moby dick first edition

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  • "It is not down on any map; true places never are": Rare First Edition Of Herman Melville's Moby Dick

    MELVILLE, Herman.

    Moby Dick; Or, The Whale.

    New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851.

    First edition, first issue binding, with the circular Harper's device of Melville's masterpiece. Octavo, original purple-brown cloth (BAL's A grain), covers stamped in blind with the publisher's circular device at the center within a heavy blind rule frame, original orange-coated endpapers. Of the 2,951 copies printed, 125 were review copies. About 1,500 sold in 11 days, but then sales slowed to less than 300 the next year. After two years copies of the first edition were still available, and almost 300 were destroyed in the 1853 fire of Harper's warehouse. In near fine condition with some of the usual light…

    Price: $65,000.00     Item Number: 99735

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