Melville HermanABAA
109 résultats
185199735New York: Harper & Brothers 1851. First edition first issue binding with the circular Harper's device of Melville's masterpiece. Octavo original purple-brown cloth BAL's A grain covers stamped in blind with the publisher's circular device at the center within a heavy blind rule frame original orange-coated endpapers. In near fine condition with some of the usual light foxing and light shelfwear to the spine tips. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A completely unrestored example of this cornerstone. A superior example. Initially panned by critics and readers when published in 1851 "in the 20th century Moby Dick would be rediscovered and acknowledged as possibly the greatest of all American novels" Chronology of American Literature. Arguably the greatest single work in American literature Moby-Dick was initially "a complete practical failure misunderstood by the critics and ignored by the public. Nevertheless Melville's permanent fame must always rest on the great prose epic of Moby-Dick a book that has no equal in American literature for variety and splendor of style and for depth of feeling" DAB. Harper & Brothers hardcover books
185136148New York: Harper & Brothers 1851. 12mo. 7 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches. xxiii 1 635 1 6pp. Publisher's ads in the rear. Foxing. Publisher's red cloth cover bordered in blind and with central Harper & Brother's circular stamp in blind spine lettered in gilt rebacked retaining the original spine original brown/orange coated endpapers. Housed in a cloth box.<br/> <br/>Rare first American edition of arguably the greatest work in American literature.<br/> <br/>The first American edition followed the three-volume English edition by a month and contained some thirty-five passages which had been edited out of the English edition. "Melville's great book Moby Dick was a complete practical failure misunderstood by the critics and ignored by the public; and in 1853 the Harpers' fire destroyed the plates of all of his books and most of the copies remaining in stock only about sixty copies survived the fire . Melville's permanent fame must always rest on the great prose epic of Moby Dick a book that has no equal in American literature for variety and splendor of style and for depth of feeling" Dictionary of American Biography. "Moby Dick is the great conundrum-book. Is it a profound allegory with the white whale the embodiment of moral evil or merely the finest story of the sea ever written" Grolier American. This example complete with the six pages of advertisements in the rear and in the publisher's red "A" cloth.<br/> <br/>BAL 13664; Grolier American 60; Johnson High Spots 57; Wright II:1701. Harper & Brothers unknown books
1851120575New York: Harper & Brothers 1851. First edition first issue binding with the circular Harper's device of Melville's masterpiece. Octavo original purple-brown cloth BAL's A grain covers stamped in blind with the publisher's circular device at the center within a heavy blind rule frame original orange-coated endpapers. In very good condition with some dampstaining to the cloth and interior. A completely unrestored example of this cornerstone. Initially panned by critics and readers when published in 1851 "in the 20th century Moby Dick would be rediscovered and acknowledged as possibly the greatest of all American novels" Chronology of American Literature. Arguably the greatest single work in American literature Moby-Dick was initially "a complete practical failure misunderstood by the critics and ignored by the public. Nevertheless Melville's permanent fame must always rest on the great prose epic of Moby-Dick a book that has no equal in American literature for variety and splendor of style and for depth of feeling" DAB. Harper & Brothers hardcover books
185142443New York: Harper & Brothers 1851. Hardcover. Small 8vo. Original pebble-grained red cloth with gilt spine lettering and blind-embossed rules and front board publisher's device. xxiii 635pp 6pp ads. Good plus. Internally a sound "Very good" as it's internally tight and unrestored showing only mild sporadic age toning and occasional light foxing; binding is sound and decent with exposed tips; somewhat rough spine has had 1" X 1" excision archivally and discretely restored and chipped spine head and tail archivally rebuilt see images; pencilled 1852 ownership signature on inner flyleaf. A tight presentable and quite handleable first U.S. edition first issue of this giant of 19th century literature. One of only 3000 U.S. copies the American edition -- preceded by the 2-volume English version one month prior -- met with little fanfare and supposedly many unsold copies were destroyed in an 1854 warehouse fire. Original terra cotta endpapers. Despite wear this is a respectable copy appropriately priced. Housed in a handsome custom red cloth clamshell case with gilt spine lettering. BAL 13664. Harper & Brothers hardcover books
