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Lot 74

Sale 5657 - Books and Manuscripts
Sep 23, 2021 6:00AM ET
Live / Philadelphia
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Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000
Price Realized
$16,380
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium

Lot Description

[Literature] Melville, Herman Moby-Dick; or, the Whale

New-York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers/London: Richard Bentley, 1851. First American edition. 8vo. xxiii, (i), 634, (2) (epilogue and blank), (6) (ads) pp. Original unsophisticated red cloth (BAL first binding), boards ruled in blind, publisher's circular "life-preserver" device in blind at center of same, spine stamped in gilt, boards and spine worn and soiled, extremities rubbed, loss at spine ends, front board starting and split at bottom; all edges trimmed; orange endpapers, with usual offsetting; foxing to prelims, little to no foxing to text; old ownership signature in pencil at head of title-page; scattered short creasing to text corners; scattered minor soiling to text. BAL 13664; Tanselle 2

An unsophisticated copy of this American classic. The first printing was 2,915 copies, and was preceded by a month by the English edition. The first American edition features up to 35 passages not present in the English one.

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