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Moby-Dick: Illustrated by Rockwell Kent
This Top Five Classics illustrated edition of Herman Melville' s Moby-Dick • More than 270 black-and-white illustrations by Rockwell Kent from his 1930 Lakeside Press edition • The complete, unabridged text of Melville' s classic from his definitive 1851 American edition • A helpful glossary of terms • Detailed biographies of both Herman Melville and Rockwell Kent Moby-Dick, mostly ignored upon its publication in 1851 and during the author' s lifetime, underwent a dramatic reappraisal during the early years of the 20th century, when it came to epitomize the Great American Novel— in no small part due to the 1930 Lakeside Press edition that featured Rockwell Kent' s starkly beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations that would help define the novel for a new generation of readers. An enigmatic tale of the sea, whaling, and obsession, Melville drew on themes from the Bible and the works of Shakespeare to craft a uniquely American story that continues to fascinate and enthrall today.
870 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1851
About the author
Herman Melville
3,013 books4,739 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 3, 2026
First, this is not a review of Melville’s novel. Too many great minds have weighed in on it for me to believe I can add anything, and I certainly don’t feel that assigning the novel 3 stars or 5 would have any meaning. Rather, I am discussing this specific edition – a reprint by Top Five Books of the 1930 edition featuring illustrations by Rockwell Kent.
Moby Dick was published in 1851 to poor critical and popular reception. Melville died believing his book a failure. It wasn’t until the 1920s that critics began to take note of what some dubbed the Great American Novel. A spate of illustrated editions help drive its popularity with the public.
Of the various artists who assayed to capture the book, to me it is Rockwell Kent’s illustrations that most feel a part of the story and add depth and tension. His 270 (!) or so dramatic black and white ink drawings often look like block prints. They range from small drawings of various tools, containers, bits of rigging, etc., to scenes of everyday life on the Pequod, taut figures of harpooners, drawings of boats closing in on a whale, and even mystical, almost spiritual pictures of the whales in their element. They both reflect the story and its technical elements (if you have not read the novel, more time is spent on the details of the ship, the science of whales, etc., than on the actual hunt for the White Whale) and build on the drama.
The problem is that reprints of the Kent version are difficult to find and tend to be expensive, while the original edition is almost unobtainable. Fortunately, about the time I began to feel a need to spend some time with Moby Dick (I had recently moved to the Northeast, in the heart of whaling country, and it’s in the air here!) a brief article in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal brought Top 5 Books’ relatively inexpensive edition of the Kent-illustrated book to my attention. My local bookstore did not have it, but was able to order it for me. (ISBN: 978-1-938938-26-9)
I went through the book slowly, savoring the language and the interplay of the illustrations with the text – and my only regret was not going through it even more slowly. A deep, rich experience.
My only critiques of the Top 5 edition are relatively minor and do little to detract from the story or the experience. The binding and cover are adequate, but no more, and the pages are thin enough that the text and illustrations show through just a little – the cost, I am guessing, of keeping the book affordable. There are biographies of both Melville and Kent, but both are short, generic, and uncredited. And it would have been nice to know a little more about how this edition compares to the original. It is not an exact copy, as a note on the typeface makes clear. But it would be nice to know how closely the design, the placement of the illustrations, follows the original. (I’m guessing pretty closely, given how well the illustrations sync with the text.)
Cavils aside, the experience of the book was enough to send me to a regional museum for an exhibit called The Book Art of Moby Dick, and to the Cape Cinema in Dennis, MA, which has an amazing ceiling mural completed by Kent the same year the book came out. (Look up Kent on Wikipedia for a picture.) And on a search for the closest thing to original source material.
It certainly won’t affect everyone the same way, but for those willing to take the time to read thoughtfully and experience the book as a whole, it can be a powerful and memorable experience.
Moby Dick was published in 1851 to poor critical and popular reception. Melville died believing his book a failure. It wasn’t until the 1920s that critics began to take note of what some dubbed the Great American Novel. A spate of illustrated editions help drive its popularity with the public.
Of the various artists who assayed to capture the book, to me it is Rockwell Kent’s illustrations that most feel a part of the story and add depth and tension. His 270 (!) or so dramatic black and white ink drawings often look like block prints. They range from small drawings of various tools, containers, bits of rigging, etc., to scenes of everyday life on the Pequod, taut figures of harpooners, drawings of boats closing in on a whale, and even mystical, almost spiritual pictures of the whales in their element. They both reflect the story and its technical elements (if you have not read the novel, more time is spent on the details of the ship, the science of whales, etc., than on the actual hunt for the White Whale) and build on the drama.
The problem is that reprints of the Kent version are difficult to find and tend to be expensive, while the original edition is almost unobtainable. Fortunately, about the time I began to feel a need to spend some time with Moby Dick (I had recently moved to the Northeast, in the heart of whaling country, and it’s in the air here!) a brief article in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal brought Top 5 Books’ relatively inexpensive edition of the Kent-illustrated book to my attention. My local bookstore did not have it, but was able to order it for me. (ISBN: 978-1-938938-26-9)
I went through the book slowly, savoring the language and the interplay of the illustrations with the text – and my only regret was not going through it even more slowly. A deep, rich experience.
My only critiques of the Top 5 edition are relatively minor and do little to detract from the story or the experience. The binding and cover are adequate, but no more, and the pages are thin enough that the text and illustrations show through just a little – the cost, I am guessing, of keeping the book affordable. There are biographies of both Melville and Kent, but both are short, generic, and uncredited. And it would have been nice to know a little more about how this edition compares to the original. It is not an exact copy, as a note on the typeface makes clear. But it would be nice to know how closely the design, the placement of the illustrations, follows the original. (I’m guessing pretty closely, given how well the illustrations sync with the text.)
Cavils aside, the experience of the book was enough to send me to a regional museum for an exhibit called The Book Art of Moby Dick, and to the Cape Cinema in Dennis, MA, which has an amazing ceiling mural completed by Kent the same year the book came out. (Look up Kent on Wikipedia for a picture.) And on a search for the closest thing to original source material.
It certainly won’t affect everyone the same way, but for those willing to take the time to read thoughtfully and experience the book as a whole, it can be a powerful and memorable experience.
Displaying 1 of 1 review