1975 Enriched Classic Pocket Edition Moby Dick

The cover art is almost the only thing that warrants mention about this edition.

Its abridged, and "enriched" by the addition of some supplemental material in the middle of the book.  Some of it is moderately interesting.

But the cover art? A left pegged Ahab  screaming with harpoon in hand.  What is he waiting for? Why is he facing the viewer when Moby Dick clearly is behind him and going down .   I want to scream "turn around you freak!"

The book is abridged and goofy which is not a formula for success.

1975? I was out of college 3 years, working in manufacturing for my father, married and living in our first home.

Nelson Rockefeller was vice president, and if I had the ability to choose how and when and who I could be, I would choose to be Nelson Rockefeller.....

1988 The Northwestern-Newberry Edition MOBY DICK

This is the collection's Northwestern Newberry Edition of Moby Dick.

In Moby Dick circles this is the accepted text for the novel. The editors, Hayford, Parker and Tanselle, aimed at presenting the text as near as Melville's intention as the "evidence permits."

I purchased this book new in 1988, and long before the nugget of The Moby-Dick Collection was found.

Whenever I look at this book I remember 1988 as a watershed year in my life. The year I lay about the pool reading Jude the Obscure, already noted. The year I bought my first business and the unfortunate year of my separation and ultimate divorce from the mother of our children.

Perhaps, in buying this book, I knew I was beginning a quest of sorts myself.

This book reminds me too that 1988 was the year I declared my love to the second of the three great female loves of my life. She left my life in 1991 and I never have spoken or acknowledged her since, except to a very very small number of intimate friends to whom I have detailed her importance in my life.  It is only recently that I have begun to talk openly about my love of her with people who knew her. People who are not intimate friends of mine, but friends non the less.

Such is the journey of peoples lives: complex, wonderful and ever changing. Some call it baggage, I think it is fascinating.

This blog was meant to be a catalogue of books, aimed at highlighting the importance of the printed bound volume in contrast to the temporary fleeting electronic media.  However, I feel that when a book has a personal connection and meaning, I need to divulge that as well. In cataloguing these books as not only objects but objects with meanings and memories the purpose of the blog achieved.

Madmen meets Moby Dick

Thanks to NCF, long time TMDC reader!

This is the art of LA artist Josh Agle, aka SHAG.

Samples here.


His web site here. 

A bit Disney, a bit Madmen, a bit Moby Dick.

Reader MFanning pointed out that the glass bottle is in the shape of a TV screen.   Old school shape by the way... soon to be forgotten as the flat screen becomes completely ubiquitous.


NCF works at the SMFA, and has been fof for ever!   Thanks Nicole!

1926 Modern Library Moby-Dick - Two Prizes

Here is the 1926 Modern Library Moby-Dick, classic red cloth cover from the house of Bennett Cerf, already covered in a previous post.

On the inside is a large award plate from the Halifax Academy, June 19, 1942 given to Douglas Rogers, for the Grade 10 prize in mathematics.

A search from Halifax Academy failed to produce anything for the school, only the motto E Mari Merces confirms the connection with Halifax Canada.

In thinking about this volume, given 69 years ago to a young Doug Rogers, we pondered how proud he must have been to receive it. We can see him walking up to the person who today would be called "head of school", shaking their hand and almost defiantly walking back to retake his seat among his peers.

We then recalled a similar award, given almost 19 years later to the editor of TMDC, who remembers all too well the elation he felt when he received the Armstrong Award at the Sheppard Knapp School, outside of Worcester Mass. - now defunct.  The Armstrong award was given in memory of a lad who fell from a tree to his untimely death. The precise characteristics of the children who received the award were always a mystery, it was not academic nor sports related. Now it could be said it was a catch all kind of thing, given to some kid otherwise left out of the award stream, perhaps too shy to have close friends, too normal to have successes in sports, too smart to excel in main stream academics. But a likable child non the less, a child everyone would agree was a good kid.

