Moby-Dick in rare books

From the New York Public Library

Moby-Dick was published in England on October 18, 1851 (its United States publication fell almost one month later, on November 14). And in the one and a half centuries since, it has inspired countless new creations by painters, playwrights, musicians, writers, and even tattoo artists. In honor of the White Whale’s birthday, I have decided—like Herman Melville’s own sub-sub-librarian—to share “a glancing bird’s-eye view of what has been promiscuously said, thought, fancied, and sung of Leviathan” since Moby-Dick’s first appearance in 1851.


Two favorite illustrated editions of Moby-Dick are held in NYPL’s Rare Book Division. Arion Press’s 1979 edition, bound in blue morocco, is printed on paper that, when seen on edge, is a reminder of pale blue roiling seas.

The text block of the Arion Press edition, with its choppy seas of paper.

And inside, Melville's words appear in blue and black ink alongside evocative and also very informative illustrations by artist Barry Moser. Here are Moser's illustrations of what Melville has classified as "folio" whales. Melville grouped whales according to format, just like books (folio, quarto, octavo, etc.), which is a joke that warms a rare book librarian's heart!

Arion Press edition of Moby-Dick with Barry Moser illustrations

Another iconic edition was published by Lakeside Press in 1930, with dramatic illustrations by none other than Rockwell Kent. But even before opening the volume, the publisher’s cloth binding, with our whale hero/villain  in silvery silhouette, takes your breath away with toothy ferociousness.

Rockwell Kent's cover design for Moby-Dick on the Lakeside Press edition

Lakeside Press edition of Moby-Dick, with Rockwell Kent's illustrations

Above is Rockwell Kent's vision of the whale's "peculiar snow-white wrinkled forehead" and "pyramidical white hump." And below, Kent pictures possible consequences of the whaleman's commitment to "a dead whale or a stove boat."

Lakeside Press edition of Moby-Dick, with Rockwell Kent's illustrations

Beyond the Rare Book Division, you’ll find other editions in the Library’s collections that make the story come alive for new audiences. Children can explore the tale in a picture book by Jan Needle, and even littler ones can chew on the tale in a board book filled with woolly sculpted illustrations by Jack and Holman Wang. There’s also a graphic novel edition of the tale by Lance Stahlberg to check out.