Moby-Dick in pictures

"I’ve read the book eight or nine times […] Each and every reading has revealed more and more to me and hinted tantalizingly at even greater truths and revelations that I have yet to reach. Friends often question my obsession with the novel, especially since I am not a scholar or even an educator any longer, and the best explanation I have been able to come up with is that, to me, Moby-Dick is a book about everything. God. Love. Hate. Identity. Race. Sex. Humor. Obsession. History. Work. Capitalism […] I see every aspect of life reflected in the bizarre mosaic of this book.” ~ Matt Kish

Since 2009, former high school English teacher and self-taught artist Matt Kish has been drawing every page of the 552-page Signet Classics paperback edition of Herman Melville’s iconic Moby-Dick, and posting the results on his blog. Every day, for 552 days he has produced one obsessive drawing, using pages from discarded books and a variety of drawing tools, from ballpoint pen to crayon to ink and watercolor.

And, as we all know, publishers are scanning the blogs for publishable material, producing a stunning range of books on a mind-bending range of topics. Now, thanks to Tin House Books, Kish’s unusual project joins the throng.

 Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page gathers his eclectic set of eye-catching drawings into a 600-page "comic" -- which is certainly an innovative way to appreciate the Herman Melville classic.

See a selection of the illustrations HERE