The letter in Olson's Small Boat Seamanship, with yellowing tape, is in the controlled precise and neat hand of Mrs. Halkyard, the wife of the Headmaster, and the woman who began Mr. Pettit's latin journey. There is a decided left learn to the letters, signaling perhaps left handedness, and an erie hand writing quality that is exactly similar to little Billy Pettit's own left handed mother's precise, controlled and neat handwriting.

We will assume that if the Armstrong Award were given today, or the Halifax Academy X Grade Math Prize for that matter,  in the form of an ebook, 40 years from now, that E Book would no longer function. It would have been recycled or jettisoned into the land fill long before. The memories just that, vague memories of a lad proudly receiving yet another electronic device, cutting edge for the moment. Fleeting... gone... dust... nothing left to share.

Herman Melville's Travel Desk

Up for auction is Herman Melville's travel desk, thanks for the heads up from avid TMDC reader ESD from our ancesterial home of Worcester Mass. See the item at Booktryst Blog
Sold for US$34,160 inclusive of Buyer's Premium


Also today or tomorrow TMDC will surpass 4000 individual hits, and we want to thank everyone who has made this blog a stop on their digital experience.

1956 Riverside Edition Paper Back Moby-Dick

Here is the 1956 Riverside edition, measures about 5 by 8.  Having attended highschool in the 1960's I had several classic books printed by the Riverside Press in Boston, listed as Riverside Press Cambridge. 

Notably, I had Jude the Obscure. Never touched it in highschool.  That book I choose to read the summer I got laid off from Norton Company, 1988.   

By the swimming pool at the country club, while I was working on buying the first of several businesses I would buy over the years, I read Jude the Obscure...  Ykes, what was I thinking?  Dark, depressing, wonderful...   I ended that summer with a nice tan.

Anyways I digress, the feel of these books captivated me and I bought anything printed in this series that I ran across in my travels. Currently, in a different section of the library I have a dozen or so titles, alas not Jude the Obscure. I tied up about a half dozen Riverside Press books neatly with hemp string and put that package aside in one of the moves I made after the divorce. Somewhere, somehow that package went missing and I have never seen it or Jude the Obscure since. 

1975 Now Age Illustrated Moby-Dick

Over the years, TMDC has given as gifts editions of Moby-Dick and conversely has received as gifts editions.

More often than not, the gifts received are treasured childhood books, prized by the donator and embibed with fond memories.

Here is a donation to us from J, a long long time friend.

Stamped with the Mercy High School Library stamp on the title page.

We treasure the gift and our friendship.

Call me Ishmael - Only the Lonely

We say the sea is lonely; better say
Ourselves are lonesome creatures whom the sea
Gives neither yes or no for company
—William Meredith

Thus begins a piece written my my niece Cindy Daignault, readable on her tumblr account. The piece is a review of the work by artist Sean Landers.

Cindy, like all of my relatives is awesome in her own right. She has a current solo show of her art work at the
White Columns in New York City.


Cindy's work is a series of paintings that take us thru the mysterious world of projection. We see canvases of projectors and canvases of the projections on the opposite walls, which enables the viewer to relate to a modern day object, yet its not real. So its virtual reality but not. Things that are but they are not... It was at the opening reception of her show that Cindy told me about this review. Cindy is a avid reader of TMDC and she was excited to share with me these links.
What I failed at the time to understand and has come as a great surprise to me, was Landers fascination with the ill fated Golden Globe race of 1968. I too have been completely mesmerized by that disasterous race as well. Specifically I read everything I could about Donald Crowhurst. Here was a sort of modern day Ahab, kind of.. Mr. Crowhurst was obsessed with winning the race, but he lacked the skill, experience and backing to complete a solo navigation around the world, so he basically realized that he was out of it right before he left, and he tried to flim flam the world that he was winning by hanging out around South of America, Rosie Ruiz style, and falsifying his progress reports. Ultimately he just walked off his boat into the deep, in a fit of delusional madness. His bizarre madness is so accessible to the modern tech head, it is frightening.
Cindy draws solid connection between Ahab and Landers. And as an artist my self (Billpettit.com) I like the connections she makes to the whiteness of the canvasses and the battles we rage in our artistic lives.

