by Herman Melville
First American edition, first printing in first issue binding, completely unrestored
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1851. First American edition of Melville's epic novel, in first issue binding and completely unrestored. In publisher's drab brown cloth with publisher's device stamped in blind, dark orange coated endpapers. xxiii, [i], 635, [1], [6 ads]. Very Good+, cloth worn at extremities and a little frayed at spine ends, a little bubbling and rubbing to cloth as well, gutters rubbed with two tiny wear spots along rear gutter. Name of contemporary former owner, Joseph A. Hill, written on paste down, title page, contents page, and half title. Front hinge a little free, contents show moderate foxing. A very nice copy. Housed in morocco pull-off slipcase.
A difficult, linguistically-innovative fever dream of a novel, which has been hailed as America's greatest contribution to world literature. Uncommon in the original publisher's binding and without any restoration; a beautiful example. Followed the three-volume English edition by a month and contains thirty-five passages not present in that edition. In Grolier’s One Hundred Influential American Books, the novel can best be described as containing “the sounds and scents, the very flavor, of the maritime life of our whaling ancestors.” BAL 13664.