Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Melville, Herman; E. McKnight Kauffer (Illust. ). Benito Cereno. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hand colored woodcuts; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 123 pages; 1926 Nonesuch Press. Tall quarto HC 1st edition published in a limited edition of 1650 copies, this copy numbered 615. In full red cloth with edges bevelled and a simple title design in gilt to spine. Printed on laid Van Gelder paper with hand colored woodcuts from designs by Kauffer. Prior owner pictorial bookplate to front pastedown. Cloth at spine lightly toned; shallow chip to cloth at crown and a mended linear score/tear to the cloth bottom 1/3 of spine. Light toning to endpages; contents bright and fresh. VG- . Oversize book may require additional charges for expedited or international shipping.
Seller: DogStar Books, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman; E. McNight Kauffer. Benito Cereno. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1926, 1926.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Description: Hardcover. 4to (12 x 8"), red cloth. Frontis., 122 pp., [2], numerous hand-colored plates. CONDITION: Good +, spine sunned, covers faded and dampstaned at corners, remnant of white label at foot of spine, inner hinges starting to crack; interior clean, fresh, and tight. Limited edition, No. 1232 of 1650 copies. The pictures are "hand-coloured through stencils at the Curwen Press upon Van Gelder paper."
Seller: James Arsenault & Company, ABAA, Arrowsic, ME, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$56.25 + shipping
Description: Edition limited to 1650 copies, small folio, title page and 7 full-page illustrations by E. McKnight Kauffer stenciled at the Curwen Press; original red cloth, gilt-stamped spine; boards unevenly faded, front hinge cracked, small crack at the top of the spine; a fair copy overall but the textblock remains very good; without the dust jacket.
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$60.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 123pp.; HB red w/gilt-beveled edges in clear plastic wrap; rubbed&scuffed w/lt.stain&soil; wear on edges&corners; spine sunned; ft.hinge cracked; some lt.tan w/clean,tight pgs. illus. "The text of this edition of ‘Benito Cereno’, illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer, is reproduced from that of the first (1856) edition of ‘The Piazza Tales’. It is printed in the Walbaum type with the pictures hand-coloured through stencils at the Curwen Press upon Van Gelder paper. This is No.160 of 1650 copies printed for sale in England and America"
Seller: Xochi's Bookstore & Gallery, truth or consequences, NM, U.S.A.
Herman Melville. Benito Cereno. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$62.85 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 123pp. Printed on Van Gelder paper with hand-coloured pictures at the Curwen Press in a limited numbered edition of 1650 copies. This is copy #1640. Red cloth covered boards with beveled edges. Sun faded spine with gilt lettering. Shelf wear to tip of top and tail of spine. Darkened cloth to lower right hand corner of front cover. Untrimmed fore edge and lower page edges. Clean inside pages. Full page colour frontis of sailing ship with additional picture on title page. Light toning with age to fore edge. Tightly bound. In VG+ condition.
Seller: The Bookshop at Beech Cottage, Newbury, United Kingdom
Herman Melville. Benito Cereno [Numbered edition]. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$62.85 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 123pp. Printed on Van Gelder paper with hand-coloured pictures at the Curwen Press in a limited numbered edition of 1650 copies. This is copy #1413. Red cloth covered boards with beveled edges. Crease to cloth at tip of top and tail of spine. Small crease also to lower right hand corner of front cover. Untrimmed fore edge and lower page edges. Clean inside pages. Full page colour frontis of sailing ship with additional picture on title page. Light toning with age to fore edge. Light toning shadow to ffep and rfep. Previous owner's book plate on front paste down. Tightly bound. In VG+ condition.
Seller: The Bookshop at Beech Cottage, Newbury, United Kingdom
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: One of 1650 numbered copies illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer and hand-colored through stencils at the Curwen Press. Bound in full red cloth with the title stamped in gilt on the spine. Spine sunned, adhesive stains on end papers, otherwise very good.