1998 Dutch Language Moby-Dick

Noem me Ismael.

When my tenants, Peter and Lynn, told me that they were moving out, I was saddened. They lived in the third floor flat of building I own here in Albany, and had been there for several years.

I remember the day that I rented to them. There were several people who were interested in it, thanks to Criags List, and I said I was going to show it on this particular Thursday at noon. Lynn came and several other people.

Lynn immediately said she loved it and wanted to move in. Great said I. We did the paper work and she told me that she was moving in with her boyfriend, Peter. Both were studying at SUNY Albany for advanced degrees and Peter was Dutch.

They were great tenants, always curteous and pleasant. Lovely people, and when they got married I silently rejoiced. So it is the normal course of events that my tenants move on and sure enough they got jobs in the lower Hudson River Valley.

The day they left Lynn called and said she had a gift for me. And thus this addition to the Moby-Dick Collection arrived. Words will never properly convey the sum of our relationship for those years, it was easy going at its best...

Good Luck Lynn and Peter!

Father of the Groom Speech June 4, 2011

Saturday June 4th, 2011 I witnessed, along with many many friends and family members, my son's wedding, as I mentioned in the previous post.

During the dinner, a few of us stood and gave a some kind words of encouragement.

Here is the text of the speech which I gave:

One day, during the summer of 2004, on Cape Cod, in the middle of the afternoon, I was standing inside my parents house in Chatham, it was one of those clear beautiful blue sunny days.

I looked out to the porch and Rob and Sasha, who had been togther by then four years, were sitting and talking to to each other.

I could not hear them, I don't know what they were saying.

But they were talking with each other, unaware of not just me but everything around them.

It was not a moment of love,

it was a moment of being,

and is that not ultimate love?

In those few seconds, I knew Sasha and Rob were good for each other.

A measure of this wedding today, will be if in 20 years we stumble upon Rob and Sasha and they are still talking in that way.

Since what I saw that day was true, I know they will be.

Sasha, you know I love you, and am so glad to welcome you as my daughter in law.

Finally, Robert, as a father to his son, I want to tell you this: you are the man I wanted to be.

_____________________________________

The reaction to the last two lines was astounding. I wrote this from the heart.

Taking a tack off course

On June 4th my son and his beautiful partner will be wed in New York City in a fantastic celebration at one of Gotham's boutigue hotels.

I will resume posting again after that.

Needless to say I am thrilled and am looking forward to this particular gam with all the excitement of the proudest father in the world.

Interesting link

Here is an interesting link provided to TMDC by a friend of the blog.

http://www.xojane.com/fashion/if-i-cant-read-actual-books-anymore-im-gonna-carry-stuff-them

1955 Pocket Library Paperback Moby-Dick

Our first idea for this post was the nice comparison of the cover art between this edition and the previous post.

Essentially, this is the same depiction of a whale destroying the whale boats with the whaling ship in the background, allowing the viewer to know that there is some measure of safety in the trade, despite the obvious dangers.

Yet, upon further review of the 1955 Pocket Library cover, we all agreed that there is a bigger issue here to be illuminated.

The cover price of the book is 35 cents. That lead to a lively discussion of money, wealth, financial security and ultimately things treasured. In 1955 the purchaser turned over, most likely, a quarter and a dime in exchange for this book, would this be the only purchase.

Today if we were to sell it we would accept as fair 35 cents for it. Hence it could be argued that the book held some of its original value over the decades. We all are aware obviously that the 35 cents today is worth a whole lot less than the 35 cents of 1955.

