Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex of Nantucket - photo 1

Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex of Nantucket

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$ 21 420
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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USA, New York
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ID 967635
Lot 124 | Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex of Nantucket
Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex of Nantucket

Owen Chase, 1821

CHASE, Owen (1797-1869). Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex ... which was attacked and finally destroyed by a large Spermaceti-whale. New York: W.B. Gilley, 1821.



Extremely rare first edition of the first authentic account of the ramming and sinking of a ship by a whale. Unsophisticated and in original boards. The captain and crew then suffered for three months at sea, in open boats. Twelve of the crew of twenty died during this ordeal, the remainder surviving by cannibalism. Chase's graphic narrative was pivotal in Melville's research and he made extensive notes on it. "He cites [the story of the Essex] in Chapter 45 of Moby-Dick, 'The Affidavit,' as corroborating 'the most marvellous event in this book' (p. 181), meaning the sinking of the Pequod" (Sealts, p. 69). A quote from this work ("'My God! Mr. Chase, what is the matter?' I answered, 'we have been stove by a whale.'") appears in Moby-Dick as one of the "Extracts". Hill, p. 50; Howes C-318 ("c") Huntress 107; Sabin 12189.



12mo. (Foxing.) Uncut in original blue boards (spine mostly perished, but a fragment of original printed label retained); modern clamshell box.

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15.06.2023
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