TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF LIFE AT SEA. New-York: Harper & Brothers -- 82 Cliff-Street, 1840. 15.2x9.5 cm (12mo), pp. [1-3] 4-483 [484: blank], flyleaves at front and rear, publisher's tan muslin printed in black. First edition, presumed first printing, second state binding. The probable first of two printings dated 1840 (the dot over the "i" in "in" is present in the first line in the copyright notice, and the running head on page 9 is not broken). BAL's state 2 of the advertisements on the rear cover which lists 121 numbers in the "Harpers' Family Library" series, including this book, which is number 106 in the series. "The life of a common sailor at sea as it really is, -- the light and the dark together" (Dana). "Probably the most widely read book relating to California. The author spent much of the years 1835 and 1836 in various parts of that territory, and his pictures of its life and times are the most brilliant that we possess" (Cowan). "His residence in California for some 17 months makes TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST a document in frontier history, though as a book it is usually thought of as a sea story and one which has permanently influenced the literature of the sea" (Johnson, Grolier, page 28). "The author sailed up and down the California coast trading for hides from January, 1835, until May, 1836. He possessed not only extraordinarily keen powers of observation but a fine facility for expressing his ideas in writing, which make this volume and excellent and very readable record of his experiences" (Zamorano Eighty). "As was the case with several other American authors a physical disability was the immediate cause of R. H. Dana, Jr.'s distinguished literary achievement. He was born and educated in Cambridge, Mass. Weakened eyesight early in his college career, however, led to a protracted sea voyage as a common sailor, and that in turn to his admirable epic and masterpiece, TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. In this greatest of American sea sagas Dana pictures with vividness and an unrivaled fidelity to truth the charms and the brutalities of a seaman's life. He knew the sea in all its moods, its terrors and its gentleness; he reported them with a touch akin to genius" (Fullerton). Cowan (1933), p. 156. Fullerton, Selective Bibliography of American Literature 1775-1900, pp. 78-79. Grolier Club, One Hundred Influential American Books Printed Before 1900 46. Howes D 49. Sabin 18448. Zamorano Eighty 26. BAL 4434. Some foxing to endpapers, a fine copy. Rare in this condition. Enclosed in a custom clamshell box with leather spine label. (#179150).
Price: $10,000.00
No statement of printing.