Mardi: and a Voyage Thither
by Melville, Herman
- Used
- near fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Seller
-
Pasadena, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
"For backward or forward, eternity is the same; already have we been the nothing we dread to be."
Melville's third novel. First American edition, first printing. Publisher's blind-stamped brown cloth, spine gilt. 8 pages of ads in the rear of volume II as called for. Bindings a touch skewed, corners and spine ends lightly bumped, usual scattered foxing, endpapers discolored by binder's glue per usual, rear blank leaves excised from volume one and second rear blank leaf almost completely so from volume two - these excisions a seemingly common binder practice in this edition. Overall, a solid and bright Near Fine set.
'Presented as narratives of his own South Sea experiences, Melville's first two books had roused incredulity in many readers. Their disbelief, he declared, had been "the main inducement" in altering his plan for his third book, Mardi: and a Voyage Thither. Melville wanted to exploit the "rich poetical material" of Polynesia and also to escape feeling "irked, cramped, & fettered" by a narrative of facts. "I began to feel . . . a longing to plume my pinions for a flight," he told his English publisher.
Mardi began as a sequel to Typee and Omoo, but changed radically while he was writing it and emerged as an altogether independent and original work. In its combination of adventure, allegorical romance, realistic portraits of characters and scenes from nature, philosophical speculation, and travelogue-satire, Mardi was Melville's first attempt to create a great work of fiction.' (Northwestern)
[Bibliography of American Literature, 13658]
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Details
- Bookseller
- Anniroc Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 145
- Title
- Mardi: and a Voyage Thither
- Author
- Melville, Herman
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Harper & Brothers, New York
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1849
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- MELVILLE, AMERICAN LITERATURE, MARDI, WHITE JACKET, HERMAN MOBY DICK, WHITE-JACKET, HAWTHORNE, AMERICAN, WHALES, WHALING, MASSACHUSETTS, POE, TWAIN, WALT WHITMAN, POEMS, REDBURN, ADVENTURE, SHIPS, OCEANS, TRAVEL, LITERATURE, whitman
Terms of Sale
Anniroc Rare Books
Unless otherwise noted, all items are first editions and first printings as applicable, original, and guaranteed as described. Fine is the highest grading. Items are priced in USD and subject to prior sale. We accept payment by cash, wire transfer, check, and all major credit cards. Shipping will be billed.
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About the Seller
Anniroc Rare Books
About Anniroc Rare Books
Website: www.annirocbooks.wixsite.com/anniroc
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
- 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....
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...