Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: Frontispiece portrait, facsimile letter, facsimile title-page of Typee. xii, 195 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. BAL 13678 Linen backed boards, printed paper label. Top of boards rubbed, else a fine copy in dust jacket with back panel advertising the Constable standard edition of the Works (edgeworn, with some losses to front panel and top margins) Frontispiece portrait, facsimile letter, facsimile title-page of Typee. xii, 195 pp. 1 vols. 8vo
Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$161.03 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Top edge gilt. Spine slightly faded, and a little worn at head and foot, lower cover slightly marked, lower hinge very slightly cracked. [Edition limited to 750 copies]: the fifth volume in Constable's handsome 16-volume collected edition that, following Raymond M. Weavers ground-breaking biography, Herman Melville: mariner and mystic (1921), revived a literary reputation that had stalled with Melville's death aged 72 in 1891. The set was published in three batches - volumes i-viii in 1922, ix-xii in 1923, xiii-xvi in 1924; volume xiii constituted the first publication of Billy Budd, the manuscript of which Weaver had found among Melville's papers. Redburn was first published by Richard Bentley in 1849.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$199.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Limited Edition (one of only 750 copies printed) of Melville's second novel, first published by John Murray, in London, on March 30, 1847. Royal 8vo (226 x 142mm): xiv,375,[1]pp. Publisher's slate-blue cloth, spine and covers paneled in blind, spine lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed, coated maroon end papers, title page in French blue and black. An excellent example, firmly bound, spine barely lightened, text clean and crisp throughout. BAL 13680. Hill 1137 (first Edition). Volume II of the 16-volume Works of Herman Melville, Standard Edition, publication of which marked a key event in the Melville revival of the 1920s, rescuing the neglected writer from obscurity and securing him a prominent place in the American literary canon. Omoo, the sequel to Melville's first novel, Typee, is based on his experiences in the South Pacific, and tells of the narrator's participation in a mutiny on a whale ship and his subsequent wanderings in Tahiti. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$257.65 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Top edge gilt. Spine very slightly faded. [Edition limited to 750 copies]: the sixth volume in Constable's handsome 16-volume collected edition that, following Raymond M. Weaver's ground-breaking biography, Herman Melville: mariner and mystic (1921), revived a literary reputation that had stalled with Melville's death aged 72 in 1891. The set was published in three batches - volumes i-viii in 1922, ix-xii in 1923, xiii-xvi in 1924; volume xiii constituted the first publication of Billy Budd, the manuscript of which Weaver had found among Melville's papers. White Jacket was first published by Richard Bentley in 1850.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$257.65 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Top edge gilt. Spine very slightly faded. [Edition limited to 750 copies]: the second volume in Constable's handsome 16-volume collected edition that, following Raymond M. Weaver's ground-breaking biography, Herman Melville: mariner and mystic (1921), revived a literary reputation that had stalled with Melville's death aged 72 in 1891. The set was published in three batches - volumes i-viii in 1922, ix-xii in 1923, xiii-xvi in 1924; volume xiii constituted the first publication of Billy Budd, the manuscript of which Weaver had found among Melville's papers. Omoo, billed as a sequel to Typee, was first published by John Murray in 1847.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$450.89 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 2 vols. Top edges gilt. Spine very slightly faded, first and last pages of vol. ii slightly spotted. [Edition limited to 750 copies] - the second and third volumes in Constable's handsome 16-volume collected edition that, following Raymond M. Weaver's ground-breaking biography, Herman Melville: mariner and mystic (1921), revived a literary reputation that had stalled with Melville's death aged 72 in 1891; these with the bookplates of Nicholas Frederic Brady. The set was published in three batches - volumes i-viii in 1922, ix-xii in 1923, xiii-xvi in 1924; volume xiii constituted the first publication of Billy Budd, the manuscript of which Weaver had found among Melville's papers. Rejected by Murray, Mardi was first published by Richard Bentley in 1849. Nicholas Frederic Brady (1878-1930) was a Catholic philanthropist and businessman based in New York; his elaborate engraved bookplate shows a panelled bookroom giving on to the sea - a sailing boat framed in its window.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$495.00 + shipping
