Description

Franklin Library leather edition of Herman Melville's "Billy Budd, Sailor and The Piazza Tales," a Limited edition, Illustrated by Alan Price, one of the 100 GREATEST MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATUE series, published in 1982. Bound in pea green leather, the book has matching French moire silk end leaves, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, a satin book marker, hubbed spine, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition---except for 'moderate' fading on edges of moire silk. Herman Melville, who lived from 1819-1891, was born in New York City, the son of a cultivated gentleman who went bankrupt. Young Herman's schooling ended when he was 15, and after clerking in a NY bank, farming and teaching, he shipped as a cabin-boy to Liverpool in 1839. Later he sailed on the ACUSHNET for the SOUTH SEA, and this 18-month voyage provided a factual basis for "Moby Dick." Having completed his education in what he later termed "the only HARVARD and YALE" that were open to me, he began writing. Selections include: "Billy Budd, Sailor," "The Piazza Tales," "Benito Cereno," "The Lightening-Rod Man," "The Encantadas," and "The Bell-Tower." 342 pages. I offer combined shipping.