1851122370New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers 1851. First edition of Melville's masterpiece. Octavo bound in full calf by Aquarius gilt titles and tooling to the spine morocco spine label double gilt ruled to the front and rear panels gilt topstain. In near fine condition. An exceptional example of this cornerstone of American literature. Initially panned by critics and readers when published in 1851 "in the 20th century Moby Dick would be rediscovered and acknowledged as possibly the greatest of all American novels" Chronology of American Literature. Arguably the greatest single work in American literature Moby-Dick was initially "a complete practical failure misunderstood by the critics and ignored by the public. Nevertheless Melville's permanent fame must always rest on the great prose epic of Moby-Dick a book that has no equal in American literature for variety and splendor of style and for depth of feeling" DAB. Harper & Brothers, Publishers unknown books
1849WRCLIT71567London: Richard Bentley 1849. Three volumes. Octavo. Turn of the century three-quarter olive calf and marbled boards spines gilt extra gilt labels by Larkins. Extremities a bit rubbed and worn but a handsome very good set with the half-titles in the 2nd and 3rd volumes none called for in the first. First edition preceding the U.S. edition. One of one thousand sets printed. Apart from THE WHALE Melville's only other three volume novel and while a difficult set indeed in original cloth even sets in bindings such as that in hand are uncommon. SADLEIR EXCURSIONS p.225. BAL 13657. Richard Bentley hardcover books
1856322New York: Dix & Edwards 1856. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. 1st edition of Melville's first book of short stories the only book of stories he ever got published. Original cloth gilt sharp usually oxidized away slight wear to spine tips very good with almost no foxing surpassing for this cheaply made book. Setup first details to follow. Looking back to the American short story's roots there was Irving's Sketch Book 1819 the invention of the modern short story and the first American book that was a bestseller here and in Europe. 25 years passed while the next generation absorbed Irving's innovation then in a 100-year span came Poe's Tales 1845 Hawthorne's Mosses from an Old Manse 1846 and after The Piazza Tales there was short fiction at the pinnacle by Twain James Crane Bierce and O. Henry then Fitzgerald Hemingway and Steinbeck but Melville touches them all. 6 tales fill the book's 431 pages. The Bell Tower is a psychological gripper of ambiguous devilry that's an advance of Edgar Poe. The Lightning-Rod Man is the shortest but it's a parable of such absorbing invention and depth that it would be a career marker if credited to any other author. The Piazza the delusions of idealism and The Encantadas sketches hellishly reimagining the Galapagos Islands are longer and just as fine. All 4 are half a century ahead of their time and more intricate than most novels but it's the 161 pages of Benito Cereno good versus evil and the 77 pages of Bartleby the Scrivener isolation that soar to the heights and stand tall at the zenith. Every word of atmosphere theme plot and characterization the 4 pillars of short fiction are fused in an unfamiliar manner that is nonetheless easily recognized as truthful seamless symmetrical and readily welcomed but it was all too late for Melville. By 1856 he couldn't believe what wasn't happening to him. He'd already decided that mind is to soul as wave is to ocean and unthreatened by failure he wrote as brilliantly as he could for as long as someone would publish him and dismissed his editor's advice to write down to his readers and enjoy a lucrative commercial career Herman never realized that money is coined liberty. But Melville's martyrdom or the ignorance of 19th century readers does not justify why in the 21st century 100 years after his rediscovery this 1st edition continues to be undervalued beyond reason. In many ways it reads like it was written 65 years ago not 165 and I can cogently argue that it is American literature's finest collection of short stories. The 1st edition that some wrongly speculate may include 3 printings was a small one 2500 copies and sales were slower than bluff erosion 1051 sold. This is ironically though repeatedly the journey of real art so it's not surprising that after one last novel a year later Melville was excommunicated from literature failed to have his prose published again in his lifetime and like so many virtuosos before him he was never rescued. Dix & Edwards hardcover books
1853WRCLIT56707London: Richard Bentley 1853. Two volumes. Modern three quarter calf and marbled boards in 19th century style gilt labels edges rough trimmed. But for some very isolated minor foxing and a few negligible marginal smudges a very good set. No half-titles are called for. First edition second issue with the cancel titles dated "1853." The original London printing which preceded the U.S. edition by two months consisted of only one thousand sets. As a consequence of their tepid sales in 1853 Bentley bound up remaining sets of sheets of this title of REDBURN and of THE WHALE in several forms of remainder cloth bindings including two-and three- volumes in one format with cancel titles bearing the new date. In the remainder format both due to the somewhat smaller quantities issued thus as well as to the exceptionally vulnerable multi-volume in one format they are much less often seen than the primary issues. BAL 13661. SADLEIR EXCURSIONS p. 227-8. Richard Bentley hardcover books
