Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Add Moby-Dick to bookshelf
Add to Bookshelf

Reading Guide

Moby-Dick

or, The Whale

or, The Whale

or, The Whale

By Herman Melville
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Cover Design or Artwork by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Notes by Tom Quirk
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Cover Design or Artwork by Coralie Bickford-Smith
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Notes by Tom Quirk
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Foreword by Nathaniel Philbrick
Introduction by Andrew Delbanco
Commentaries by Tom Quirk

By Herman Melville
Read by William Hootkins

By Herman Melville
Read by William Hootkins

Best Seller

Part of Penguin Clothbound Classics

Part of Penguin Audio Classics

Paperback $16.00

Dec 31, 2002 | ISBN 9780142437247

Hardcover $32.00

Nov 24, 2015 | ISBN 9780141199603

Ebook $4.99

Dec 31, 2002 | ISBN 9781101666333

Audiobook Download $17.50

Jun 16, 2005 | 362 Minutes

All Formats
+
    Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
    Hardcover $32.00
    Nov 24, 2015 | ISBN 9780141199603

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    See All Formats (3) +
    • $16.00

      Dec 31, 2002 | ISBN 9780142437247

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $32.00

      Nov 24, 2015 | ISBN 9780141199603

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 31, 2002 | ISBN 9781101666333

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Jun 16, 2005 | ISBN 9781429587280

      362 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Moby-Dick

    Herman Melville’s masterpiece of obsession and the untamed sea, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history—featuring an introduction by Andrew Delbanco and notes by Tom Quirk.

    This edition features the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville’s text, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions and the Center for Editions of American Authors of the MLA.

    Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

    Moby-Dick still stands as an indisputable literary classic. It is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature. 

    Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. 

    Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    About Moby-Dick

    Part of Penguin’s beautiful hardcover Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.

    In part, Moby-Dick is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature. Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception.

    This edition contains the definitive text of Moby-Dick based on the Northwestern-Newberry edition. It also features an introduction by Andrew Delbanco and explanatory commentary by Tom Quirk.

    For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
     

    About Moby-Dick

    Herman Melville’s masterpiece of obsession and the untamed sea, one of the greatest works of imagination in literary history—featuring an introduction by Andrew Delbanco and notes by Tom Quirk.

    This edition features the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville’s text, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions and the Center for Editions of American Authors of the MLA.

    Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

    Moby-Dick still stands as an indisputable literary classic. It is the story of an eerily compelling madman pursuing an unholy war against a creature as vast and dangerous and unknowable as the sea itself. But more than just a novel of adventure, more than an encyclopedia of whaling lore and legend, Moby-Dick is a haunting, mesmerizing, and important social commentary populated with several of the most unforgettable and enduring characters in literature. 

    Written with wonderfully redemptive humor, Moby-Dick is a profound and timeless inquiry into character, faith, and the nature of perception. 

    Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    About Moby-Dick

    Moby-Dick is one of the great epics in all of literature. Captain Ahab’s hunt for the white whale drives the narrative at a relentless pace, while Ishmael’s meditations on whales and whaling, on the sublime indifference of nature, and on the grimy physical details of the extraction of oil provide a reflective counterpoint to the headlong idolatrous quest. Sometimes read as a terrifying study of monomania or as a critical inquiry into the effects of reducing life to symbols, Moby-Dick also offers colorful and often comic glimpses of life aboard a whaling ship.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Also by Herman Melville

    Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories
    Moby-Dick
    Moby- Dick
    American 19th Century Literature
    Moby-Dick
    See all books by Herman Melville

    Also by Herman Melville

    Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories
    Moby-Dick
    Moby- Dick
    American 19th Century Literature
    Moby-Dick
    See all books by Herman Melville

    Also by Herman Melville

    Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories
    Moby-Dick
    Moby- Dick
    American 19th Century Literature
    Moby-Dick
    See all books by Herman Melville

    Also by Herman Melville

    Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories
    Moby-Dick
    Moby- Dick
    American 19th Century Literature
    Moby-Dick
    See all books by Herman Melville

    About Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. When his father died, he was forced to leave school and find work. After passing through some minor clerical jobs, the eighteen-year-old young man shipped out to sea, first on… More about Herman Melville

    About Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. When his father died, he was forced to leave school and find work. After passing through some minor clerical jobs, the eighteen-year-old young man shipped out to sea, first on… More about Herman Melville

    About Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. When his father died, he was forced to leave school and find work. After passing through some minor clerical jobs, the eighteen-year-old young man shipped out to sea, first on… More about Herman Melville

    About Herman Melville

    Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. When his father died, he was forced to leave school and find work. After passing through some minor clerical jobs, the eighteen-year-old young man shipped out to sea, first on… More about Herman Melville

    Product Details

    Category: Classic Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $16.00
    Published by Penguin Classics
    Dec 31, 2002 | 720 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | ISBN 9780142437247

    Category: Classic Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $32.00
    Published by Penguin Classics
    Nov 24, 2015 | 720 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | ISBN 9780141199603

    Category: Classic Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $4.99
    Published by Penguin Classics
    Dec 31, 2002 | 720 Pages | ISBN 9781101666333

    Category: Literary Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $17.50
    Published by Penguin Audio
    Jun 16, 2005 | 362 Minutes | ISBN 9781429587280

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Praise

    Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books

    Winner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design Award

    Praise for Penguin Drop Caps:

    “[Penguin Drop Caps] convey a sense of nostalgia for the tactility and aesthetic power of a physical book and for a centuries-old tradition of beautiful lettering.”
    —Fast Company

    “Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers…. Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections.”
    —Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

    “The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they’re beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische’s fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen’s A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte’s B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf.”
    —Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times

    “Drool-inducing.”
    —Flavorwire

    “Classic reads in stunning covers—your book club will be dying.”
    —Redbook

    Table Of Contents

    Introduction
    Suggestions for Further Reading
    A Note on the Text

    Etymology
    Extracts

    Moby Dick

    Loomings
    The Carpet Bag
    The Spouter-Inn
    The Counterpane
    Breakfast
    The Street
    The Chapel
    The Pulpit
    The Sermon
    A Bosom Friend
    Nightgown
    Biographical
    Wheelbarrow
    Nantucket
    Chowder
    The Ship
    The Ramadan
    His Mark
    The Prophet
    All Astir
    Going Aboard
    Merry Christmas
    The Lee Shore
    The Advocate
    Postscript
    Knights and Squires
    Knights and Squires
    Ahab
    Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb
    The Pipe
    Queen Mab
    Cetology
    The Specksynder
    The Cabin Table
    The Mast-Head
    The Quarter-Deck • Ahab and all
    Sunset
    Dusk
    First Night-Watch
    Forecastle—Midnight
    Moby Dick
    The Whiteness of the Whale
    Hark!
    The Chart
    The Affidavit
    Surmises
    The Mat-Maker
    The First Lowering
    The Hyena
    Ahab’s Boat and Crew—Fedallah
    The Spirit-Spout
    The Pequod meets the Albatross
    The Gam
    The Town Ho’s Story
    Monstrous Pictures of Whales
    Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales
    Of Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c.
    Brit
    Squid
    The Line
    Stubb kills a Whale
    The Dart
    The Crotch
    Stubb’s Supper
    The Whale as a Dish
    The Shark Massacre
    Cutting In
    The Blanket
    The Funeral
    The Sphynx
    The Pequod meets the Jeroboam • Her Story
    The Monkey-rope
    Stubb & Flask kill a Right Whale
    The Sperm Whale’s Head
    The Right Whale’s Head
    The Battering-Ram
    The Great Heidelburgh Tun
    Cistern and Buckets
    The Prairie
    The Nut
    The Pequod meets the Virgin
    The Honor and Glory of Whaling
    Jonah Historically Regarded
    Pitchpoling
    The Fountain
    The Tail
    The Grand Armada
    Schools & Schoolmasters
    Fast Fish and Loose Fish
    Heads or Tails
    The Pequod meets the Rose Bud
    Ambergris
    The Castaway
    A Squeeze of the Hand
    The Cassock
    The Try-Works
    The Lamp
    Stowing Down & Clearing Up
    The Doubloon
    The Pequod meets the Samuel Enderby of London
    The Decanter
    A Bower in the Arsacides
    Measurement of the Whale’s Skeleton
    The Fossil Whale
    Does the Whale Diminish?
    Ahab’s Leg
    The Carpenter
    The Deck • Ahab and the Carpenter
    The Cabin • Ahab and Starbuck
    Queequeg in his Coffin
    The Pacific
    The Blacksmith
    The Forge
    The Gilder
    The Pequod meets the Bachelor
    The Dying Whale
    The Whale-Watch
    The Quadrant
    The Candles
    The Deck
    Midnight, on the Forecastle
    Midnight, Aloft
    The Musket
    The Needle
    The Log and Line
    The Life-Buoy
    Ahab and the Carpenter
    The Pequod meets the Rachel
    The Cabin •Ahab and Pip
    The Hat
    The Pequod meets the Delight
    The Symphony
    The Chase • First Day
    The Chase • Second Day
    The Chase • Third Day
    Epilogue

    List of Textual Emendations
    Explanatory Notes
    Glossary of Nautical Terms
    Maps and Illustrations

    Looking for More Great Reads?
    21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read

    Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

    Raise kids who love to read

    Brightly

    Raise kids who love to read

    Today's Top Books

    Today's Top Books

    Want to know what people are actually reading right now?

         An online magazine for today’s home cook

    TASTE

    An online magazine for today’s home cook