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Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile
by Melville, Herman
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good (Minus)/No Jacket
- Seller
-
Chico, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 1855. This novel of the Revolutionary War was a commercial failure for Melville, as was "Moby Dick." Later critics have been more kindly. This is a Very Good (Minus) copy of the First Edition (First State, with the mis-numbered Chapter XIV). A scarce title. Tan cloth binding, heavily stamped with ruling and a decorative device on both covers. Clean text; 276 pages. Penciled names on the front paste-down and free endpaper; bookbinder chop on the FFEP. The text has occasional smudges and floodmarks, but remains clear and fully legible; unfoxed. Bumped to a fray; faded, particularly the spine and margins. The original gilt lettering on the spine is faint but still readable, due to the blindstamping. Certainly not a beauty, but basically a sound copy of this scarce title that might benefit from a bit of restoration. In an archival plastic protector.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good (Minus)/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Synopsis
The authoritative edition of Melville's only historical novel Based on the life of an actual soldier who claimed to have fought at Bunker Hill, Israel Potter is unique among Herman Melville's books: a novel in the guise of a biography. In telling the story of Israel Potter's fall from Revolutionary War hero to peddler on the streets of London, where he obtained a livelihood by crying "Old Chairs to Mend," Melville alternated between invented scenes and historical episodes, granting cameos to such famous men of the era as Benjamin Franklin (Potter may have been his secret courier) and John Paul Jones, and providing a portrait of the American Revolution as the rollicking adventure and violent series of events that it really was. This edition of Israel Potter , which reproduces the definitive text, includes selections from Potter's autobiography, Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter , the basis for Melville's novel.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Quercus Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 004987
- Title
- Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile
- Author
- Melville, Herman
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good (Minus)
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- G.P. Putnam & Co.
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1855
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
- Bookseller catalogs
- American Literature;
Terms of Sale
Quercus Rare Books
We accept checks and money orders in US Dollars. Credit card orders are accepted through Biblio. California residents add appropriate sales tax. Items are returnable for any reason within ten days of receipt (please email or call first before returning item).
About the Seller
Quercus Rare Books
Biblio member since 2006
Chico, California
About Quercus Rare Books
Quercus Books seeks out and provides to the discriminating Reader or Collector noteworthy books in the First Edition. Our particular focus is on Modern Literature (roughly from the Second World War to the present) and Irish Authors. We also retain a small stock of non-fiction titles, mostly in the fields of American Western History, American Indians, and the American Civil War. Member of IOBA - the Independent Online Booksellers Association.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
- Device
- Especially for older books, a printer's device refers to an identifying mark, also sometimes called a printer's mark, on the...
- 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...
- FFEP
- A common abbreviation for Front Free End Paper. Generally, it is the first page of a book and is part of a single sheet that...
- Paste-down
- The paste-down is the portion of the endpaper that is glued to the inner boards of a hardback book. The paste-down forms an...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- 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....
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