Seller: James & Mary Laurie, Booksellers A.B.A.A, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Herman Melville. BENITO CERENO. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: 122p. A large hardcover book bound in brick-red cloth. Spine slightly sunfaded. Lots of small, spotty stains on cloth. Free endpapers lightly tanned. Otherwise, text clean and binding tight. Limited edition; #91 out of 1,650 copies. Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. Measures approx. 12.4" x 8"
Seller: Kubik Fine Books Ltd., ABAA, Dayton, OH, U.S.A.
MELVILLE Herman.. Benito Cereno. With pictures by E. McKnight Kauffer.. 1926, 1926.
Price: US$66.32 + shipping
Description: London: The Nonesuch Press 1926. 4to. Orig. red buckram (slightly rubbed; spine faded) with bevelled edges. Spine gilt. (2 124pp.). With frontisp. title-vign. full-page plates and text-illusts. all hand-coloured at the Curwen Press. Uncut. Limited edition. Endpapers lightly browned otherwise contents near fine.
Seller: Berkelouw Rare Books, Berrima, NSW, Australia
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. Nonesuch Press, 1926.
Price: US$70.55 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 123pp, illustrated with pictures by E McKnight Kauffer, bound in red buckram, bevelled cover edges, tiny chip in spine edge ; Large quarto
Seller: Castle Hill Books, Llandrindod Wells, United Kingdom
Melville, Herman. BENITO CERENO. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 4to 11" - 13" tall; 123 pages; Covers with some minor rubbing, soiling and wear. Many pages uncut. #132 of 1650.
Seller: Circle City Books, tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
MELVILLE, Herman; KAUFFER, E. McKnight (illus.). Benito Cereno. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 123 p. 31 cm. Partial colour illustrations by Kauffer. Red cloth hardcover in mylar-covered dustjacket. Jacket has numerous chips to edges. Cloth cover discoloured. Bookplate on front pastedown (A. P. Kenrick Edward). Some offsetting to endpapers. Pages are clean and neat. Limited edition of 1650 copies, of which this is no. 1168.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Herman Melville. Benito Cereno. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$76.96 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A smart limited edition copy of this novella from Herman Melville, with hand-coloured illustrations throughout. Limited edition of 1650 copies, of which this is number 1243. Reproduced from that of the first edition of The Piazza Tales, 1856. Illustrated with a frontispiece, vignette title, six plates, and many vignettes. All of which are hand-coloured. Collated, complete. Set in 1799, this novella tells the fictional account of the revolt on a Spanish slave ship captained by Don Benito Cereno. Written by Herman Melville, an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Illustrated by Edward McKnight Kauffer, an American artist and graphic designer. In the original full red cloth binding. Externally, smart with minor shelf wear. Fading to the spine and board edges. The odd mark to the boards. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are very bright and clean. Light age toning to the endpapers. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Melville, Herman. BENITO CERENO. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$79.59 + shipping
Description: . With pictures by E. McKnight Kauffer. Pp. [ii]+124(last colophon), coloured frontispiece and 9 illustrations (6 full page); narrow med. 4to; gilt lettered red buckram over bevelled boards, spine lettered in gilt, the boards slightly scuffed, edges lightly rubbed, the top fore-corner of upper board slightly frayed, edges and spine slightly faded, spine gilt dulled; uncut; book label of David Levine, Sydney, on upper pastedown, the free endpapers offset, short closed tear to fore-edge margin pp. 33/4, a couple of spots of foxing and occasional faint soiling; The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926. Edition limited to 1,650 numbered copies on grey Van Gelder paper. McKitterick 36. *Lacking the dust wrapper. This sea-story originally appeared in Putnam's Monthly Magazine in 1855 and was later published in the limited edition of Melville's collected works and in The Piazzo Tales (1956). For the Nonesuch edition, McKnight Kauffer's illustrations were hand-coloured through stencils at the Curwen Press.
