Moby-Dick

Herman Melville

Collector's Library, 2004 - Fiction - 768 pages

On board the whaling ship Pequod, a crew of wise men and fools, renegades, and seeming phantoms is hurled through treacherous seas by a crazed captain hell-bent on hunting down Moby Dick, the mythic White Whale who left him crippled. As the ""great flood-gates of the wonder-world"" swing open, Melville transforms the little world of the whale-ship into a crucible where mankind's fears, faith and frailties are pitted against a relentless fate. Teeming with ideas and imagery, and with its extraordinary, compressed intensity sustained by a buoyant, mischievous irony and by moments of exquisite beauty, Melville's masterpiece is both a great American epic and one of the most profoundly imaginative creations in literary history. The world's greatest works of literature are now available in these beautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, and featuring gilt edges and ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are a wonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature. These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They'll transport readers to imaginary worlds and provide excitement, entertainment, and enlightenment for years to come. All of these novels feature attractive illustrations and have an unequalled period feel that will grace the library, the bedside table or bureau.

What people are saying

User Review -

moby dick this classic realy is nice and the whale just needid freedom i in 8 year old made a moby dick 2 toby dick the shark a sequil hermon made a good and long book about a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge whale

User Review -

I was surprised at the beauty of the imagery in this book. And Melville has a wonderful sense of humor. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone under the age of 30 though, because I think it's easier to appreciate if you've lived a little longer first.

Contents

• Etymology: 15
• Loomings: 31
• The Counterpane: 62
• The Pulpit: 77
• A Bosom Friend: 92
• Chowder: 113
• The Ramadan: 134
• The Prophet: 147
• 2I Going Aboard: 154
• Merry Christmas: 158
• The Lee Shore: 164
• The Advocate: 165
• Postscript: 171
• Knights and Squires: 172
• Knights and Squires: 176
• Ahab: 179
• Enter Ahab To Him Stubb: 187
• 3O The Pipe: 191
• Queen Mab: 192
• Cetology: 195
• The Specksynder: 212
• The CabinTable: 216
• The MastHead: 223
• The QuarterDeck: 232
• Sunset: 242
• Dusk: 244
• First NightWatch: 245
• Midnight Forecastle: 246
• The Whiteness of the Whale: 267
• Hark: 279
• The Chart: 280
• The Affidavit: 287
• Surmises: 299
• The MatMaker: 302
• The First Lowering: 306
• The Hyena: 319
• Ahabs Boat and Crew Fedallah: 322
• The SpiritSpout: 325
• The Albatross: 331
• The Gam: 333
• The TownHos Story: 339
• Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales: 366
• Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes: 372
• Of Whales in Paint in Teeth in Wood in SheetIron in Stone in Mountains in Stars: 377
• Brit: 380
• Squid: 384
• 6O The Line: 387
• 6I Stubb Kills a Whale: 392
• The Dart: 399
• The Crotch: 401
• Stubbs Supper: 403
• The Whale as a Dish: 413
• The Shark Massacre: 416
• Cutting In: 418
• The Blanket: 421
• The Funeral: 425
• 7o The Sphynx: 426
• The Jeroboams Story: 430
• The MonkeyRope: 438
• Stubb and Flask Killa Right Whale and Then Have a Talk Over Him: 444
• The Sperm Whales Head: 450
• Contrasted View: 451
• The Right Whales Head Contrasted View: 456
• The BatteringRam: 460
• The Great Heidelburgh Tun: 463
• Cistern and Buckets: 466
• The Prairie: 471
• 8o The Nut: 475
• 8I The Pequod Meets the Virgin: 478
• The Honour and Glory of Whaling: 492
• Jonah Historically Regarded: 496
• Pitchpoling: 499
• The Fountain: 502
• The Tail: 509
• The Grand Armada: 515
• Schools and Schoolmasters: 531
• FastFish and LooseFish: 535
• Heads or Tails: 540
• 9I The Pequod Meets the RoseBud: 544
• Ambergris: 553
• The Castaway: 556
• A Squeeze of the Hand: 562
• The Cassock: 566
• The Lamp: 574
• IOO Leg and Arm: 586
• IOI The Decanter: 595
• IO2 A Bower in the Arsacides: 601
• 3 Measurement of the Whales Skeleton: 607
• IoS Does the Whales Magnitude: 615
• IO6 Ahabs Leg: 621
• Io8 Ahab and the Carpenter: 628
• IIo Queequeg in his Coffin: 637
• The Pacific: 644
• II4 The Gilder: 653
• II6 The Dying Whale: 659
• II9 The Candles: 666
• I2O The Deck Towards the: 675
• I2I Midnight The Forecastle Bulwarks: 676
• I24 The Needle: 682
• I26 The Lifebuoy: 691
• I28 The Pequod Meets the Rachel: 698
• I3O The Hat: 705
• I31 The Pequod Meets the Delight: 711
• I33 The Chase First Day: 718
• I34 The Chase Second Day: 731
• I35 The Chase Third Day: 742
• Afterword: 759
• Further Reading: 767

About the author

Herman Melville was born in 1819 in New York City. Both his grandfathers were Revolutionary War heroes but his father, a merchant, died bankrupt in 1833. Melville left school and worked at various jobs before shipping on the whaler Achshnet in 1841. The next year he deserted, travelled the South Seas and joined the US Navy. After three years he retired, settled in Massachusetts and started to write. His first two novels, Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), were fictionalized accounts of his travels: they remained his most popular works during his lifetime. In 1847 Melville married and wrote a series of novels he considered potboilers for money. With Moby-Dick (1851) he changed course, partly under the influence of Nathaniel Hawthorne; but the novel's extravagant intensity lost him readers. Pierre (1852) fared no better, and after publishing one more novel Melville took a job as a customs inspector in the New York City harbour and turned to writing poetry. He died there in 1891; an unfinished novel, Billy Budd, Sailor, was published in 1924.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Moby-Dick; Collector's Library; Penguin classics
• Author: Herman Melville
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Collector's Library, 2004
• ISBN: 1904633773, 9781904633778
• Length: 768 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics