Herman Melville - MOBY DICK or The Whale - 1930

Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, by Herman Melville. Illustrated by Rockwell Kent, first commercial edition, 1930. Octavo. Original front cover and spine in archival black cloth illustrated by the publisher, with silver impressions. Titles in silver and, on the spine, an illustration of a whale’s tail.

Published for the first time in 1851, the book was reprinted by Lakeside Press in 1930 in a limited three-volume edition, the first to feature Kent’s splendid illustrations and limited to only 1000 copies. The limited edition sold out quickly and was followed by an equally popular commercial edition in one volume, published later that same year by Random House and printed by Lakeside Press.

These two editions illustrated by Rockwell Kent helped make Moby-Dick a American classic. The book presented here is the first small-format commercial edition, in a single volume, richly illustrated by Kent.

It is bound with the original black cloth cover illustrated by the publisher, with splendid silver impressions.

Herman Melville began writing Moby-Dick in February 1850. In preparation for his book, Melville dedicated a great deal of time to researching whaling activity in general. The historic ship Essex, attacked by a sperm whale in 1820, was one of the main sources of inspiration for much of Melville’s plot. Even the memorable name of the monstrous whale in the story derives from a historically aggressive whale off the coast of Chile, named Mocha Dick. Melville was also inspired by his experience as a sailor in the 1840s.

The book was published for the first time in three volumes under the title The Whale in London in October 1851 by Richard Bentley. In November of the same year, it was published in New York under its final title, Moby-Dick or The Whale, in a single-volume edition by Harper and Brothers. Moby-Dick was not a critical or popular success during Melville’s lifetime. Fewer than 4,000 copies were sold and the book had been out of print for decades by the early twentieth century. The novel eventually received a positive reception from readers, literary figures, and critics in the 1920s.

When Moby-Dick came to be regarded as a major work of American literature, it began to appear in expensive editions intended for collectors of rare and special books. When Lakeside Press decided to launch its “Four American Books” campaign, they turned to painter and illustrator Rockwell Kent. It was Kent himself who suggested the title Moby-Dick. Kent wrote to William A. Kittredge, then director of design and typography at Lakeside, that he regarded “Moby Dick… a very solemn and mystical work” and that “the entire book is a work that should be read slowly and with reflection.” He wanted Kent’s illustrations to embody the atmosphere of the book. The Lakeside Press three-volume limited edition and the smaller single-volume commercial edition were printed in 1930 with Kent’s illustrations, which are now among the best-known depictions of the novel.

CONDITION: nearly perfect. 8vo. Original front cover in black cloth illustrated, with embossed silver titles and a silver embossed illustration of a whale on the front cover, original spine stamped with silver titles and illustration of the tail of a whale. Slight wear to the corners of the front cover and spine. Small black ink stamp on the front flyleaf at the top right. Otherwise incredibly clean and in good condition. Numerous Rockwell Kent illustrations throughout the volume.