Moby Dick, A Longman Critical Edition

This innovative, scholarly edition of Moby Dick offers unprecedented access to the revisions Herman Melville made to the original 1851 American version of the novel and illuminates all changes which scholars have made to create the classic that readers know today.  The “fluid text” feature illuminates the personal, social, and cultural context of Melville’s writing process, right on the page, while also offering fresh contextual notes, illustrations, and other apparatus to make this the most reader-friendly — and therefore most teachable — edition available today.

Introduction and Acknowledgments

A Note on Text and Annotation

Moby Dick; or, The Whale

Explanatory Notes

Making Moby Dick

            Revision Narratives

            List of In-Text Revision Narratives

            Changes Not Discussed

            Textual Emendations

Melville’s Sources

Further Reading

Illustrations

Glossary of Nautical and Whaling Terms