Front Matter
M O B Y - D I C KREVISION NARRATIVE: Title // The reason for the differing book titles for the American and British versions is not entirely certain but a matter for informed speculation. The most compelling argument is that Melville originally titled his novel The Whale; or, Moby Dick, which is the title version he sent to England. However, in the meantime, he reversed title and subtitle, thus giving us Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, which he was able to change for the American version, but, it has been suggested, that shift came too late to register in the British version; hence, the differing titles. The hyphenated American title, retained in the NN and MEL editions of Moby-Dick, follows a common practice among publishers of the day, and the hyphenation has now become a convenient way of distinguishing Moby-Dick, the book, from Moby Dick, the whale. To compare American and British pages, click the thumbnails in the right margin. The British "half title" page featured here gives both title and subtitle. The British full-title page—full because it gives publication information—includes an epigraph from Milton's Paradise Lost, not present in the American full-title page. The Miltonic passage does appear in Extracts and is discussed there.;
or,
T H E W H A L E.
by
HERMAN MELVILLE
author of
“TYPEE,” “OMOO,” “REDBURN,” “MARDI,” “WHITE-JACKET”
N E W Y O R K:
H A R P E R & B R O T H E R S, P U B L I S H E R S.
L O N D O N: R I C H A R D B E N T L E Y.
1851
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
HERMAN MELVILLE,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
in token
of my admiration for his genius,
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED
to
N A T H A N I E L H A W T H O R N E.
CONTENTS
1. — Loomings 21
2. — The Carpet Bag 26
3. — The Spouter-Inn 30
4. — The Counterpane 41
5. — Breakfast 45
6. — The Street 47
7. — The Chapel 49
8. — The Pulpit 52
9. — The Sermon 54
10. — A Bosom Friend 61
11. — Nightgown 65
12. — Biographical 67
13. — Wheelbarrow 69
14. — Nantucket 73
15. — Chowder 75
16. — The Ship 78
17. — The Ramadan 89
18. — His Mark 94
19. — The Prophet 98
20. — All Astir 101
21. — Going Aboard 103
22. — Merry Christmas 106
23. — The Lee Shore 110
24. — The Advocate 111
25. — Postscript 115
26. — Knights and Squires 117
27. — Knights and Squires 120
28. — Ahab 124
29. — Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb 127
30. — The Pipe 130
31. — Queen Mab 131
32. — Cetology 133
33. — The Specksynder 143
34. — The Cabin Table 146
35. — The Mast-Head 150
36. — The Quarter-Deck. Ahab and all 156
37. — Sunset 162
38. — Dusk 164
39. — First Night-Watch 165
40. — Forecastle.— Mid-night 166
41. — Moby Dick 172
42. — The Whiteness of the Whale 179
43. — Hark! 186
44. — The Chart 187
45. — The Affidavit 192
46. — Surmises 198
47. — The Mat-Maker 200
48. — The First Lowering 202
49. — The Hyena 209
50. — Ahab’s Boat and Crew—Fedallah 211
51. — The Spirit-Spout 214
52. — The Pequod meets the Albatross 217
53. — The Gam 219
54. — The Town Ho’s Story 222
55. — Monstrous Pictures of Whales 237
56. — Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales 241
57. — Of Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c. 244
58. — Brit 247
59. — Squid 249
60. — The Line 251
61. — Stubb kills a Whale 254
62. — The Dart 258
63. — The Crotch 260
64. — Stubb’s Supper 262
65. — The Whale as a Dish 269
66. — The Shark Massacre 272
67. — Cutting In 274
68. — The Blanket 276
69. — The Funeral 279
70. — The Sphynx 281
71. — The Pequod meets the Jeroboam. Her Story 283
72. — The Monkey-rope 288
73. — Stubb & Flask kill a Right Whale 292
74. — The Sperm Whale’s Head 297
75. — The Right Whale’s Head 300
76. — The Battering Ram 303
77. — The Great Heidelburgh Tun 305
78. — Cistern and Buckets 307
79. — The Prairie 311
80. — The Nut 313
81. — The Pequod meets the Virgin 315
82. — The Honor and Glory of Whaling 324
83. — Jonah Historically Regarded 327
84. — Pitchpoling 329
85. — The Fountain 321
86. — The Tail 335
87. — The Grand Armada 339
88. — Schools & Schoolmasters 348
89. — Fast Fish and Loose Fish 352
90. — Heads or Tails 355
91. — The Pequod meets the Rose Bud 358
92. — Ambergris 363
93. — The Castaway 365
94. — A Squeeze of the Hand 368
95. — The Cassock 371
96. — The Try-Works 373
97. — The Lamp 377
98. — Stowing Down & Clearing Up 378
99. — The Doubloon 381
100. — The Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby of London 386
101. — The Decanter 391
102. — A Bower in the Arsacides 395
103. — Measurement of the Whale’s Skeleton 398
104. — The Fossil Whale 400
105. — Does the Whale Diminish? 403
106. — Ahab’s Leg 406
107. — The Carpenter 408
108. — The Deck. Ahab and the Carpenter 411
109. — The Cabin. Ahab and Starbuck 415
110. — Queequeg in his Coffin 417
111. — The Pacific 422
112. — The Blacksmith 424
113. — The Forge 426
114. — The Gilder 429
115. — The Pequod meets the Bachelor 432
116. — The Dying Whale 434
117. — The Whale-Watch 436
118. — The Quadrant 438
119. — The Candles 440
120. — The Deck 445
121. — Midnight, on the Forecastle 446
122. — Midnight, Aloft 448
123. — The Musket 449
124. — The Needle 452
125. — The Log and Line 455
126. — The Life-Buoy 458
127. — Ahab and the Carpenter 461
128. — The Pequod meets the Rachel 463
129. — The Cabin. Ahab and Pip 466
130. — The Hat 468
131. — The Pequod meets the Delight 472
132. — The Symphony 474
133. — The Chase. First Day 478
134. — The Chase. Second Day 485
135. — The Chase. Third Day 492
Epilogue 500