Moby Dick: Or The Whale

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL DATE-STAMPED 1930 MOBY DICK 1ST EDITION THUS SCARCE AND GORGEOUS
ALTHOUGH IT IS NOW WELL OVER 90 YEARS OLD, IT HAS BEEN EXCEPTIONALLY WELL PRESERVED
INCLUDING THE MOST FAMOUS WORKS OF ART TO EVER GRACE THIS BOOK, CREATED BY ROCKWELL KENT

This is a real 1930 1st edition from Donnelley of Herman Melville's masterpiece Moby Dick. This was the first print year of Rockwell Kent's art for this book. Just to make it clear many folks say they are "woodcuts," but in fact, he hand-made all of these with pen brush and ink for its publication. These works of art are hailed as the best illustrations ever produced for Melville's Moby Dick, and 1930 was the first time they were ever printed. Most everything in life we buy gets thrown away, falls apart, or depreciates. This is a book that will be kept and cherished for generations. They don't make them like this anymore, and I don't think they ever will... I would snag this one before it's gone...

Melville presents Moby Dick as a symbol of many things: God, nature, fate, evil, the ocean, and the very universe itself. Yet the symbolism of the White Whale is deliberately enigmatic, and its inscrutability is a deliberate challenge to the reader...

The illustrator Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer, and voyager.

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick; Typee, a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella.

The overall condition of this book is very good despite its age. The pages are beautiful for 93 years old. The covers and spine show som normal age and shelf wear for a printing of this age but still display very beautifully. It is the 1st edition thus, this means it was the 1st printing from the publisher when it was released in 1930. This edition is dated 1930. Most books from this era are in rather shabby condition, but luckily, this printing has been extremely well-kept. For its age, it is certainly the nicest I have ever owned.

Moby-Dick, or, The Whale, is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written." Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael," is among world literature's most famous.

The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the 1919 centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written".Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.

The white whale is modeled on a notoriously hard-to-catch albino whale Mocha Dick, and the book's ending is based on the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard a ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. The book's literary influences include Shakespeare, Carlyle, and the Bible. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies, and asides. In August 1850, with the manuscript perhaps half finished, he met Nathaniel Hawthorne and was deeply impressed by his Mosses from an Old Manse, which he compared to Shakespeare in its cosmic ambitions. This encounter may have inspired him to revise and deepen Moby-Dick, which is dedicated to Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius".