Moby Dick Or, the Whale - by Herman Melville

Book Synopsis

This trade edition of Moby-Dick is a reduced version of the Arion Press Moby-Dick, which was published in 1979 in a limited edition of 250 copies and has been hailed as a modern masterpiece of bookmaking. It was hand set under the supervision of one of America's finest book designers and printers. The initial letters that begin each chapter were designed especially for this book and christened "Leviathan." The illustrations, of places, creatures, objects or tools, and processes connected with nineteenth-century whaling, are original boxwood engravings by Massachusetts artist Barry Moser. The text of Moby-Dick used in this edition is based on that used in the critical edition of Melville's works published by the Northwestern University Press and the Newberry Library.

This reduced version is smaller in size than the Arion edition and the California deluxe edition, but it includes all of the original pages and illustrations. It is printed in black only throughout, and it is not slipcased.

From the Back Cover

The text of Moby-Dick used in this edition is based on the version prepared by Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle. Now this magnificent typographic and illustrated edition of the great American novel is available for the general reader and student, for the family library, and for all lovers of beautiful books.

Review Quotes

"Historically, the two great typographical edifices of West Coast printing are the Grabhorn "Leaves of Grass and the Nash "Divine Comedy. Now the Arion Press "Moby Dick takes its place beside them. . .It is the textual weft of hand composition that forms the chief glory of this work. Hoyem seems to have found the perfect measure to accommodate text to type. We turn page after page of matchless composition. . .as the magical result. I would venture the opinion that this constitutes a feat of modern craftsmanship unexcelled in modern printing."--"Fine Print