Selections from Special Collections
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Description
1p.ℓ. [i-xxiv] 1-634 p., 7 ℓ. 18.9 cm.
Some of the pages in this document were selected as part of a class project for Professor Garth Bond’s History of the Book seminar, Spring 2012. The abstract was prepared by Megan Hagar.
Publication Date
1851
Publisher
Harper and Brothers
City
New York
Rights
This work is in the public domain under United States Copyright Law. If you use any part of this work please include Lawrence University Special Collections in your citation.
Recommended Citation
Melville, Herman, "Selected pages from Moby-Dick; or, The Whale" (1851). Selections from Special Collections. 20.
https://lux.lawrence.edu/selections/20
Abstract
Printed in 1851, Herman Melville's literary masterpiece Moby-Dick tells the story of a man, a whale, and the sea in a tale of revenge. Melville's other work in the nineteenth century made him famous during his lifetime, but Moby-Dick post-humorously would garner Melville eternal success. The extracts found in the introduction of this work do interesting things to contextualize the author's voice. Melville's introduction of the extracts indicates a sense of self-awareness and humor. While it is impossible to tell how the absence of such an introduction would affect the reading of the work, its inclusion in another instance of the author speaking directly to the reader outside of the story. This communication affects how the reader will come to view the anteceding works and the author himself.