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Moby-Dick
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Moby-Dick Unknown - 1993

by Herman Melville

  • Used

Description

Used - Very Good. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects.
Used - Very Good
NZ$22.20
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Details

  • Title Moby-Dick
  • Author Herman Melville
  • Binding unknown
  • Edition Barnes & Noble C
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Barnes & Noble, New York
  • Date 1993
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 4252570-75
  • ISBN 9781566193566

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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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. 

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