The coins tendered in 1955 would have been silver, and the coins received today would not. That alone would account for a huge different in the intrinsic value of the book, then and now.

Thus this book is illustrative of the importance of safe guarding ones investments. For over time, those investments degrade and lose their value, despite all efforts to the contrary. It is the natural order of the universe: decay with time.

Wether we are concerned with Moby-Dick editions or stocks, bonds, real estate, or silver one must keep an alert eye on ones investments, it is important not to let them lose value because there is no whaling ship out there to rescue you when your investments decay. The 35 cents of 1955 is not the 35 cents of 2011. Each one of us is captain of our own whale boat and solely responsible for those in it with us, trite as that and this post seems.

As this is published we are managing our elderly parents in the last leg of their voyage, and that makes us aware of our voyage and hopefully we manage that for our children, so that there is some treasure of love left for them.

1980 Signet Classic Moby-Dick paperback

Bent corners, warn parts, underlining and check marks, dirty end papers, all the hall mark of a read book.

Here is the 1980 Signet Classic Moby-Dick that is inscribed G. Eric Lilja Mallory house . Actually G. Eric Lilja wrote his name in 3 locations, just to be sure that this book screams "Belongs to me!".

Maybe Mallory House is the same house of that name at Oberlin College. There is a small linkage between Albany NY and Oberlin. Perhaps someday Eric will stumble on the post or some one who knows him, and comment. That would be brilliant! Please do.

Eric underlined and noted in the margins in a very elegant creative and precise hand. The kind of handwriting that TMDC adores.

2008 Webster's Afrikaans Thesaurus Edition

When we first conceived of The Moby-Dick Collection, we envisioned a catalogue of the various printed editions of the masterpiece. It was to be a kind of a stamp collection like endeavor. At the least it was to be a catalogue of each of the known printed editions, with the collection's holdings to be examples of as many books as could be gathered together given the resources.

As many of you seasoned TMDC readers know it quickly turned into more than that, with the edition of foreign language editions. And as this blog progressed, the individual books themselves begin to tell stories, who owned them, where they came from, and so on.

This post is a combination of all of the finest quirks of TMDC.

Here is a recent addition, the 2008 Webster's Afrikaans Thesaurus. As the picture shows, this is the english text of the book with a thesaurus on each page with the Afrikaans words for various english words, presumably this is for the Afrikaan speaking person, who is learning to read English. So one can see that the Afrikaan word for Whale is Walvis. If we are not mistaken there is a Walvis Bay in South Africa.

This book came into our position this year as a birthday gift from my sister, Sarah, to celebrate my 61 st birthday.

Sarah P. D___ is a world traveler for her vocation and avocation. There is not a month that does not go by that she is not off to some far off land. Immediately, Dubai, Manila, Istanbul, and Ireland all come to mind as places Sarah has been in the last year or two.

When she went to Manila,I began silly requests like, "bring me some envelopes" and last year when she was in Vienna, "Hey, how about bringing back some sausages.. you know the little fellas in the can!"

Im not sure Sarah at first appreciated my oblique humor. But she became a bit of a sport.

This year she travelled to South Africa, and it occurred to me to combine my silly requests with The Moby-Dick Collection, so I asked her to pick up an Afrikaans edition of Melville's classic. She had a bit of a layover between safaris and work, and she searched the bookstores but to no avail. However, she did manage to score this edition, which she proudly shipped to me, and it arrived in time for the big birthday doings! Three Cheers to Sage (as we called her in our youth)

Which brings me to this picture: Here is a little something I have kept in the WOPettit archives all these many years, this is Sarah's passport foto from I believe 1966 when she traveled overseas for the first time from our childhood home to Germany. Since that moment she has never really looked back....

Bravo Sarah!

1944 Modern Library Giant Edition

The 1944 Modern Library Giant Edition Moby Dick features this blue binding with silver type and lighter blue offset.

