Omoo.

MELVILLE, Herman .

$4,000.00

Item Number: 144159

New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1847.

First edition of this classic Melville work. Octavo, original cloth. In very good condition. Housed in a custom half morocco chemise slipcase. BAL 13656. A sharp example.

Following the commercial and critical success of Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover, or someone who roams from island to island, Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville’s personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific. From recruiting among the natives for sailors to handling deserters and even mutiny, Melville gives a first-person account of life as a sailor during the nineteenth century filled with colorful characters and vivid descriptions of the far-flung locales of Polynesia.