Cetus The Whale
Pacific Palisades, CA: The Melville Press, 1996. Hardcover. Number 165 of 200 copies signed and numbered by the artist. This remarkable book, Cetus The Whale, was the first work published by the Melville Press. The press was born from a passion for Melville's work and is devoted to publishing books that capture the spirit of his vision. They describe this book as "an illustrated companion to Moby Dick," but it is much more, given their reverence for Millville and his masterpiece. The editor, John Sheller, writes in his insightful preface: "“There are mountains of the written word. Scripture is inspired of God. Neither the creation of scripture nor the voice of the Holy Spirit were silenced at the end of the New Testament. Dumps full of books have piled up since, some even claiming credentials of divine inspiration. Only a few in their vision and craft reveal truth so clearly that many can agree the result is inspired. Moby Dick is such a book.” He continues to say that Moby Dick is scripture and that is the answer. Catherine Kanner's striking portraits of the crew of the Pequod (excluding Ishmael) are essential to the book's interpretation of Moby Dick. Sheller states: "They are a weaving of the original materials with new hands. They bespeak the artist's vision of the men who in their relations reveal truth." The portraits are accompanied by quotes from Moby Dick or Paradise Lost. Bound in dark blue silk cloth with a silver foil Cetus constellation stamped on the front cover and silver titling to spine. Each of the eleven stars represents a character from the book. The endpapers were hand painted by Kanner and each is unique. The book was designed to be viewed as a codex, but with an accordion binding that allows the book to be opened fully so that the portraits may be viewed as a gallery, The accordion design was developed by Allwyn O'Mara. The verso of the first page has a unique debossed design of a harpoon. The book was letterpress printed by John Robinson at The Tortoise Press in San Diego. The typeface is Bembo printed on Arches 88 paper. Housed in a plexiglass slipcase. A beautiful book in fine condition. Measures 7.5 x 10 inches. Unpaginated [34 pages]. PRI/112923. Fine. More