1849WRCLIT42255London: Richard Bentley 1849. Three volumes. Octavo. Mottled 18th century calf yes 18th century! neatly and sturdily rebacked at a recent date in matching calf with raised bands gilt rules contrasting red and black gilt labels new endsheets. Boards somewhat worn and darkened at edges else a very good set with the half- title in the third volume but not the second none called for in the first. The second and third volumes are largely unopened. First edition preceding the U.S. edition. One of one thousand sets printed. Apart from THE WHALE Melville's only other three volume novel. In any state even in an English provincial remboitage such as this it is uncommon. SADLEIR EXCURSIONS p.225. BAL 13657. Richard Bentley hardcover books
1857WRCLIT71583New York: Dix Edwards & Co. 1857. vi394pp. Original brown cloth decorated in blind spine lettered in gilt green endsheets. Crown and toe of spine a bit frayed foretips slightly bumped with some wear a portion of the spine gilding rubbed away three minuscule pinholes in upper joint still a quite sound internally very good or better copy. First U.S. edition of the last of Melville's novels published during his life- time and one of his most uncommon. The London edition appeared almost simultaneously. It's allegorical narrative featuring a company of riverboat travelers on their way to New Orleans includes characters partaking of some personality traits of Emerson Hawthorne Thoreau and Poe. BAL 13670. WRIGHT II:1699. Dix, Edwards & Co. hardcover books
1846234587London: John Murray 1846. First editions of Melville's first two novels: Typee in first issue p.19 l.1 reading "Pomarea"; Omoo with signature P present on p. 209 BAL state A. Map printed on p. xviii of first work; frontispiece chart in second work. Pp. xviii 285 1 imprint; xiv 321 1 imprint. Bound without ads. 2 vols. 8vo. Nineteenth century half green calf and marbled boards gilt spines by Bowron period spine labels. Front joint of Omoo a bit tender else fine. Green cloth clamshell box. First editions of Melville's first two novels: Typee in first issue p.19 l.1 reading "Pomarea"; Omoo with signature P present on p. 209 BAL state A. Map printed on p. xviii of first work; frontispiece chart in second work. Pp. xviii 285 1 imprint; xiv 321 1 imprint. Bound without ads. 2 vols. 8vo. 'Typee' & 'Omoo' in First Issue. Melville's first novel was based upon his experiences living in the Marquesas after he deserted from the whaler Acushnet in 1842. Published in England under the title Narrative of a Four Months' Residence and in America shortly thereafter Typee gained Melville an international reputation that was further cemented by Omoo. BAL 13652 & 13655; for Bowron cf. Ramsden London Bookbinders p. 41; Packer Bookbinders of Victorian London p. 21 John Murray unknown books
1852140940979New York: Harper & Brothers 1852. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition first printing. Bound in publisher's original purple/gray cloth decorated in blind and spine stamped in silver. Near Fine with light lean and sunning to spine neat restoration to cloth at head rubbing to joints. Previous owner name partially abraded from title page leaving several small holes. Pages toned and sporadically foxed throughout though heavier at preliminary and terminal pages. One of Melville's scarcest titles which was published shortly after Moby Dick. Harper & Brothers unknown books
1855008113New York: Dix & Edwards 1855. SCARCE. The first appearance of this novella about a revolt on a Spanish slave ship captained by Don Benito Cereno appearing in the magazine in three installments on pages 353-367 459-471 and 633-644. Acknowledged as one of Melville's greatest achievements it was included with some revisions in his short story collection "The Piazza Tales" published May 1856. Very Good indeed bound in contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards five raised bands with dark brown calf volume label in gilt title label missing marbled end papers and edges. The complete six monthly magazines with title pages well bound and lacking only the original wrappers. Moderate toning to end papers only interior pages clean and with no foxing or toning. Quite uncommon especially so in collectible condition. Basis for the 1969 French film of the same title winner of a Gold Medal at the 1969 Venice International Film Festival and the NET Playhouse television episode in 1967. American Literature Science and Art Volume VI. First Printing. Quarter Calf. Very Good/No Jacket As Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Dix & Edwards Hardcover books
18491063462 volumes. New York: Harper 1849. 2 volumes 8vo 365; xii 9-387 8 ads pp. Original black cloth backstrips lettered in gilt small chip to vol. I covers blind-stamped bookplate in each volume of Walter Leon Sawyer dated Boston 1897. Foxing in both volumes as usual dark stains on end-papers from paste-down glue. Enclosed in a cloth box. A remarkably good copy untouched in its box for the better part of a century. § First edition. A pleasant copy of this important work of American literature. BAL 13658. Note: contains what "seems to be the only direct reference in Melville's writings to the California gold rush" Minnigerode p.27. Harper hardcover books