We had always known that the Modern Library was the domain of Bennett Cerf, as he was a favorite of ours on the TV show "What's My Line" which ran from 1951 to 1967. As youths we were mesmerized by his patrician ways and seemingly endless knowledge while trying to guess the occupations and other "secrets" of the contestants.

Right up until the time we were shuffled off to boarding school, we watched him on Sunday nights. Perhaps, Bennett Cerf was one of our early "friends" keeping us company on those lonely solitary nights while the Duke and Duchess were off at some cotillion or other.

What we didnt know was that the Modern Library was started by Albert Boni, previously covered in this blog.

That running guy is the "Promethean bearer of enlightenment", for your information.

Here is an interesting link to a Modern Library web site.

1949 Dodd, Mead and Co. Library book Moby Dick

Sometimes its just amazing what Ebay yields! After the book arrives home, completely unexpected, surprises galore.

I knew from the photo during the auction that this copy was beat, but what I did not expect was that it is from a grade school in Vermont and it turns out this grade school is the school that my good friend Mark went to, and was there during this book's tour of duty.

Not only that, I was attending college just down the road when many of these date stamps were applied.

So it was connected by time and space to the both of us!

Shout out to Pete H. who took the book out multiple times and gave it the big effort, no idea if he finished it.

1929 Macrae Smith Illustrated Moby Dick

Here is a spectacular cover. Nantucket slay ride!

Recent addition to the collection it is inscribed Wayne Ralston, Jr Jan 14th 1929.

Wayne was the sellers relation, and judging by the penciling on the end papers, he was a kid when he had the book, it is so wonderful to have a child's well read book in the collection.

He penciled the word "misery" on the side of the book. SO much to speculate on, with that one word. We are so tempted to think that he found the story ponderous, as so many have, but what if that was some sort of 1929 cry for help just after the stock market crash? or some other nasty not even dared to think about?

Ramblings...

Today I was walking the stacks of a library and discovered this gem. 1930 edition, Russian language, Rockwell Kent, Random House, stamped: printed in the USSR. All I could say was wow, wow, wow. I have no idea how many were printed, I have never seen a listing for it. LG's comment: "Holy S#*T" when I sent her the picture.

Also, over at Ahab Beckons, Gansevoort pointed me to an edition I dont have.

So many editions, so much time!

1969 Collier Paper Back Edition

This paper back edition is prized for its psychedelic '60's cover and the introduction written by Quentin Anderson, Professor at Columbia University.

Its interesting that the cover art primarily features the face of a person reflected in the water and not a whale, perhaps that face is Ahab, and perhaps not. There is really no indication as to who that is.

Tilting the cover on its side, one can then perhaps also make out a white whale in the act of consuming the face? Which only then indicates that it is perhaps Ahab. That ambiguity was a hallmark of the '60's art, and often times not a very successful form.

The whale boat and the Pequod are drawn with some precision, while the face and the white whale are all jittery and spooky, that juxtaposition in styles is hard to reconcile, again setting up a ambiguity that is not that successful.

No, you perhaps would guess that I was not a big fan of 60's art when I was in college in the 60's. As an art form it is interesting historically, and some pop art has merit, but in my book it was a failure and has no lasting power. Here in Albany resides one of the largest public collections of 60's art, accumulated by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. Now I am a hugh Rocky fan. A visit to the Plaza Art Collection, is actually worth the effort, it is a segment specific collection.

1928 Allyn and Bacon Edition, Moby-Dick

Here is a well worn, abridged copy of Moby-Dick.

This is a publication of Allyn and Bacon, headquartered in Boston and still in existence.

Stamped "Property of the Board of Education, City of New York, Jan 8, 1932". The text was editied by Earl Maltby Benson, born Jan. 1884, Beta Theta Pi, 1906 Wesleyan and hailed from West Winfield NY, which was named for Winfield Scott, who was known as "Old Fuss and Feathers", longest serving general in American History. Mr. Benson was from a long line of yankees and taught at the English High School in Boston.

