SKU: 54527812531

BEALE, Thomas. The Natural History of the Sperm Whale ... To Which is Added, A Sketch of a South-Sea Whaling Voyage.

Sale price$810.00 Regular price$900.00
Save 10%

Pay in installments of $225.00 with ShopPay, AfterPay and Klarna

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Jul 19 - Jul 24

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

BEALE, Thomas. The Natural History of the Sperm Whale ... To Which is Added, A Sketch of a South-Sea Whaling Voyage.Melvilles Primary Reference for Moby Dick BEALE, Thomas. The Natural History of the Sperm Whale To Which is Added, A Sketch of a South Sea Whaling Voyage. London: John van Voorst. 1839. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with marbled sides, rebacked, gilt morocco lettering piece relaid to spine; pp. [iii]vi, [7]12, 393, bound without half title; wood engraved frontispiece and 2 wood engraved plates, wood engraved illustrations in the text; a few minor

Melville’s Primary Reference for Moby Dick

BEALE, Thomas. The Natural History of the Sperm Whale ... To Which is Added, A Sketch of a South-Sea Whaling Voyage. London: John van Voorst. 1839.

8vo. Contemporary half calf with marbled sides, rebacked, gilt morocco lettering-piece relaid to spine; pp. [iii]–vi, [7]–12, 393, bound without half-title; wood-engraved frontispiece and 2 wood-engraved plates, wood-engraved illustrations in the text; a few minor abrasions to corners; internally remarkably clean and fresh; ownership inscription of Brian Birley Roberts to front free endpaper and his posthumous bookplate to front pastedown (see below).

Second edition, considerably revised and expanded, of this monumental early work on sperm whales by ship’s surgeon Thomas Beale, the edition owned by Herman Melville and his ‘primary source book … in composing the cetological section of Moby Dick (Vincent, p. 128).

Melville acquired a copy of Beale’s Natural History of the Sperm Whale – procuring it from London through Putnam’s in New York – on 10 July 1850, annotating it throughout and adding checkmarks in the margins to note his progress. Indeed, Beale’s work receives explicit mention in Moby Dick, in which it is praised as one of ‘only two books in being which at all pretend to put the living sperm whale before you, and at the same time, in the remotest degree succeed in their attempt’, and Beale’s drawings of the sperm whale are characterised ‘by great odds’ as ‘the best’. The first edition had been published in 1835 in an edition of only 133 copies.

‘From its first appearance Beale’s book has been recognized as an essential reference for studies of whales and whaling. It provides for the sperm whale and the British Southern whale fishery, a handbook similar to that supplied for the Greenland Right whale and the Northern whale fishery by William Scoresby junr in his An Account of the Arctic Regions […] Beale was one of the first observers, if not the first, to provide an accurate description of the sperm whale’s appearance, habits, and general biology’ (1973 reprint, p. v).

Provenance: Polar ornithologist and researcher Brian Birley Roberts (1912–1978) organised and led the Cambridge University Expedition to Vatnajökull in Iceland in 1932 whilst an undergraduate at Emmanuel College, as well as the Cambridge University Expedition to the Scoresby Sund in East Greenland in 1933. In 1946 he joined Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute as a part-time research fellow, and was ‘often thought to be the éminence grise of the UK’s Antarctic policy and also of the founding of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty’ (Polar Record 52.6 (2016)).

Chavanne 1006; Denucé 1254; Sabin 4108; Spence 105. See Vincent, The Trying-Out of Moby Dick (1949).

SKU: 2118252

Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 54527812531

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.3 ★★★★★
Based on 15 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
N
Verified Purchase
Nicholas Schadewald
Los Angeles, US
★★★★★ 4
Fair Quality, Hour and a half build
Color: Black, Size: 132in-Large Metal Base
Key things: It does (more or less, not completely) fold in on itself, it does block nearly all visibility (especially from an angle), it was only about an hour and thirty minutes to put together, and it is light weight. Do I recommend? Yeah.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2025
S
Verified Purchase
Sheddran Smith
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
Privacy
Color: Black, Size: 132in-Large Metal Base
Great for privacy especially if you have a roommate..
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2026
S
Verified Purchase
Sobhan Putalapattu
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 3
Assembly was a bit rough
Color: Black, Size: 132in-Large Metal Base
It is serving the purpose it is bought for. However the assembly was harder than it should have been. Joining the parts A and B (two iron pipes) was very hard. We can't use any tools to do that and it has to be done manually and every joint was very tight and very hard to to do. I had to struggle to make 24 joints for the length I need. At one point I was going to return it, but I needed it very badly so continued with the assembly.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2024
E
Verified Purchase
Exelente producto
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
Se ajusta perfectamente al lugar que lo necesites
Color: Black, Size: 172in-Large Metal Base
Queda excelente ni tan alto ni tan bajo
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2026
C
Verified Purchase
CD
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 1
Frame too short
Color: Beige, Size: 132in-Large Metal Base
Can’t be assemble due to the frame being too short
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2026

recommand products