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Benito Cereno
by Melville, Herman
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Dust Jacket Included
- Seller
-
New York, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: The Nonesuch Press, 1926 Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. First edition thus, limited edition, one of 1650 copies, of which this is number 1566. Folio. Publisher's red cloth with title in gilt to spine, Knopf president William A. Koshland's bookplate to front pastedown; original dust jacket stamped in blue. Very good book with tiny chip to head of spine, hint of toning to extremities, light spotting to top of rear board, and a small spot of dampstaining to top left corner of bookplate; fair unclipped dust jacket with some toning to spine, a handful of small chips to edges, front panel separated at hinge, rear jacket flap separated, front jacket flap cracked and with light dampstaining, some tears and chips to spine partially obscuring "Melville" on lower spine. Overall, an excellent copy with bright illustrations, in its scarce original dust jacket. In Benito Cereno, Captain Amaso Delano, heading an American ship, senses that another ship on the sea might be in distress and climbs aboard it. While on the ship, it is at last dramatically revealed that a slave revolt had taken place on the boat, and that the ship's captain, Benito Cereno, and his men are being held captive. The story, told from the perspective of Delano, is a famous example of unreliable narration, and "the story's final effect is to force readers to retrace their own racism to discover how, as a condition of mind, it distorts our vision." In modern times, the story has been hailed as one of Melville's greatest accomplishments. It was originally published in Putnam's Monthly, as were other now-classic short works by Melville, like "Bartleby the Scrivener'' and "The Encantadas." This Nonesuch Press edition is the first separate edition of one of Melville's short prose works. This copy was previously owned by William A. Koshland, the former president and chairman of Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. One of Koshland's biggest successes at Knopf was taking a chance on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) and publishing it after a number of other publishing houses had passed on the book.. First Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.
Synopsis
IN THE year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano, of Duxbury, in Massachusetts, commanding a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor, with a valuable cargo, in the harbour of St. Maria- a small, desert, uninhabited island towards the southern extremity of the long coast of Chili. There he had touched for water...Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.
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Details
- Bookseller
- B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- HM045
- Title
- Benito Cereno
- Author
- Melville, Herman
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Dust Jacket Included
- Edition
- First Thus
- Publisher
- London: The Nonesuch Press
- Date Published
- 1926
- Bookseller catalogs
- American Literature; Illustrated Books; Fiction; 19th Century Literature;
Terms of Sale
B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA
~ All items are guaranteed as described. We recommend requesting pictures prior to purchasing. ~ Any items may be returned within seven days of receipt and in the same condition as originally sent. ~ We ship with FedEx, UPS and USPS. Please let us know if you prefer another shipping. ~ New York State are required to add 8.875% sales tax.
About the Seller
B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA
Biblio member since 2006
New York, New York
About B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA
Selling First Editions and Rare Books from all centuries. Specializing in 19th and 20th century literature, modern first editions, signed and inscribed books, early children's literature, and poetry.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- 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...
- 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...
- Bookplate
- Highly sought after by some collectors, a book plate is an inscribed or decorative device that identifies the owner, or former...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Folio
- A folio usually indicates a large book size of 15" in height or larger when used in the context of a book description. Further,...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Fair
- is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cracked
- In reference to a hinge or a book's binding, means that the glue which holds the opposing leaves has allowed them to separate,...
- Hinge
- The portion of the book closest to the spine that allows the book to be opened and closed.
- 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....
Frequently asked questions
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Collecting food and drink books
Nothing quite whets the appetite for rare and collectible books like old and vintage cookbooks. Be sure to check out our cook books and food section of our rare book room.
How to tell if a signature is genuine
Author's signatures can undoubtedly increase the value of a rare book or first edition. The more scarce the book is, the more an autograph adds to its value. But how to tell if the signature is real? Find out how you can avoid common pitfalls in identifying an author's signature.
