Home >
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick... Arctic Expedition...
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick... Arctic Expedition...
Item # 721500 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE, New York, December, 1851
* Herman Melville's Moby-Dick
* Early novel review - The Whale
* First introduction to the public
Near the back of the issue is "Literacy Notices" which discusses "A new work by Herman Melville, entitled Moby Dick; or, the Whale, has just been issued by Harper and Brothers... Moby Dick is the name of an old White Whale; half fish and half devil; the terror of the Nantucket cruisers...This huge sea monster has a conflict with one Captain Ahab...".
Additional articles include: "The Boston Tea Party" with eleven related prints; "Napoleon Bonaparte" "Gold--What It Is and Where It Comes From" "The American Arctic Expedition" and much more.
Complete in 150+ pages, 9 by 6 inches, disbound without the outer wrappers, nice, clean condition.
background: This December 1851 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine represents a premier artifact of American literary history, capturing the exact moment Herman Melville’s masterpiece, Moby-Dick, was introduced to the public. The "Literary Notices" section provides a rare, contemporary perspective on the novel, famously describing the titular whale as "half fish and half devil" and framing the narrative as a high-stakes maritime conflict between the "sea monster" and Captain Ahab. Beyond its Melville association, the 150-page volume serves as a rich cultural time capsule, featuring a heavily illustrated account of "The Boston Tea Party," serialized history on Napoleon Bonaparte, and timely reports on the American Arctic Expedition and the science of gold. Despite being disbound and lacking its original outer wrappers, the 9-by-6-inch internal block remains in remarkably clean condition, offering a crisp, tactile connection to the mid-19th-century intellectual landscape of New York.
Category: Moments in American History
Available Now
$68.00
