Books by Herman Melville

Portrait of Herman Melville

Herman Melville stands among the great voices of nineteenth‑century American literature, celebrated for his profound explorations of obsession, morality, and the human struggle against nature. His writing blends adventure with philosophical depth, drawing readers into vividly realised worlds shaped by the sea, commerce, and the restless pursuit of meaning.

Best known for his masterwork *Moby‑Dick*, Melville's legacy also includes finely crafted tales and reflective prose that continue to challenge and inspire. His influence extends far beyond his own era, inviting modern readers to rediscover the timeless questions and rich symbolism that define his remarkable body of work.

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180 products


  • Billy Budd, Sailor (Royal Collector's Edition)

    Engage Books Billy Budd, Sailor (Royal Collector's Edition)

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £35.96

  • Moby-Dick: or, The Whale

    Benediction Books Moby-Dick: or, The Whale

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £20.40

  • Moby Dick

    Fantom Films Limited Moby Dick

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £11.87

  • I Would Prefer Not To: Essential Stories

    Pushkin Press I Would Prefer Not To: Essential Stories

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears. A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A cynical lightning rod salesman plies his trade by exploiting fears in stormy weather. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease.Trade Review"Melville instinctively aspired to the grandest scale, and even in his shorter works offers vast inklings and the resonance of cosmic concerns." -- John Updike"Melville seems to promise the very stuff of existence: time, space, air. We don't so much read him as inhale him." -- Geoffrey O'Brien, Village Voice"There are very few stories that, on re-reading after re-reading, seem to become impossibly more perfect, but Herman Melville's eerie, aching story 'Bartleby, the Scrivener' is one such." -- Stuart Kelly, Guardian

    5 in stock

    £11.40

  • Moby Dick

    Arcturus Publishing Ltd Moby Dick

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisDescribed by D H Lawrence as "the greatest book of the sea ever written" and now heralded as a classic of American literature, ironically Moby Dick was not a financial success for Herman Melville. Moby Dick is told through the eyes of Ishmael, a sailor. The story recounts the voyage of the Pequod, a whaling ship captained by Ahab, who on a previous trip had lost a battle with a white whale, during which both his ship and the lower part of his leg were destroyed. Ishmael signs up for what he thinks will be a normal whaling trip, but as the voyage progresses, he realises that Captain Ahab is after one thing - revenge.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.

    2 in stock

    £8.54

  • Moby Dick

    Flame Tree Publishing Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisLittle treasures, the FLAME TREE COLLECTABLE CLASSICS are chosen to create a delightful and timeless home library. Each stunning, gift edition features deluxe cover treatments, ribbon markers, luxury endpapers and gilded edges. The unabridged text is accompanied by a Glossary of Victorian and Literary terms produced for the modern reader. American writer Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851 but it took decades before it was finally regarded as a great American novel, and worthy of its place among the greatest texts of humankind. A tale of imagination and adventure, it recounts the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship seeking vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that had bitten off his leg on a previous voyage.

    15 in stock

    £9.89

  • Moby Dick

    Flame Tree Publishing Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisAmerican writer Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick in 1851 but it took decades before finally it was regarded as a great American novel, and worthy of its place amongst the greatest texts of humankind. It recounts the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of a whaling ship seeking vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that had bitten off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

    15 in stock

    £16.00

  • Moby Dick: Annotated Edition (Alma Classics

    Alma Books Ltd Moby Dick: Annotated Edition (Alma Classics

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhen the young Ishmael gets on board Captain Ahab’s whaling ship, little does he suspect that the mission on which he is about to embark is the fulfilment of his master’s obsessive desire for revenge on Moby Dick, a white whale who has already claimed countless human victims and destroyed many fleets. With some sinister crew members in their midst and the hazardous conditions of the sea to contend with, the expedition becomes increasingly dangerous the closer it gets to its quarry. One of the great American novels, if not the greatest, Moby Dick epically combines rip-roaring adventure, a meticulously realistic portrayal of the whaling trade and a profound philosophical disquisition on the nature of good and evil.Trade ReviewStrange, original and gripping. -- William Somerset MaughamOne of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world. -- D.H. Lawrence

    10 in stock

    £8.20

  • The Piazza Tales: Annotated Edition

    Alma Books Ltd The Piazza Tales: Annotated Edition

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis volume, first published in 1856, includes three of the tales widely considered to be among Melville’s masterpieces. In ‘Bartleby, the Scrivener’, a Wall Street lawyer hires a melancholy young clerk called Bartleby, whose sudden and mysterious refusal to work plunges the firm into disarray. ‘Benito Cereno’ is the account of a mutiny on a slave ship, based on the real-life journals of an American sea captain. ‘The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles’ is a series of sketches about the Galápagos Islands which was a huge success with the reading public and contains some of Melville’s most celebrated prose. Also included in this volume are ‘The Lightning-Rod Man’, ‘The Bell Tower’ and a story written especially for the collection, ‘The Piazza’. Taken together, these tales, in their masterful use of irony and concision, display the author of Moby Dick at his most uncompromising and compelling.Trade ReviewIt is Melville who establishes the benchmark for what the short story can attain and allows us to set the standards by which all the other great writers of the form can be measured. -- William BoydTable of ContentsContains: Bartleby, the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles, The Lightning-Rod Man, The Bell Tower, The Piazza.

    1 in stock

    £7.59

  • Moby-Dick

    Everyman Moby-Dick

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThis is about the quest of Captain Ahab, a man consumed by his obsession with a legendary, giant white whale, Moby Dick. As the ship sails into dangerous waters, The captain's hysterical pursuit becomes a symbol for the inherent, often destructive, nature of human ambition. "Moby-Dick" is not merely a tale of daring do; it is a profound meditation on the human condition itself. It can be read as part thriller, part sea adventure and part allegory.

    Out of stock

    £15.29

  • Complete Shorter Fiction

    Everyman Complete Shorter Fiction

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisHerman Melville (1819-91) brought as much genius to the smaller-scale literary forms as he did to the full-blown novel: his poems and the short stories and novellas collected in this volume reveal a deftness and a delicacy of touch that is in some ways even more impressive than the massive, tectonic passions of Moby-Dick. In a story like “Bartleby, the Scrivener” — one of the very few perfect representatives of the form in the English language — he displayed an unflinching precision and insight and empathy in his depiction of the drastically alienated inner life of the title character. In “Benito Cereno,” he addressed the great racial dilemmas of the nineteenth century with a profound, almost surreal imaginative clarity. And in Billy, Budd, Sailor, the masterpiece of his last years, he fused the knowledge and craft gained from a lifetime’s magnificent work into a pure, stark, flawlessly composed tale of innocence betrayed and destroyed. Melville is justly honored for the epic sweep of his mind, but his lyricism, his skill in rendering the minute, the particular, the local, was equally sublime.SEE LESS

    4 in stock

    £14.24

  • Moby Dick

    Real Reads Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisAmong the crew is Ishmael, the novel's narrator, ordinary sailor, and extraordinary reader. Digressive, allusive, vulgar, transcendent, the story Ishmael tells is above all an education: in the practice of whaling, in the art of writing. Expanding to equal his ‘mighty theme’ – not only the whale but all things sublime – Melville breathes in the world's great literature. Moby Dick is the greatest novel ever written by an American.

    15 in stock

    £6.99

  • Moby Dick

    Classic Comic Store Ltd Moby Dick

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £8.84

  • Bartleby the Scrivener/Bartleby der Schreiber:

    Parapara Books Bartleby the Scrivener/Bartleby der Schreiber:

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £8.99

  • Moby Dick - Foxton Reader Level-2 (600 Headwords

    Foxton Books Moby Dick - Foxton Reader Level-2 (600 Headwords

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £9.72

  • Moby Dick

    Chiltern Publishing Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £17.00

  • Klett Sprachen GmbH Moby Dick Buch AudioCD Englische Lektre fr das 5

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £14.28

  • Klett Sprachen GmbH Moby Dick

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £13.20

  • Diogenes Verlag AG Meistererzählungen

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £12.35

  • Kampa Verlag Bartleby der Schreiber

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £17.00

  • Penguin TB Verlag Bartleby der Schreibgehilfe

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £8.00

  • Arena Verlag GmbH Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £9.50

  • Arena Verlag GmbH Moby Dick

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £9.50

  • C.H. Beck Bartleby der Schreiber Eine Erzhlung

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £13.46

  • dtv Verlagsgesellschaft MobyDick oder Der Wal Roman

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £14.40

  • Carl Hanser Verlag Ausgewählte Werke. Moby Dick oder Der Wal

    7 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    7 in stock

    £35.20

  • Carl Hanser Verlag Billy Budd Die groen Erzhlungen

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £32.30

  • Insel Verlag GmbH Bartleby der Schreiber

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £13.50

  • Insel Verlag GmbH Bartleby the Scrivener A Story of WallStreet

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £13.50

  • Insel Verlag GmbH Bartleby der Schreiber

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £9.50

  • Insel Verlag GmbH Moby Dick

    7 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    7 in stock

    £14.25

  • Coppenrath F Moby Dick

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £33.15

  • G&G Verlagsges. LESEZUGKlassiker Moby Dick

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £9.95

  • FISCHER Sauerländer Moby Dick

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £22.41

  • Moby Dick

    Aufbau-Verlag GmbH Moby Dick

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £12.82

  • The Confidence-Man

    Outlook Verlag The Confidence-Man

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £47.61

  • Ueberreuter Verlag Moby Dick

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £9.45

  • Benito Cereno

    Tredition Classics Benito Cereno

    15 in stock

    15 in stock

    £15.73

  • Anaconda Verlag Moby Dick oder Der weiße Wal

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £7.40

  • mareverlag GmbH Typee

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £33.60

  • mareverlag GmbH John Marr und andere Matrosen Mit einigen

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £18.00

  • Hase und Igel Verlag GmbH Moby Dick Schulausgabe

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £8.51

  • Hase und Igel Verlag GmbH Moby Dick. Begleitmaterial

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £17.05

  • Spaß am Lesen Verlag Moby Dick

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £11.40

  • Trötsch Verlag GmbH Trötsch Moby Dick

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £7.01

  • Splitter Verlag Moby Dick

    7 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    7 in stock

    £18.70

  • Splitter Verlag Bartleby der Schreiber Graphic Novel

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £16.20

  • Editorial Planeta Mexicana S.A. de C.V. Moby Dick

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £14.24

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