OMOO: A NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS ...
New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. London: John Murray, 1847. 12mo, pp. [i-ix] x-xii [xiii] xiv-xv [xvi] [17] 18-389 [390: blank] + 10 pages, all pages save last (a blank) carrying publisher's ads + 16 pages of additional ads paged [1]-16 [note: leaf preceding half title is a blank]; double flyleaves at front and rear, inserted frontispiece map, one illustration in the text, title page printed in red and black, original decorated brown cloth, front panel stamped in gold and blind, spine panel stamped in gold, rear panel stamped in blind, marbled endpapers. First U.S. edition. Melville's second book, preceded by TYPEE (1846). "Melville began by writing adventure stories, not fantastic, but exotic, vivid, and immensely popular. TYPEE and OMOO are daydream books, and, as C. S. Lewis pointed out, people want their daydreams to have the appearance of possibility, no matter how far above the reality of their lives those dreams might be. The burning central question in early reviews of TYPEE was whether its events had indeed transpired as Melville said they did. After two such books, Melville grew tired of the limitations of the autobiographical-adventure format. He had begun reading history, philosophy, and literature, and his mind was bursting with speculations that simply could not be fit into another TYPEE. Like Hawthorne, he turned to romance." - Attebery, The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature From Irving to Le Guin, pp. 51-2. BAL 13656. Wright (I) 1861. Private owner's bookplate affixed to verso of front free endpaper. Very shallow chipping to cloth at bottom spine end, lower corner tips at bit worn, some scattered foxing in text, tape residue on first free flyleaf, a tight, very good copy with clean binding and bright cover stamping. (14430). Item #14430
Price: $3,250.00