Herman Melville, 1851

MELVILLE, Herman (1819-1891). Moby-Dick. New York: Harper & Row, 1851.

First American edition, first binding. "Melville spent part of the summer of 1851 in New York seeing it through the press" (Reese). It followed the English edition by a month and contained some 35 passages that Richard Bentley, the London publisher, had omitted. BAL 13364.

Octavo. (Front free endpaper neatly supplied, front hinge very tender.) Original blue cloth, orange endpapers (rubbed, spine a bit sunned). Custom chemise and quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance: S.B. Curtis (ownership inscription to rear endpaper).

Exhibited: "A Herman Melville Collection ... on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death, from the collection of William S. Reese," Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 1991, no. 15.

The middle of the text block is cracked through. At the buyer's request, Christie's will undertake a repair at our expense.