Communicated by Sir Joseph Banks. Read June 28, 1787.
London, the Royal Society, 1787
Source for moby dick. First edition, extracted from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This foundational paper on whales and dolphins, by the prominent surgeon and comparative anatomist John Hunter, was used as a reference by Herman Melville when writing Moby Dick. It is based on Hunter's own dissections and observations, and is illustrated by eight attractive engraved plates.
Melville cited Hunter twice in Moby Dick. He is quoted (probably via the author William Paley) in the extracts: 'Ten or fifteen gallons of blood are thrown out of the heart at a stroke, with immense velocity', and is mentioned in the famous Cetology chapter: 'Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and Hunter and Lesson, those lights of zoology and anatomy'. His other sources, Thomas Beale's The Natural History of the Sperm Whale and Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the Globe by Frederick Debbell Bennett, both relied heavily on Hunter's paper as the starting point for whale anatomy.
First edition, extract from the Philosophical Transactions; (27 x 21 cm); 8 folding engraved plates, some toning and offsetting; recently rebound in light blue boards with printed paper label to the cover, grey cloth spine, new endpapers, very good condition.
Melville cited Hunter twice in Moby Dick. He is quoted (probably via the author William Paley) in the extracts: 'Ten or fifteen gallons of blood are thrown out of the heart at a stroke, with immense velocity', and is mentioned in the famous Cetology chapter: 'Thus speak of the whale, the great Cuvier, and Hunter and Lesson, those lights of zoology and anatomy'. His other sources, Thomas Beale's The Natural History of the Sperm Whale and Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the Globe by Frederick Debbell Bennett, both relied heavily on Hunter's paper as the starting point for whale anatomy.
First edition, extract from the Philosophical Transactions; (27 x 21 cm); 8 folding engraved plates, some toning and offsetting; recently rebound in light blue boards with printed paper label to the cover, grey cloth spine, new endpapers, very good condition.
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