MELVILLE, HERMAN | Mardi: and A Voyage Thither. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849

The Property of a Gentleman

MELVILLE, HERMAN

Mardi: and A Voyage Thither. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1849

MARDI: AND A VOYAGE THITHER. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 1849

2 volumes, 8vo (7 1/2 x 5 in.; 190 x 128 mm). 8-page publisher's advertisement at end of vol. 2; scattered light foxing. Publisher's green TR cloth, spines gilt- and blindstamped, covers blindstamped, coated yellow endpapers; spines slightly faded, covers and edges with some wear and fading. 

First American edition. In a letter to John Murray dated 25 March 1848, which he wrote while arranging for the publication of the English edition, Melville described Mardi: "The work I shall next publish will in downright earnest [be] a 'Romance of Polynesian Adventure'—…the reiterated imputation of being a romance in disguise has at last pricked me into a resolution to show those who may take any interest in the matter, that a real romance of mine is no Typee or Omoo, & is made of different stuff altogether. [It] is no dish water nor its model borrowed from the Circulating Library" (Davis & Gilman).

REFERENCE:

BAL 13658; Davis & Gilman 70; Sadleir, Excursions 225