Seller: Kay Craddock - Antiquarian Bookseller, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
MELVILLE, HERMAN. Benito Cereno. London: Nonesuch Press, 1926.
Price: US$80.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: From the Estate of Barbara Walters. Limited Edition.Large 8vo. [2], 1-122 [6] pp. Red cloth with gold lettering on the spine. With pictures by E. McKnight Kauffer. Number 72 of 1650 copies produced. Some fading to the spine and a small spot of discoloration on the back board.
Seller: Clays rare and antique books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$83.37 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Small slim folio, [iv], 122[2] pp, colour frontispiece and 6 plates, plus coloured vignette to title-page and tailpiece to final leaf of text, untrimmed, original red buckram, a little faded on spine, and slightly frayed at top of spine, internally in excellent condition. The plates were hand-coloured through stencils at the Curwen Press on Van Gelder paper. Limited edition, number 733 of 1650 copies. A fictionalised account about the revolt on a Spanish slave ship captained by Don Benito Cereno, first published in three instalments in Putnam's Monthly in 1855; the tale, slightly revised, was included in his short story collection The Piazza Tales that appeared in May 1856.
Seller: Gerald Baker, Bristol, United Kingdom
Price: US$85.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 124 pages, Folio. No DJ. Limited Edition of 1650 copies, of which this is no.696. Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. Text reproduced from that of the First Edition (1856) of "The Piazza Tales". Printed in the Walbaum type, pictures hand-colored through stencils at the Curwen Press upon Van Gelder paper. Red cloth boards with gilt lettering along spine. Shelfwear: light scuffing along edges and cover boards, heavy fading along top edge of front cover and spine, light tanning on inside front covers and free endpapers. Tightly bound, no marks. Volume is in Very Good condition.
Seller: Russian Hill Bookstore, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$96.20 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition with these Kauffer illustrations, one of 1650 numbered copies (this being #897). 4to. 122pp. Full buckram lettered in gold at the spine. With a title-page design, one headpiece, one tailpiece and seven splendid full-page illustrations, all hand-coloured through stencils, by E.McKnight Kauffer. Printed at the Curwen Press on Van Gelder paper. Free endpapers very lightly browned, backstrip lightly faded. Very good indeed, albeit lacking the dust wrapper. Melville's novella concerning a slave revolt on a Spanish merchant ship was first serialized in Putnam's Monthly in 1855 and subsequently a slightly revised version appeared in his 1856 collection 'The Piazza Tales'. This McKnight Kauffer-illustrated edition did not appear for a further seventy years, but is certainly worth the wait.
Seller: Clearwater Books, London, United Kingdom
Melville, Herman. BENITO CERENO. , 1926.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: 1926 Melville, Herman BENITO CERENO London: The Nonesuch Press, 1925 417/1650cc 123pp Illustrated in color E McKnight Kauffer Thin 4to Spine faded, covers somewhat discolored Previous owner's elegant bookplate on front pastedown, else fine bright copy.
Seller: Columbia Books, ABAA/ILAB, MWABA, Columbia, MO, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 4to, 122 pages, maroon clotn, a trifle sunned; ex libris Charles Danniel Frey. Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. [ McKitterick, Rendall, & Dreyfus, 36 ]. Hand-colored illustrations. Copy no. 1449. .