1849WRCLIT71665New York: Harper & Bros. 1849. Two volumes. Purple cloth stamped in blind and gilt coated yellow endsheets. Spines sunned pencil ownership inscription in each volume coated endsheets show heavy discolorations from evidently an early form of protective wrapper some isolated small ink spots to cloth otherwise for this edition about very good with only very slight scattered foxing. Worn slipcase. First American edition of Melville's third book and first novel issued a few days after the scarce three volume London edition. This set is in the binding variant with the blindstamped rule at the crown of each spine. BAL 13658. WRIGHT I:1860. Harper & Bros. hardcover books
1849WRCLIT69132New York: Harper & Bros. 1849. Two volumes. Green cloth stamped in blind and gilt yellow endsheets. Light wear and a couple small nicks to spine extremities foretips rubbed bookplate on each pastedown and a late 19th century typographic bookplate on verso of each title some foxing throughout light tidemark in upper gutter of second volume otherwise a good to very good set. First American edition of Melville's third book and first novel issued a few days after the scarce three volume London edition. BAL 13658. WRIGHT I:1860. Harper & Bros. hardcover books
18491855London: Richard Bentley 1849. First edition. Bound in contemporary quarter red morocco over marbled boards with marbled end papers and a marbled text block. Front hinge a little tender but otherwise a handsome binding. Bound with contents of both volumes up front no half-titles or title page to the second volume. Textually complete. Contemporary inscription on the title page. <br/><br/>Redburn is the story of a young man's first voyage at sea from New York to Liverpool and back and was based on Melville's own first hand experiences as a seaman on a similar voyage ten years before. The book was Melville's attempt at a more commercial sort of fiction - "a plain straightforward amusing narrative of personal experience" as he described it -- and Melville himself did not accord the book much esteem. Indeed Melville finished the work in under ten weeks and submitted the draft to his publisher with nary a rewrite. Many critics however have enjoyed the work - F.O. Matthiessen considers Redburn "the most moving of its author's books before Moby-Dick." <br/><br/>"But the great charm of the work is its realness. It seems to be fact word for word bating a little that is melo-dramatic and exaggerated in the hero at the outset. With this exception the tale is told simply and without the least pretension; and yet within its narrow bounds are flashes of genuine humor strokes of pure pathos and real and original characters" Contemporary Review in The Boston Post. Richard Bentley unknown books
1856440538New York: Dix and Edwards 1856. Hardcover. Good. First edition. 431pp. 7pp. Original blind-embossed red cloth with cream endpapers. Small offsetting and stains on a few pages extremities worn with some loss of the spine ends spine title faded a good only copy without dustwrapper if issued. The first book appearance of many of Melville's classic shorter works and his only lifetime collection including "Bartleby" and "Benito Cereno." BAL 13669. Dix and Edwards hardcover books
1849HM039New York: Harper & Brothers 1849 Two volumes. First American edition. Original publisher's blue-green blind-stamped cloth with gilt lettering to spines. A very good or better set with some light wear some toning to spine scattered spotting and small stains to cloth former owner ink signature to first blank of volume II usual scattered foxing to text. Overall a very attractive and tight copy without any repair or restoration. Much nicer than usually found. BAL 13658. Mardi is Herman Meville's third book and marks a departure from his first two works Typee 1846 and Omoo 1847 which are more autobiographical in nature. Mardi begins like Melville's preceding novels with a fictional South Seas whaling adventure story but quickly changes into a more allegorical and experimental text when the main characters abandon their vessel and travel to a variety of fictional symbolic countries. Melville's use of poetry and song also makes this text unique. While it was heavily criticized upon publication Mardi is best understood within the greater context of his entire body of writing. Rather than continue to produce variations of his first two successful novels Melville pushed himself to improve on his own writing and while perhaps not fully recognized in Mardi this laid the groundwork for his later novels including White-Jacket 1850 and Moby Dick 1851. This first American edition published April 14 1849 was preceded only by the three volume first British edition published on March 16th of the same year. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine. New York: Harper & Brothers hardcover books
