Whales and Whaling
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. Den gamle hvalfangst. Kapitler av dens historie. Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1933.
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. 165, [3]; text in Norwegian; text illustrations throughout; publisher's brown cloth, gilt title on spine; signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, some toning of the text, else fine.
2. A whaler & trader in the Arctic, 1895-1944. My life with the Bowhead. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, [1978].
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 213, [1]; text illustrations; pictorial paper wrappers, near fine.
3. Conservation and management of whales. Seattle: Washington Sea Grant publication, distributed by the University of Washington Press; London: Butterworths, [1980].
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 107, [1]; figures, graphs, and tables in the text; fine copy in the dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
4. In the wake of the whale. [New York]: Cowell-Collier Press / Collier-Macmillan, London, [1969].
$15
First edition, 8vo, pp. [10], 102; illustrations throughout; fine copy in the dust jacket. "Being a chronicle of the earth's largest creatures - from birth to extinction," with an emphasis on the Blue whale.
5. The shore whaling stations at South Georgia: A study in Antarctic industrial archaeology. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 2004.
$80
4to, pp. [3], 6-226; text illustrations throughout, many in color; map endpapers; blue publisher's buckram, gilt title on spine, fine in fine pictorial dust jacket.
6. The natural history of the sperm whale. