J.N. Reynolds

REYNOLDS, Jeremiah N. (1799-1858). Mocha Dick; or the White Whale of the Pacific. London: Cameron & Ferguson [c.1875].

The Bradley Martin copy of the first book edition of this inspiration for Moby-Dick. First published in the Knickerbocker magazine in 1839, Mocha Dick told the story of the eponymous white sperm whale encountered by author and explorer Jeremiah N. Reynolds near Mocha Island, off the cost of Chile. Rare: ABPC and RBH record one copy selling in 1996, the Rosenbach-Fleming-Johnson copy.

Octavo (173 x 120mm). Modern cloth binding stamped in gilt, original pictorial wrappers bound in (trimmed, not affecting text but with loss of price on wrapper). Provenance: Robert Cushman Murphy (bookplate) – H. Bradley Martin (bookplate).

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. 40.