Credits in the volume include: "Colonel E. H. R. Greene for permission to photograph the Charles W. Morgan." Greene is the incorrect spelling in this case. Colonel Green was the son of Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street" once the richest woman in the US. In 1924 he bought the Charles W. Morgan and kept it at his home in Dartmouth Massachusetts on Buzzards Bay. My grandfather summered near by at Salters Point, and my mother recalled to me the excursions they took by "motor car" to visit the whaling ship at Colonel Greene's home. Later the Charles W. Morgan was transfered to Mystic Seaport, where, as most people know, she still is.

On the inside back cover is a stamp of the WPA.

1926 Jonathan Cape Edition, London Moby-Dick

Alas, this lovely Moby-Dick volume is abridged. That is the failure of this volume. See the last paragraph of this post.

However, the title page and illustration is a testament to the art of graphic design. The layout, colorful, clean and crisp equates to elegant.

Rowland Hilder, the illustrator, worked this commision shortly after he studied at Goldsmith's College School of Art.

This illustration of the Pequod conveys a open sea air like few book illustrations in the collection. Had the publisher left this volume untouched, this would have been the greatest edition published to the date of publication. Only the Rockwell Kent editions which come 5 years later would have eclipse it. And I may say that the number of illustrations Kent executes may be one of the factors, the work that Hilder does here is equal to Kent in genius.

For those of you who want to know more.. here is an article that I stumbled on this article, which upon reading, I thought was worthy. The explanation of Melville and his digressions at the start is the POINT- for those of you who have found Moby-Dick a "hard read". Relax about that, get over it, and enjoy the digressions...

The Unexpected Weekend in New Haven

My father, as he has in the past, sent me last weekend as his emmissary to the annual meeting of an ancient New England Society, one that my dad has been a member of for decades. This society is dedicated to preserving the printed American page thru 1871.

One year, I had the pleasure of going to the Grolier Club in New York and viewing that awesome building and collection.

This year, I traveled to New Haven. The Society held its annual meeting in the Yale Center for British Art, and I can not say enough about that collection. Constable is one of my inpirations as a painter and there is a plethora of his sky paintings there.

One of the nights, the Society was the guest of Prof R... for drinks and dinner and were welcomed into his home. I arrived to a lovely home, gracious wife, beautiful food, lovely friends...

Completely unexpected, I walked over to the bookcase shown above. Heretofore, I had not the inkling of what I was in for: as I gazed at these bright leather books and protective cases, one name popped out: Melville, and titles: Ommo, Typee and of course Moby-Dick. These were not the mundane volumes I own, but first editions, not just one, but several, not just Moby-Dick but all of the titles. There was the first British edition of Moby-Dick... and Rockwell Kents, not the ho hum one I have but the "3 in the can", and even the presentation set in pig skin, I believe he said it was pig skin. He did say there were only 6 in existence. I held in my hand not just the English first edition but that presentation Rockwell Kent.

I stood there stunned and at a loss for words, then I noticed small bindings, thin things, and as I realized what I was looking at, I said incredulously: "Are these Melville letters?"

"OH, yes Bill take a look, just dont spill anything on them" Prof R said...

Gently I took one of the many small leather folders off of the shelf and opened it up. In my hand I held a letter written by Herman Melville. I was so awed that I failed to take note to whom and about what. It did not seem to matter anymore, I was speechless.

At the time I really didn't know what to say about this experience, other than this: one of the other guests, a historian of some note said to me later that night: "this is the beauty of the private collector, you can touch things."

To Prof R, I will be forever in his debt and can never repay his kindness....