Description: Rare First Edition in the Constable printing of Melville's Works. One of 750 copies only Large 8vo, publishers original blue cloth lettered in gilt and stamped in blind, t.e.g., with the finely coated maroon endleaves. x, 403 pp. A superior copy of this very scarce book, fine and bright and unusually well preserved, without wear or blemish, as pristine, unopened and essentially mint. RARE FIRST EDITION OF REDBURN, HIS FIRST VOYAGE, IN THE CONSTABLE COLLECTION, A HIGHLY REGARDED PRINTING OF MELVILLE'S WORKS. Between 1875 and 1920 Melville had fallen deep into obscurity. William P. Trent's A HISTORY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1903, gives Melville but three pages out of 593, and Wendell and Greenough's A HISTORY OF LITERATURE IN AMERICA, 1904, gives him nothing at all. The author's star began to rise in 1921 with the publication of Weaver's biography. The first volume of the collected works was published the following year and did much to expand American awareness of Melville's art. It stands alone as a truly important edition with the inclusion of all of Melville's work known at the time including 'The Poems' and 'Billy Budd,' both of which were here published separately for the first time. REDBURN, His First Voyage, appears as Volume VI of the Standard Edition set. Melville's novel, based on his own experiences as a boy from a poverty stricken New York family who ships out to sea on his first voyage bound for Liverpool. In 1837 Melville left his impoverished New York family on a similar voyage. It was the young boy's first taste of life on the ocean and an experience that would instill a lifelong love of the sea. That love was so profound that it is seen throughout virtually all of his writings. Prior to setting off to sea Melville had been employed at a hat shop. And if his voyage to Liverpool can be viewed as the beginning of his literary career, American literature owes an extraordinary amount to the experience Melville had on that raw morning down on the merchant docks of New York City.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: [First edition of Billy Budd] Standard Edition, limited to 500 sets. 10 volumes; 24 cm. Bound in publisher's blue cloth. Clean, unmarked pages. Minor shelf wear. Contents: V. 1. Typee; v. 2. Omoo : a narrative of adventures in the South Seas; v. 3-4. Mardi : and a voyage thither; v. 5. Redburn : his first voyage; v. 6. White jacket, or, The world in a man-of-war; v. 9. Pierre, or, The ambiguities; v. 10. The Piazza tales; v. 11. Israel Potter : his fifty years of exile; v. 12. The confidence-man : his masquerade; " This set's publication is the result of the Melville revival amidst the rise of Modernism. Volume 13 contains the first edition of "Billy Budd," the first publication of nine sketches, and the first book publication of ten other stories and sketches. "Billy Budd" was left unfinished by Melville at his death; his widow attempted to put the manuscript in some order but eventually abandoned it. It was discovered in a cake tin almost 30 years later when the biographer Raymond Weaver paid a visit to Melville's granddaughter. The version in the present publication was prepared in relative haste. It was not until 1962 that the Melville scholars Hayford and Sealts published what is now considered the authoritative text. Raymond Weaver's work, Herman Melville, Mariner and Mystic was the first biography of Melville and appeared in 1921. Weaver's book "did much to encourage the resurgence of interest in [Melville's] writings" (Reese). This copy is number 522 of 750. BAL 13680. See Fussell, Mary Everett Burton. 'Billy Budd': Melville's Happy Ending." Studies in Romanticism 15, no. 1 (1976): 43â57." - Christie's Auction 20531, Sept. 14, 2022, "The Herman Melville Collection of William S. Reese"
Seller: Sequitur Books, Boonsboro, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$6000.00 + shipping
Description: 16 volumes. 8vo, publisher's blue blind-stamped and gilt-lettered cloth, t.e.g. 14 of the 16 volumes are in printed dust jackets. Standard, Edition; No. 639 of 750 copies (Vol. XVI has been supplied from another set). The untrimmed fore-edges are lightly foxed; first few and last few leaves of Billy Budd (Vol. XIII) and Poems (Vol. XVI) also lightly foxed. All the volumes are bright and unworn, except for Vol. XVI, Poems, which is slightly dulled at the spine. The dust jackets are sunned at the spine; some with a few tiny chips. Additional postage applicable for this multiple-volume set.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$6250.00 + shipping
Description: Edition limited to 750 copies (this, no. 460), signed by the publisher with initials, 16 volumes, 8vo, title pages printed in blue and black, original blue cloth, gilt-lettered spines; several spines unevenly sunned, bookseller's description tipped to front free endpaper of volume I, else near fine. BAL 13680, 13682 (Billy Budd) and 13683 (Poems). Contains the first printed appearance of Billy Budd as well as 14 other poems, fragments, etc.
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$8618.15 + shipping
Description: 1922 - 1924. 16 Bde. OLn mit Blindprägung & Goldschnitt. Sprache: Englisch, Einbände vereinzelt fleckig, teilweise leicht verblichen, ein Bd. mit kleinem Einriss am oberen Kapital (wurde restauriert); sonst wohlerhaltene Bde.! 2200 Gramm.
Seller: Eugen Küpper, Muenster, Germany
MELVILLE, Herman. The Complete Works of Herman Melville. Constable, London, 1922.
Price: US$9500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 16 volumes. 8vo, publisher's original blue cloth with ornately blind-stamped covers and gilt-lettered spines; burgundy endpapers, uncut edges, top edges gilt. London: Constable & Company, 1922-1924. First Collected Edition. The Standard Edition, limed to 750 sets signed by the publisher. Includes the first publication of Billy Budd, found posthumously in Conrad's papers. A fine solid set, with spines just a touch sunned.
