Moby Dick or The Whale by Herman Melville (1851) Illu.

                Many people think they have read it and haven’t, some have read part of and couldn’t finish it, and others read it when they were too young and need to reread it.

Like so many of the classics, reading something that includes so many “aged”  topics like GwtW and Moby Dick when in high school one should consider this only a first reading; the classics must be revisited after one is over 45 years of age. It is only then that some of us begin to see life differently and can read these writings with the eyes that they were written in.

80% of the book has nothing to do with The Whale. Melville was simply having a ball writing this, showing off his skills and knowledge of men, sailing, whales, and the world. It is a tremendous read not to be passed up due to its size. Published in 1851, The Whale is often slow, sometimes fast, and sometimes funny. Yes it has allegoric elements but it’s not one big endless myth; it is a story of the changing times in America human nature, and whales. Remember too that Melville was for a time a close friend of Nathaniel Hawthorn… ah to have a circle of friends that one could really look up to and learn from.

My copy from a Grosse Pointe estate sale is one of those “printed for you” versions beautifully made binding with gold leaf embossments. A 1977 printing that heralds original artwork, these are however some of the worst  renderings I can conceive of; they do not in any way enhance the story. Obviously when a publishing company hires a butcher on the cheap the result is less than desired and not worth the trip. I thought I might get a collectors printing but ran into too many choices and found that they command huge prices the greatest of which was a first printing asking about $83,000. I am very happy with this version. Later I discovered an unassuming (from the cover) version printed in 1982 that has awesome graphics by Rockwell Kent. Dozens of rendering scattered throughout all in the block print black & white style, I want to reread it just to have the pleasure of the images along with the narrative.

I love submerging into a time before long distance communications where a boat went out for three years and maybe even returned… and then to go out again, and again; it’s hard to imagine. When this book was written whaling boats and seafaring was one of the highest technologies of the day. It’s interesting that since then we have nearly fished out the seas. It seems so strange to me that the dream of 1960’s America (the one I was sold) about how good we would have it in the future, you know, flying cars and working at home, these have indeed occurred but only for the few. However we still have indentured seafarers on fishing boats in conditions no better than what Ishmael encountered. 

As for the unassuming version here are some of the renderings.  I just noticed that the drawings are from the very Rockwell Kent that so intrigued me in Candide.