13.77 x 4.39 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 730
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 19th Century
  • Library of Congress subjects Sea stories, Whales
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Herman Melville was born in August 1, 1819, in New York City, the son of a merchant. Only twelve when his father died bankrupt, young Herman tried work as a bank clerk, as a cabin-boy on a trip to Liverpool, and as an elementary schoolteacher, before shipping in January 1841 on the whaler Acushnet, bound for the Pacific. Deserting ship the following year in the Marquesas, he made his way to Tahiti and Honolulu, returning as ordinary seaman on the frigate United States to Boston, where he was discharged in October 1844. Books based on these adventures won him immediate success. By 1850 he was married, had acquired a farm near Pittsfield, Massachussetts (where he was the impetuous friend and neighbor of Nathaniel Hawthorne), and was hard at work on his masterpieceM oby-Dick. Literary success soon faded; his complexity increasingly alienated readers. After a visit to the Holy Land in January 1857, he turned from writing prose fiction to poetry. In 1863, during the Civil War, he moved back to New York City, where from 1866-1885 he was a deputy inspector in the Custom House, and where, in 1891, he died. A draft of a final prose work, Billy Budd, Sailor, was left unfinished and uncollated, packed tidily away by his widow, where it remained until its rediscovery and publication in 1924. Tony Millionaire is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author known for his syndicated comic strip Maakies and the Sock Monkey series of comic and picture books.
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