Ten Pound Island Book Company

Old, Rare And Out of Print Books, Manuscripts And Charts Pertaining To The Sea

Mardi: and a Voyage Thither.

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Item #50040
Mardi: and a Voyage Thither.
Melville, Herman.
Harper & Brothers, ( 1849), New York
19.5cm. xii, (13)-365; xii, (9)-387, 8 (publisher's ads) pp.
Price: $1250

First edition of Melville’s third South Seas novel. This work is a departure from the strictly reality-based methodology of the first two books. It begins as a sea story but turns into an allegory during which the narrator tours an imaginary archipelago. Melville experiments with satire and philosophical speculation, trends which were to culminate in his masterwork, “Moby Dick.” BAL 13658. Hill 1139. Bound in publisher’s blind stamped green cloth, with gilt spine lettering and decoration intact. Scattered internal foxing as usual, faint water stain at gutter margin in volume II. A very presentable set in original bindings.