As for the future of my Moby-Dick Collection... for obvious reasons my collection will never be the kind of collection which I saw on Friday night. But as I drove home and reflected on my collection it became more and more apparent to me that my mission has been and will always be to collect the pedestrian, the mundane, the humble. As I explained it over the phone to LG, during the homeward bound trip, the Moby-Dick Collection blogged about here is a combination of Ray Bradbury's Farenhiet 451 and the Land of the Lost. My mission is to buy everything I can as fast as I can. Because of the Kindle and Nook and I Pad, there will be a day when there are no more paper backs available. We as a society love to throw stuff out and the paper backs will be the first to go. I will have a collection of those paper backs and hard covers, the ones that Prof R doesnt have... The mission is to save the dust jackets, the covers, the type, the illustrations, and the underlining and notes taken... the individuality of each book, once owned and once read...

And of course, when I show my humble collection to friends and visitors, Just as Prof R did for me..I have always, always given them the volume to hold as I point out some quirk that takes my fancy..... Now I know why I do that.... . We, individuals, are not institutions, what we own we own to preserve and share. Hopefully we make a difference. I am unaware of a museum that started organically without the backing of a collector.

Please comment . . . Thanks - BP

1956 L. W. Singer Company MOBY-DICK

This is one crazy cover. I love the type and it would appear that someone added that little color of red. This is the 1956 printing of the original dated edition of 1942 by the L. W. Singer Company from Syracuse, NY.

At one time it was $1.20 as marked in pencil on the inside cover. When it was for sale at the Bryn Mawr Bookstore it was marked at $.25.

1956 Houghton Miffflin Co. MOBY-DICK

Here is the 1956 paperback Houghton Mifflin Co edition of Moby-Dick.

Signed on the cover by the owner: Judith Spiegler.

The book is heavily water stained, and I have no idea where it came from. No doubt it was in the stock of the Bryn Mawr Bookshop in Albany, when I and 3 friends bought the store and renamed it the Larkstreet Bookshop. I then lifted it for the collection.

Judith began underlining and marking it right from the Table of Contents. And on the back end paper she began notes right at the top of the page written in pencil.

Here is an example of her underlining:

pg 222 Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glid under water. Beside which she wrote: Sea-truth

Often a book will easily open to the last page read and this book opens to page 240, which coincidentally is the last page with underlining.

Here she underlined: go to the meatmarket of a Saturday night..... Cannibals? who is not a cannibal? Did she see humor in that? Irony?

Since this is the last underlining, I am going to say here she stopped. The semester was over, or she lost interest.

I searched the internet and came up with this PDF of a 2008-2009 Publication

The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration

Reflections 1

Judith Spiegler Adler

A.M. ‘61

I graduated from SSA in ’61 with an A.M., after having

graduated from the University of Chicago College with a B.A.

in ‘59. ... I began to teach, first at Fordham,

then at the College of New Rochelle.

So timing was right for Judith Spiegler - Adler to be Judith Spiegler of my MOBY-DICK, she graduated from the University of Chicago College in 59. and she went on to teach in New York State first at Fordham and then a little closer to Albany at College of New Rochelle.

Ironic if my Judith is the Chicago Judith....

1929 Macmillan Company Moby-Dick in 2 vols

I have discussed one of the many wonders of collecting a book and that wonder is the history and mystery of the individual editions, who owned them and did they read the book. Try that with an Apple I Pad!

Recently, I purchased the 2 volume Macmillan Co. 1929 edition. I own oddly Vol 2 not vol 1 so I was pleased to find this duo and when they arrived I was more pleased to see both were inscribed in the same neat hand by the purchaser: Dorothy Louise Harding, Radcliffe '30. Dorothy also was kind enough to take notes in the end of vol 1, which either indicated that she read the the book, or at least took notes in class!

Radcliffe College which became fully absorbed into Harvard University in 1999, once was one of the seven sisters, which now are either the six sisters, or the five sisters depending on how one views Vassar College, which no longer is a single sex institution, thus is arguably not a sister at all.

I choose not to show much detail of the covers, as the story inside is much more compelling.

