Moby Dick The white whale

This Day in History: 11/14/1851 - Moby Dick is Published, A classic of the sea, telling of the pursuit of Moby Dick, the white whale who defied capture.

Title: Moby Dick; or, The white whale, Famous sea stories by Herman Melville, Herman Melville. Author: Herman Melville. Illustrator: Augustus Burnham Shute d. 1906. Publisher: St. Botolph Society, 1892, Original from Harvard University, Digitized: Mar 20, 2008. Length: 545 pages.

Composition Licence: This IMAGE (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

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This file is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris), in this case Augustus Burnham Shute d. 1906, and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from December 31st of that year.

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving oft the spleen, and regulating the circulation.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.