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Fine unread condition blue boards, black spine and silver spine lettering contained in a fine condition non price-clipped color illustrated dust jacket. Includes Author Dedication; Preliminary Page Quotes from Exodus 15:7-8 and Robert Loewll, "The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket". Preface: February 23, 1821; Crew of The Essex, Sail Plan and Deck Plan of The Essex; Epilogue: Bones; Notes; Select Bibliography; Acknowledgments; and Index. Illustrated with two section of black-and-white photographic plates, a black-and-white frontispiece drawing, plus numerous additional maps and drawings interspersed throughout the volume. The lower jacket front contains a 2 1/2 inch light brown oval sticker with green lettering stating "Autographed Copy. Signed by the author with thin blue pen on the full title page. "Nathaniel Philbrick has taken one of the most horrifying stories in maritime history and turned it into a classic. Rich with detail on topics ranging from celestial navigation and whale biology to the history of cannibalism, this is historical writing at its best - and at the same time, one of the most chilling books I have ever read." - Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm. "Where the sinking of the Pequod marks the end of Melville's great novel, the sinking of the Essex is only the beginning of Philbrick's tale. It is history brought vividly - and agonizingly - to life by a master storyteller." - Richard Ellis, author. "A true story of unimaginable horror. The source for Melville's 'mighty book' is a tale told wonderfully well by Nathaniel Philbrick." - Peter Benchley, author of Jaws. "The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the Titanic disaster was in the twentieth. Nathaniel Philbrick now restores this epic story - which inspired the climactic scene in Herman Melville's Moby Dic - to its rightful place in American history. In 1819, the 238 -ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, the unthinkable happened: in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, the Essex was rammed and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, decided instead to sail their three tiny boats for the distant South American coast. They would eventually travel over 4,500 miles. The next three months tested just how far humans could go in their battle against the sea as, one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear. Nathaniel Philbrick brings an incredible story to life, from the intricacies of Nantucket's whaling economy and the mechanics of sailing a square-rigger to the often mysterious behaviour of whales. But it is his portrayal of the crew of the Essex that makes this a heartrending book. These were not romantic adventurers, but young working men, some teenagers, just trying to earn a living in the only way they knew how. They were a varied lot: the ambitious first mate, Owen Chase, whose impulsive nature failed at a crucial moment, then drew him to a more dangerous course; the cabin boy, Thomas Nickerson, whose long-lost account of the ordeal, written at age seventy-one, provides new insights into the story; and Captain George Pollard, who was forced to take the most horrifying step if any of his men were to survive. This is a timeless account of the human spirit under extreme duress, but it is also a story about community, and about the kind of men and women who lived in a forbidding, remote island like Nantucket - a pioneer story that explores how we became who we are, and our peculiar blend of spiritualism and violence. It is also a tragic tale of survival against all odds. Its richness of detail, its eloquence, and its command of history make In the Heart of the Sea a vital book about America." - from the inner front and rear jacket flaps. Seller Inventory # 007772
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Bibliographic Details
Title: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the ...
Publisher: Viking / Penguin Group, New York
Publication Date: 2000
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: Buckley, Paul (jacket design); Barkat, Jonathan (jacket photograph); Nagelmann, Antony (jacket art)
Condition: Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