1850WRCLIT69114New York & London: Harper & Brothers . London: Richard Bentley 1850. vii19-46516pp. Gray-green cloth sides ornately stamped in blind with frame and publisher's device spine lettered in gilt yellow coated endsheets. Usual darkening offset to coated endsheets light foxing a bit heavier in prelims and terminal leaves shallow loss at extreme crown and toe of spine neat engraved bookplate otherwise a very good copy. First U.S. edition BAL's first printing first cloth binding form 'B' of the end gatherings. The London edition in two volumes appeared in late January; this edition followed up in March and includes an author's 'Note' dated New York March 1850. BAL 13662. Harper & Brothers ... London: Richard Bentley hardcover books
185024197New York: Harper & Brothers 1850. First American Edition. First printing. Octavo 19cm.; publisher's slate blind-embossed "A" cloth gilt spine yellow glazed endpapers; vii8-46516adspp. Some general shelf wear with brief exposure at corners spine rather sunned and gilt faded a few signatures a bit loose else a Very Good and sound copy. Contemporary gift inscription to a Henry Frost on front free endpaper. BAL 13662. Harper & Brothers unknown books
1864WRCLIT85064Baltimore: Cushings & Bailey 1864. xi2001pp. Quarto. Polished plum-colored cloth stamped in gilt and blind. Lithographed manuscript facsimiles and illustrations. Spine a shade sunned with shallow chips at crown and toe slight edge-wear a bit of foxing early and late old French bookseller's description in corner of verso of front free endsheet offset through tissue to upper blank portion of title old offset from an ancient and absent floral specimen in gutters of pages 42-3 generally a very good copy. First edition of this considerable undertaking to raise funds contemporary with the Baltimore Sanitary Fair to support relief for the aid of soldiers and their families. Includes faithful facsimiles of the contributors' works and includes the first facsimile of Lincoln's handwritten Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg. Other facsimiles of works by other important 19th Century authors include: Francis Scott Key Edward Everett Washington Irving Harriet Beecher Stowe Nathaniel Hawthorne John Audubon Oliver Wendell Holmes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Herman Melville Ralph Waldo Emerson Henry David Thoreau William G. Simms J.J. Audubon and many many others. Melville's "Inscription to the Slain at Fredericksburg" was not collected in book form until 1947. BAL 2418 13672 etc. Cushings & Bailey hardcover books
185551835NY: Putnam 1855. First edition first state. as called for by Blanck on pp. 141 237 238 and 239. 12mo pp. 276. Bound in brown cloth first issue with pendants under the "F Y E" on the spine. Some rubbed. Front hinge little tender. Some foxed throughout a very good copy. BAL 13667. Wright II 1700. Israel Potter "is based on Henry Trumbull's biography The Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel Potter 1824 In search of freedom and adventure Israel become involved in the battle of Bunker Hill. He meets three Americans: Benjamin Franklin who robs him . John Paul Jones who genuinely befriends him and Ethan Allen who posses America's most admirable characteristics. An archypal American he is taken prisoner by the English exiled for 50 years and returns home to die"p. 507. Putnam unknown books
18964772Chicago: Caxton Club 1896. Attractively bound The Club Bindery for James William Ellsworth prominent industrialist and president of the Caxton Club. One of only 3 copies printed on Japan vellum. Superbly bound in full tan morocco by the Club Bindery in 1898 with gilt binder's pallet on front dentelle: ìFor James W. Ellsworth 1898 For James W. Ellsworth" who was for a time the president of the Caxton Club. The binding features and ornate spine gilt stamped design motif on five of six panels covers with single gilt fillet rule and wide gilt-decorated dentelles. With Ellsworthís bookplate on front pastedown. Measures approx. 6.25î x 9.25." Light rubbing to edges and spots to covers; and small closed cracks approx. 1.5" to the top and bottom of the front hinge but still quite sound. ìOf the three copies on Japanese vellum one was reserved for the Club archives and two were sold at auction at the annual meeting in February 1897 to James W. Ellsworth and George S. Payson for fifty and forty-five dollars respectively. The practice of printing and auctioning unbound vellum copies was discontinued after 1917.îìWright Howes eminent authority on Americana called Joutelís JournalÖ The ëmost reliable eyewitness account of LaSalleís two-years wanderings in Texas. The map based on LaSalleís Mississippi explorations was the first accurate delineation of that riveríî Piehl.A reprint page for page and line for line of the first English translation London 1714; with the Map of the original French edition Paris 1713 in facsimile; and Notes by Melville B. Anderson.ì Fold-out map bound in opposite the original title page. Fine. <br/><br/> Caxton Club hardcover books
1849180820009New York: Harper & Brothers 1849. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. First American edition first printing. Two volumes bound in publisher's plum cloth decorated in blind with titles in gilt on spines; yellow coated endsheets. Very Good with fading to spine and wear at spine ends and lighter so to corners. Endsheets offset or browned at centers; Previous owner name to front free endpapers of both volumes and to rear endpaper of Volume II. A rather lovely set of Melville's third book housed in a custom folding case. Harper & Brothers hardcover books