Seller: Thomas J. Joyce And Company, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Herman Melville. Benito Cereno. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$102.61 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Herman Melville's interesting novella set on a slave ship, beautiful illustrated with hand-coloured plates and vignettes throughout, published by the Nonesuch Press. A limited edition of 1650 copies, of which this is numbered 8.'Benito Cereno' is a novella by the American author Herman Melville. In this novella Melville fictionalizes a revolt on a Spanish slave ship which is captained by Don Benito Cereno, set in 1799.Illustrated with a hand-coloured frontispiece, hand-coloured vignette title, six hand-coloured plates, and hand-coloured vignettes.Collated, complete.The Nonesuch Press specialised in limited edition and private press. They were founded by Francis Meynell, his second wife Vera Mendel, and their friend David Garnett. Their aspiration was for their publications to be aligned with the same aesthetic standards as the private press movement. They were unusual as they used a small Albion press to design the books, but had them printed by commercial printers. In doing so, books with the quality of a fine-press were produced, but available to a wider audience at lower prices.Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. In the original publisher's cloth binding. Externally, smart. Spine and front board are a little faded. A few minor marks to the boards. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean. Most paged unopened to the top edge. Near Fine
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$102.61 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 124 pages, Folio. No DJ. Limited Edition of 1650 copies, of which this is no.804. Six full-page illustrations by E. McKnight Kauffer. Text reproduced from that of the First Edition (1856) of "The Piazza Tales". Printed in the Walbaum type, pictures hand-colored through stencils at the Curwen Press upon Van Gelder paper. 31.5 x 21 cm. Red cloth boards with gilt lettering along spine. Bevelled edges. Spine slightly faded. [McKitterick, Rendall, & Dreyfus, 36]. Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890-1954) rose to fame as a poster designer for London Transport & Shell. His illustrations for this book (printed by the Curwen Press0 used watercolour or gouache. Desmond Flower, quoted in Haworth-Booth's biography of Kauffer, states that the frontispiece to Benito Cereno is "one of the most brilliant designs ever conceived; with pen and two tints- grey and mauve - he built up a shimmering design of a ship becalmed at last light which has an intricate beauty of which the eye can never tire"(1979). Catharine Shipps writes "Benito Cereno's message resonates with the current efforts of activists to bring attention to the ways in which authority figures translate the activities of black citizens. America is increasingly debating the biases among our authority figures, specifically those involved in law enforcement. For instance, recent attention to law enforcement discrimination towards black Americans has spawned the group #BlackLivesMatter, which fights for justice in such cases. Benito Cereno is riddled with translations that create crises for the characters and readers forced to interpret ambiguous signals that serve to reveal their prejudiced perspectives. I suggest that the text, especially in its deposition section, undermines the authority of law enforcement narratives by subtly revealing the cultural biases that sometimes guide them." (Everything was mute and calm; everything grey; Benito Cereno, White Authority and #BlacklivesMatter. 2015).
Seller: Jason Burley, Camden Lock Books, ABA, ILAB & IOBA, London, United Kingdom
MELVILLE Herman.; NONESUCH PRESS. Benito Cereno. , 1926.
Price: US$103.90 + shipping
Description: Illustrated with pochoir and line drawings after E. McKnight Kauffer. Small folio, original red-brown buckram, very slightly faded, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. London, The Nonesuch Press. Number 1600 of 1650 numbered copies. Printed at the Curwen Press with the illustrations hand-coloured through stencils. McKnight Kauffer employed this medium for the special copies of the Nonesuch ?Anatomy of Melancholy?, but the above represents his first extended use. Spine faded (fading on to the top edge of the upper cover), otherwise an excellent copy.
Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA, London, United Kingdom
MELVILLE Herman.; NONESUCH PRESS. Benito Cereno. , 1926.
Price: US$103.90 + shipping
Description: Illustrated with pochoir and line drawings after E. McKnight Kauffer. Small folio, original red-brown buckram, very slightly faded, fore and bottom edges untrimmed. London, The Nonesuch Press. Number 1178 of 1650 numbered copies. Printed at the Curwen Press with the illustrations hand-coloured through stencils. McKnight Kauffer employed this medium for the special copies of the Nonesuch ?Anatomy of Melancholy?, but the above represents his first extended use. Spine faded (fading on to the top edge of the upper cover), otherwise an excellent copy.
Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA, London, United Kingdom
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. The Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$110.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Large 8vo. [2], 1-122 [6] pp. Red cloth with gold lettering on the spine. With pictures by E. McKnight Kauffer. Number 125 of 1650 copies produced. Some fading to the spine and a small spot of discoloration on the front board.
Seller: Evening Star Books, ABAA/ILAB, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Price: US$179.57 + shipping
Description: Tall 8vo. pp. 122, [2]; 6 full page illustrations hand-coloured at the Curwen Press by the stencil or pochoir process. Original red buckram, Fine in dust wrapper with a large diagonal tear to the front panel and several shorter tears. Limited Edition, number 1123 of 1650 copies.
Seller: Michael S. Kemp, Bookseller, Sheerness, KENT, United Kingdom
Kauffer, E. McKnight [Illustrator]. Benito Cereno by Herman Melville. Nonesuch Press, London, 1926.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Description: 123 pages. 30.5 x 20.5 cm. Illustrated with pochior plates by E. McKnight Kauffer. Limited edition, copy 126 of 1650. This edition reproduced from that of the first (1856) edition of 'Piazza Tales'. Printed in the Walbaum type on Van Gelder paper with the pictures hand-coloured through stencils at the Curwen Press. Bookplate. Orig. dark salmon cloth with beveled edges, spine a hint faded. Near fine
Seller: Royoung Bookseller, Inc. ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman. Benito Cereno. London: The Nonesuch Press, 1926.
Price: US$225.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer. First edition thus, limited edition, one of 1650 copies, of which this is number 1566. Folio. Publisher's red cloth with title in gilt to spine, Knopf president William A. Koshland's bookplate to front pastedown; original dust jacket stamped in blue. Very good book with tiny chip to head of spine, hint of toning to extremities, light spotting to top of rear board, and a small spot of dampstaining to top left corner of bookplate; fair unclipped dust jacket with some toning to spine, a handful of small chips to edges, front panel separated at hinge, rear jacket flap separated, front jacket flap cracked and with light dampstaining, some tears and chips to spine partially obscuring "Melville" on lower spine. Overall, an excellent copy with bright illustrations, in its scarce original dust jacket. In Benito Cereno, Captain Amaso Delano, heading an American ship, senses that another ship on the sea might be in distress and climbs aboard it. While on the ship, it is at last dramatically revealed that a slave revolt had taken place on the boat, and that the ship's captain, Benito Cereno, and his men are being held captive. The story, told from the perspective of Delano, is a famous example of unreliable narration, and "the story's final effect is to force readers to retrace their own racism to discover how, as a condition of mind, it distorts our vision." In modern times, the story has been hailed as one of Melville's greatest accomplishments. It was originally published in Putnam's Monthly, as were other now-classic short works by Melville, like "Bartleby the Scrivener'' and "The Encantadas." This Nonesuch Press edition is the first separate edition of one of Melville's short prose works. This copy was previously owned by William A. Koshland, the former president and chairman of Alfred A. Knopf publishing house. One of Koshland's biggest successes at Knopf was taking a chance on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) and publishing it after a number of other publishing houses had passed on the book.
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$4500.00 + shipping
Description: Limited Edition/Unique. Hardcover. Kathy Abbott started bookbinding in 1989. She served a four-year apprenticeship in bookbinding and then gained an HND from the London College of Printing, followed by a BA (Hons) Bookbinding from Roehampton University. Kathy is a partner of Benchmark Bindery, set up in 2009 with Tracey Rowledge. She teaches Advanced level Fine Binding at the City Lit, London and conducts many workshops across the UK and overseas. Tight, bright, and unmarred. Bound in full grey goatskin with recessed hand-colored paper inlays, teg (distressed Caplaih leaf), handmade paper endpages and doublures decorated with acrylic ink. 8vo. Numbered limited edition, this being 656 of 1650. Fine in Fine Dropspine Archival Box
Seller: Lux Mentis, Booksellers, ABAA/ILAB, Portland, ME, U.S.A.