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Melville, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. Wiley and Putnam. London: John Murray, New York, London and New York, 1846.

Price: US$200.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Very good, in three quarter forest green morocco. 307 pages, "grove" on page 101, all other third printing points present. Page 163 misnumbered as 463. Foxing throughout, major on some pages, but contents still fully legible. Binding worn, but volume still square and fully intact.

Seller: James Graham, Bookseller, ABAA, Palm Desert, CA, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the Maquesas. With "The Story of Tobey" as a Sequal. The Revised Edition, with a Sequal. 2 Parts in One. 1846. An Early edition of Melville's Fist Book. New York.. Wiley & Putnam, New York, 1846.

Price: US$250.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, third or later printing. Original embossed cloth, patterned end papers. With "463" for "163" on p. 163. Lacking all maps and illustrations. 2pp. of ads. Acceptable condition for its age. Contemporary ownership signature dated "1846."

Seller: sonalsorises, los angeles, CA, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman.. Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the Marquesa. New York Wiley & Putnam; London: John Murray, New York and London, 1846.

Price: US$522.50 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Original black morocco leather with raised bands and rulling and gilt lettering on spine. Black pebbled cloth boards. The spine has chipping to the crown and the leather is starting to split but is still presentable. The book appears to have been extensively touched up with black coloring. Half title page has top inch replaced with modern paper. Dedication page has pink ink marginalia which reads "The next year after 'Typee' appeared, Mr. Melville married Judge Shaw's daughter. The book is dedicated to Lemuel Shaw. Two volumes in one, as issued. 19th century penciled marginalia on several pages. Sporadic foxing as is not uncommon. 307pp. Page 163 misnumbered as 463. Size: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall

Seller: Ziern-Hanon Galleries, Frontenac, MO, U.S.A.

MELVILLE, Herman. Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the Marquesas; the Revised Edition, with a Sequel. Wiley and Putnam, New York, 1846.

Price: US$600.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Revised American edition, with the sequel, first printing, second state. Two parts in one. Small octavo. 308pp. Contemporary half straight grain morocco gilt and cloth, with the glazed pink paper label of "J.H. Oliphant, Book-binder. Oswego, N.Y." on the front pastedown. Contemporary penciled owner's name, lacks front fly, rubbing at the joints and extremities, but still a pleasing very good copy. Melville's first book, his dramatic account of his adventures in the South Seas was immediately popular, but he was accused of fictionalizing events (these accusations spurred, in part, by the book's disdain for missionaries). Melville's shipmate, Toby Greene, read one such critical review and was prompted to write his own short account verifying most of Melville's tale. Consequently, this edition deletes some passages critical of missionaries, but adds "The Story of Toby" vindicating the author of deceit. *BAL* 13654.

Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman. TYPEE: A PEEP AT POLYNESIAN LIFE, DURING A FOUR MONTHS' RESIDENCE IN A VALLEY OF THE MARQUESAS Part 1. (Wiley & Putnam's Library of American Books). New York:Wiley& Putnam, 1846.

Price: US$900.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: New York:Wiley  & Putnam. 1846. 1st edition of the revised edition (per BAL#13654.absence of the statement The Revised Edition with a Sequel; absence of semi-colon following Marquesas; absence of a period following Street. Bound without map). Two parts bound in one, with sequel.  xiv+307+2pp ads for Books of Travel and Library of American Books+(xv)-xxiii Publishers advertisment. .  Hardcover.  Bound in three quarters leather with brown boards. Leather quite scuffed and worn with edge points worn to boards. Hinges rubbed with boards still attached, but starting to seperate from top edge. Internally, first free end-page is detached but laid in with some chipping to outside edges. Otherwise, pages free of previous owners marks or signatures, remarkable clean and bright. The binding is tight and hinges intact. Aside from binding wear, a very good solid copy.  

Seller: Parnassus Book Service, Inc, YarmouthPort, MA, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman.. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the Marquesas with Notices of the French Occupation of Tahiti and the Provisional Cession of the Sandwich Islands to Lord Paulet. [Two Volumes in One.]. New York: Wiley and Putnam., 1846.

Price: US$950.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: 8vo., 325 pp., Very Good, Blue Leather on Blue Cloth (modern commercial binding), with minor stains, rubbing, & edge wear on covers; marginal foxing throughout, ink blotches, & staining in text block; staining on end papers & edges of text block; some pencil scribbles on end papers; shelf wear. Illustrated. Provenance: John Ruyle [bookplate]. Title page for Vol. II appears after p. 166. First US Edition, preceding publication of First Edition (issued in the UK) by a few days.

Seller: Wittenborn Art Books, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

MELVILLE, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in a Valley of the Marquesas with notices of the French occupation of Tahiti and the provisional cession of the Sandwich Islands to Lord Paulet. Wiley and Putnam, New York, 1846.

Price: US$1045.00 + shipping

Description: Two volumes in one; small octavo (18.5cm.); contemporary half red morocco over marbled boards, gilt-lettered spine; xv,[1],166;[4],[167]-325pp.; integral map frontispiece. Extremities rubbed, preliminaries quite foxed, some soiling to textblock , else About Very Good and sound. Contemporary Baltimore bookseller ticket to front pastedown. Melville's first book, originally published the same year in London as Narrative of a Four Months' Residence Among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands. BAL 13653.

Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman. NARRATIVE OF A FOUR MONTHS' RESIDENCE AMONG THE NATIVES OF A VALLEY OF THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS or, A Peep At Polynesian Life. John Murray, London, 1846.

Price: US$1170.00 + shipping

Description: 1st Edition. Soft cover. First Edition of Melville's first book, preceding the American edition of the same year, which appeared a month later under its more familiar title, TYPEE. This London edition was set directly from Melville's manuscript. The New York, Wiley & Putnam US edition was set from proof sheets of the Murray edition. The bibliography of the Murray edition of 4048 copies is complex [2,500 in wrappers, priced half a crown, & five shillings for cloth], as noted in BAL with various issue point attending & no satisfactory publication sequence yet established. 8vo, xvi, (xvii-xviii), 285. This copy is the BAL First Edition, Second Issue, bound in contemporary half tree calf, gilt over contemporary marbled paper covered boards, the spine neatly laid down, with map on p.xviii; bound without catalogue & with 'Pomare' for 'Pomarea', p.19, line 1: originally released as vol. XV in Murray's Home and Colonial Library series. BAL 13652. 'Melville was the first author of genius to use the South Seas as material and most of those who followed saw the region through his eyes and adopted his patterns' Day 51 [Pacific Islands Literature, 100 Basic Books]. A very good copy.

Seller: TBCL The Book Collector's Library, Montreal, QC, Canada

MELVILLE, Herman. [Typee] Narrative of a Four Months' Residence Among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands; or, a Peep at Polynesian Life. John Murray, London, 1846.

Price: US$6000.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo. Map at p. [xvii]. xvi, [2], 285, [1] pp., + 16 pp. catalogue dated March 1846 (BAL "B" variant, no priority), with half-title. Publisher's red cloth (BAL variant B), covers stamped in blind, spine titled in gilt. An exceptional copy, with just a trace of wear to front board fore-edge and rear joint, small chip from tail end of spine A fine first edition in publisher's cloth of Melville's first book, preceding the American edition of the same year, which appeared a month later under its now more familiar title, TYPEE. This London edition was set from Melville's manuscript, whereas the New York Wiley & Putnam edition was set from proof sheets of the Murray edition. "Murray's first printing consisted of 4,048 copies (2,500 of them in wrappers), priced at five shillings in cloth and half a crown in wrappers; the book became a profitable one for Murray, with further printings required, but Melville's earnings did not go up with increased sales, since Murray had purchased the copyright from Melville for £100 . " (Howe Library).Recent scholarship (v. Thomas Tanselle, The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. I, p. 307) has cast doubt on Blanck's characterization of the two states of sheet C as "issues," and Blanck himself admits that "no wholly satisfactory publication sequence has been established for the London issues of this book ."REFERENCE: BAL 13652 First edition, second state of C2 (p. 19, l. 1 reads "Pomare").

Seller: Bull's Head Rare Books, ABAA, ILAB, Lebanon, NJ, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman. [Typee] Narrative of a Four Months' Residence Among the Native of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands; or, a Peep at Polynesian Life. John Murray, London, 1846.

Price: US$7500.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, second state of C2 (p. 19, l. 1 reads "Pomare"). Map at p. [xvii]. xvi, [ii], 285, [1] pp., + 16 pp. terminal catalogue dated March 1846 (BAl "B" variant, no priority), with half-title. 1 vols. 8vo. Fine first edition in publisher's cloth of Melville's first book. A fine first edition in publisher's cloth of Melville's first book, preceding the American edition of the same year, which appeared a month later under its now more familiar title, TYPEE. This London edition was set from Melville's manuscript, whereas the New York Wiley & Putnam edition was set from proof sheets of the Murray edition. "Murray's first printing consisted of 4,048 copies (2,500 of them in wrappers), priced at five shillings in cloth and half a crown in wrappers; the book became a profitable one for Murray, with further printings required, but Melville's earnings did not go up with increased sales, since Murray had purchased the copyright from Melville for £100 . " (Howe Library). Recent scholarship (v. Thomas Tanselle, The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. I, p. 307) has cast doubt on Blanck's characterization of the two states of sheet C as "issues," and Blanck himself admits that "no wholly satisfactory publication sequence has been established for the London issues of this book . " BAL 13652 Publisher's red cloth (BAL variant B), covers stamped in blind, spine titled in gilt. An exceptionally fine copy, with just a trace of wear to front board fore-edge and small chip from tail end of spine Map at p. [xvii]. xvi, [ii], 285, [1] pp., + 16 pp. terminal catalogue dated March 1846 (BAl "B" variant, no priority), with half-title. 1 vols. 8vo First edition, second state of C2 (p. 19, l. 1 reads "Pomare").

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Melville, Herman. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life. During a Four Months' Residence in A Valley of the Marquesas.. Wiley and Putnam, New York, 1846.

Price: US$250000.00 + shipping

Description: First edition of Melville's first book and his most popular during his lifetime. Octavo, two volumes bound into one in the original cloth stamped in blind with gilt titles to the spine, frontispiece map, both half-titles and 6 pages of publisher's advertisements at rear. BAL 13653. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper one month after publication, "Captain Ball, With the respects of the author, Westport April 18th 1846." The recipient, Captain Charles Ball was captain of the whaling ship Theophilus Chase, on which Thomas Melville, the author's youngest brother, set sail for the first time at the age of sixteen. Thomas's decision to follow in his older brother's footsteps was likely due to hearing Herman's stories of his time at sea which began in 1841 with his voyage aboard the whaling ship the Acushnet. Thomas set sail aboard the Theophilus Chase on March, 18 1846 for the South Atlantic from Westport but was homeward bound by April, at which point Herman apparently visited Westport and inscribed this copy of Typee, just one month after its American publication on March 17th. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Books inscribed by Melville are scarce. Inspired by Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s new book Two Years Before the Mast and Jeremiah N. Reynolds's account in the May 1839 issue of The Knickerbocker magazine of the hunt for a great white sperm whale named Mocha Dick, Herman Melville travelled to New Bedford, Massachusetts where he secured a position aboard the whaler Acushnet in 1841. On January 3, 1841, the Acushnet set sail and traveled to the Bahamas and the South Pacific, and later up the coast of Chile, to the Galapagos Islands, and Peru. In the summer of 1842, Melville and his shipmate Richard Tobias Greene jumped ship at Nuku Hiva Bay in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands where they stayed for several months before leaving the island aboard the Australian whaler Lucy Ann, bound for Tahiti. Melville would return home to write his first book, Typee, a provocative and lively account of his exploits in the exotic South Seas which made him notorious as the "man who lived among the cannibals." "A classic of American literature [and] the pioneer in South Sea romance" (Arthur Stedman).

Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.