•  Publisher's cloth. Very good condition, in a good dust jacket; some nicks along the lower edge of the jacket's near panel and head of the spine.

•  Contemporary oilcloth-covered wrappers, with some paper adhesions. All edges marbled. Pages clean.

•  Sabin 42997 (with other two volumes). Recently rebound in navy leather over blue cloth, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather title label. Title-page and eight others stamped by now-defunct library. Page edges slightly embrittled, with a few short marginal edge tears. Small repair to dedication leaf. Evocative.

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Also included is a woodcut map showing Europe, the Atlantic, and the New World.

•  Palau 159680; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 609/77; Medina, BHA, 123. Old vellum; red leather, gilt-lettered spine label; some staining, and chipping to edges and label. Old, careful repairs to interior worming occasionally cost individual letters (but never sense) or a little loss to an illustration. Old rubber-stamps and red and black ownership label on title-page; inked notations on title-page and front pastedown. All edges speckled red.

Melville here tells the somewhat fictionalized tale of his stint as a captive — indulged and cosseted, but a captive nonetheless — among a tribe of the Marquesas Islands, drawing on his real-life experience after deserting the whaler Acushnet in 1842.

Issued as number 13 and 14 in Wiley and Putnam's Library of American books, no. 13–14.

•  BAL 13653; Wright, I,1867.   Contemporary sprinkled sheep, covers expertly reattached with leather cracking (again) just a bit over front joint at top. Ex–social club library copy: 19th-century bookplate, old pressure-stamp on title-page; call number neatly inked on front free endpaper. Stray brown stains (as if coffee or another drink splattered?) on early pages and some other staining elsewhere.A copy that was bought to be read by the society's membership and was read — these being two facts of importance.  In sum a very decent copy, with no tattering or other damage beyond those stains, now in a quarter brown leather clam shell box.  (26253)

And, indeed, this account of a young man's experiences on the Neversink on a voyage around “The Horn” recounts the cruelty and hardship that Melville and all seaman experienced on naval vessels, but it also tells of camaraderie and good times.

Evidence of readership: Foremargins with finger oil staining. Notes in margins: p. 275, “this book is full of folly and exagerations” (sic); p. 345, “perfectly just”; p. 389, “what an improbable story — a regular U.S. Sailor wearing a rag[g]ed white jacket, a regular non-descript”; p. 403, “mis print”; lower area below final line of text: “damn bad,” “not good,” “good for the devil.”

Provenance:  From the library of the German Society of Pennsylvania.

•  BAL 13662; Wright, II, 1871.   Slightly later quarter sheep with marbled paper sides; binding shows wear, refurbished. Text with staining and spotting as evidence of heavy reading and use; last several gatherings with reinforcement at gutter. Various margins with short tears. Two leaves misbound; lacks two leaves of advertisements. Ex–social club library: call number on endpaper and at top of title-page, pressure- and rubber-stamp on title-page, three pages with light rubber-stamp, no other library markings. Now in a half-calf clamshell case with gilt spine. A copy with a distinct, interesting, and perhaps further-explorable history!  (26827)

TWO nicely accomplished pen-and-ink drawings of ships

One leaf bears a number of small photographs of young men, labelled “1915” — possibly classmates from St. Paul’s?

•  Publisher’s cloth wrappers, front cover gilt-stamped “Autographs”; edges and extremities chipped. Text block partially separated from spine. Some fading to colored pages, with occasional very slight offsetting or ink smearing.

The copper-engraved, oversized frontispiece map shows Baffin's Bay, Barrow's Straits, Prince Regent's Inlet, and the North Georgian Islands, as well as the bay named after Parry's two ships.

•  Arctic Bibliography 13145; Hill (2nd ed.) 1311; Sabin 58860. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, and gilt-stamped anchor decorations in compartments. Title-page and a few others, plus reverse of 1 map, lightly stamped by a now-defunct institution. Pages gently age-toned, with occasional offsetting from engraving and the odd spot or smudge. One map with small portion of inner margin reinforced; final two leaves with inner margins reinforced; one plate with tears into image and mounted. Final advertisement leaf bound in before final text leaf. All edges marbled.

•  Shoemaker 25670; Sabin 58867. On Parry, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XLIII, 392–93. Quarter cloth over paper with paper spine label, antique style. Map tattered on the edges, affecting ruled border, and with two closed tears. Lightly cockled with bumped corners; foxing and old damp-staining. A leaf of advertisements has been bound in at front—see our second illustration, here.  Ownership inscription on title-page.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Shoemaker 21855. Later light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. Slightly age-toned, with small paper flaw to one outer margin, else clean.

Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Shoemaker 21854. Light blue paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper title-label. First leaf with closed tear from outer margin, just touching text. Foxed, with some staining to final blank leaf.

•  Evans 36546; ESTC W26008. Period-style quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title. First two leaves with a bit of light spotting in margins, otherwise clean.