1946 German Language Moby-Dick

This edition of Moby-Dick was printed in Hamburg, Germany by Claassen and Goverts Verlag, just 18 months of the end of WWII. The notation is "printed in Germany", which is significant in the Hamburg was in the British Zone of Occupation and did not become a state of the Federal Republic of Germany until 1949.

This is not a very robust edition, the cover had become separated and is held together with scotch tape and the pages are very yellowed indictative of low grade paper.

The only art is this cover, a most interesting image of Moby Dick. The tail is too short and the eye too big, the head is miss shaped yet it conveys the whaleness of the story.

Why would the publisher choose Moby-Dick to print at the end of a horrific war? The English fire bombed Hamburg in 1943 killing 42,000 civilians and the Nazi's killed 55,000 people in the Neuengamme concentration camp within the city of Hamburg. This surely was a murderous obsession by Hitler. Hitler as Ahab? Confined to his cabin on a fools quest to dominate the world? In the end everyone perishes.

This post was inspired by dolphinguy's comments...

1981 Oxford University Press, Moby Dick

Of all the publishers of editions of Moby-Dick in this collection, The Oxford University Press seems to be responsible for most number of the fish in this particular school of fish, and whether it is a quirk of this school alone, or indicative of the entire shoal of all the schools of Moby-Dick's, I can only speculate.

As far as I can learn, The Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world and began publishing around 1480, although it did not print a Moby - Dick then, that would be weird.

There are seven catalogued Oxford books in the collection with the earliest one is dated 1921. Some of the paper backs have yet to be catalogued so there are, for sure, many more housed here in Albany.

This species is a recent capture, and a fine example of the late 20th century marketing foray into the fine book field. That was a trend, dominated by the likes of Easton Press and the Franklin Mint, who brought to market high end bindings, gold and leather, with the hopes of capturing sales to those folks who wanted nice looking shelves of books in their homes, and most likely they never read any of them. How would a Kindle compete in this market? Riddle me that, Batman.

This Oxford Edition is relatively hard to find.

Purchase date: 2011

Road Trip - SUNY by way of Arrowhead

Gansevoort, of the blog Ahab Beckons, was kind enough to blog about his trip to see the display of part of the MOBY DICK Collection currently at SUNY Albany. He made a nice day trip by visiting Arrowhead as well. His entry on the AHAB BECKONS blog details it.

In addition to Arrowhead in one could visit Melville's home in Lansingburgh, just north of Troy NY. Its the home of the Lansingburgh Historical Society, and in which Melville wrote his first two novels, Typee and Omoo.

Undated: Thames Publishing Co. London

I have always wanted to live in a very large house, a house with so many rooms that some of the rooms I may not enter but once a year. I think its a psycological quirk of mine. I can imagine the wonder and excitement of entering room after room and trying to figure out: now what is this one for or who uses this utility room.

Anyway back to the Collection: this morning as I went to the shelves to find a book to blog about I came across this edition. I have no recollection as to when or where or even why I have this book... it was like entering that room in that huge house. I said cool, what is this?

Its small, has a really great piece of cover art. Its English! A search of the ABE Books, yield some dated ones, 1954, but they had blue boards and these are red. So I just randomly say 50's, if anyone has any definitive knowledge, comment for me.. thanks!

If you have a few extra moments, take a close look at the cover art: it shows a boat chasing a whale at the ready to harpoon it. Pretty dramatic really, but as I looked at it for a longer time, several things jumped out at me. First there is the problem of the whale, he has stopped running and turned to look at the boat, his eye is menacing... Second and more importantly, there is the problem of the rowers, there are six men in the boat, only 2 are rowing. there are two other men looking aft with nothing to do. I think really they should get out some oars, because this whale, perhaps its meant to be Moby Dick, clearly wants to do them some harm. One little harpoon is not going to do the trick here, this is not going to end well.......