Seller: Argosy Book Store, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$9750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: -1924. The first collected edition of Melville's works. In the publisher's original blue cloth with purple-coated endpapers. Top edges gilt. Complete in 16 Volumes, as follows: I. Typee; II. Omoo; III Mardi (volume one); IV. Mardi (volume two); V. Redburn; VI. White-Jacket; VII. Moby-Dick (volume one); VIII. Moby-Dick (volume two); IX. Pierre; X. Israel Potter; XI. Piazza Tales; XII. Confidence Man; XIII. Billy Budd and Other Prose Pieces; XIV. Clarel (volume one); XV. Clarel (volume two); XVI. Poems. Number 535 of 750 sets, signed and numbered on the limitation page in Volume One. With scarce original DUSTJACKETS on Volumes II, XIII, XIV, XV, and XVI, being the first appearance in print of "Billy Budd," and only the second printing of Melville's epic poem "Clarel." Some spines are faded more than others, as is typically the case with this set. There is some spotting to the spine, with some wear at the foot and and dulling to the gilt of Volume XIII (Billy Budd). All five dust jackets have some chipping with loss to the spine ends. The Constable set was originally planned as twelve volumes, collecting all the prose published by Melville in his lifetime. The first eight volumes came out in the fall of 1922. Four more volumes appeared in March of the following year (with title-pages dated 1923). It was then decided to extend the set to include Melville's poetry and uncollected prose. A final four volumes appeared in April of 1924 (with title-pages dated 1924), containing much material that had never before been published. Volume XVI, Poems, prints many small pieces for the first time. A Very Good set, rarely found with any complete dustjackets, especially on the more significant volumes. BAL 13680
Seller: Clarel Rare Books, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Melville, Herman. The Works of Herman Melville. Constable, London, 1922.
Price: US$9999.80 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 1922-24. Complete in 16 volumes. Original blue cloth. The shade of blue of several volumes is lighter than that of the others—a manufacturing difference. No. 511 of 750 sets with a notation below that is indiscernible. This set is important because it contains so many first printings (including the important Billy Budd and all of the poems except “Battle Pieces,” “John Marr,” and “Timoleon), a number of first book printings, and the First British Printing of Clarel. Previous owner’s name in pencil in Vol. 16. All volumes Near Fine except Vol. 6, which has a slight bump and fading on the spine and is Very Good.
Seller: Pride and Prejudice-Books, Ballston Lake, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$10000.00 + shipping
Description: 16 volumes, tall 8vo, original cloth, t.e.g., dust jackets. The set is in exceptionally fine condition, with all hinges firm and tight, and with no fading to the spines, and no wear or tear. The set is in exceptionally fine condition, with all hinges firm and tight, and with no fading to the spines, and no wear or tear The Standard Edition, complete. Limited to 750 sets, including the first publication of one of Melville's masterworks, the novella Billy Budd, which was discovered in manuscript among Melville's papers at the time. BAL 13680, noting that the volume containing The Confidence-Man also contains a bibliography of the first editions of Melville's prose works by Michael Sadleir. BAL entries also exist for individual volumes which include first editions: Billy Budd, BAL 13682, noting the contents which represent "pieces here first located in book form", including the title story, which was "never before published"; Poems: Battle-Pieces, John Marr and Other Sailors, Timoleon and Miscellaneous Poems, BAL 13683, noting that the "Author's Note", p. 162, "Miscellaneous Poems", pp. (297)-349, and "At the Hostelry", pp. (351)-434, first appear here in book form. Regarding the format of the Constable set, BAL specifies: "LP cloth: blue. Maroon-coated endpapers. Top edges gilt." descriptions to which the present set conforms. We are not aware, however, of another variant printing of the set. The Standard Edition was published episodically, with the inevitable consequence that complete sets are rare. Seven of the volumes in the present set are in their original dust jackets, which are extremely rare and fragile, having been printed on heavy, acidic paper. The dust jacketed volumes include the first four volumes: Typee, Omoo, and Mardi (Vols. III-IV), and Vols. X-XII: The Piazza Tales, Israel Potter, and The Confidence Man. Remnants of other dust jackets, chiefly inside flaps, are included in a few of the other volumes.
Seller: James S. Jaffe Rare Books, LLC, ABAA, Deep River, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$22544.60 + shipping
Description: The Standard Edition, number 23 of 750 sets only, signed by the publisher as issued, and rarely encountered in a contemporary binding in such nice condition, given the episodic nature of the publication. The Standard Edition comprises all of Melville's major works, including the first edition of the novella Billy Budd, which was discovered in manuscript among Melville's papers in 1924. 16 volumes, octavo (222 x 143 mm). Contemporary blue half morocco, spines lettered in gilt with nautical motifs, blue watered silk sides, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. A fine set.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom