Raynors HCA 2019-01
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/21/2019
Authentic and complete is of “The Knickebocker”, May 1839, 100pp., disbound, fine. A 15page story, titled is printed “Mocha Dick of the Pacific” is printed on the interior. This would be the 1st publication of the story which many believe became the basis for Melville’s Moby Dick published 12 years later. Melville was also influenced by the story of Mocha Dick, a similarly white huge sperm whale who was given to sinking whaling ships. The author-explorer Jeremiah N. Reynolds heard accounts of this whale from various sailors and published an article about it in an 1839 issue of the Knickerbocker Journal under the title, “Mocha Dick, or, The White Whale of the Pacific – A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal.” According to Reynolds, the “old bull whale” was huge, 70 feet long, and when finally killed, yielded over 100 barrels of oil, a quantity of ambergris, and had at least 19 harpoons in his sides.
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