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Moby-Dick or The Whale
London: The Folio Society, 2009. Item #06640
“The Great White Whale - Rockwell Kent’s Vision in a Monumental Folio Society Edition”
Limited to 1,750 Copies - A Striking Modern Classic in Silver and Black
MELVILLE, Herman. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Illustrations by Rockwell Kent. London: The Folio Society, 2009.
Limited Edition. One of 1,750 numbered copies, this example no. 646.
Quarto (9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches; 235 x 172 mm.). xxxii, [1-2], 3–730, [3], [1, blank] pp. Profusely illustrated throughout with Kent’s iconic black-and-white designs.
Set in Fournier type at The Folio Society and printed on Abbey Wove paper by Memminger MedienCentrum, Memmingen, Germany.
Elegantly bound by Rael Lachenmaier in full Wright’s smooth grain black leather, front cover with a dramatic design after Kent featuring the White Whale inlaid in pale calf and highlighted in silver, smooth spine decoratively stamped and lettered in silver, silver-coated endpapers, top edge silver.
[With:]
Moby-Dick. A Commentary. By Harold Beaver. London: The Folio Society, 2009.
Quarto. [1-6], 7–306, [4, blank] pp. Publisher’s black cloth over boards, lettered in silver, silver-coated endpapers.
Housed together in the original black cloth clamshell case, with a slight bump to the top of the spine, expertly and almost invisibly repaired. Otherwise a fine, near-new example.
A magnificent modern presentation of Melville’s masterpiece, pairing one of the greatest American novels with the most celebrated cycle of its illustrations. Rockwell Kent’s stark, sculptural imagery - first conceived in the 1930 Lakeside Press edition - has become inseparable from the visual identity of Moby-Dick, its bold contrasts and elemental forms perfectly capturing the novel’s cosmic struggle between man and nature.
This Folio Society edition, printed on fine paper and bound in richly decorated leather with a striking inlaid whale motif, transforms the book into a true object of art, while the accompanying commentary volume by Beaver provides valuable literary context.
Among modern illustrated editions of Moby-Dick, this stands as one of the most visually powerful and finely produced. Kent’s haunting imagery - at once austere and monumental - remains unmatched, and in this luxurious Folio Society format the work achieves a presence worthy of Melville’s epic. An increasingly sought-after edition in superior condition.
Price: $1,850.00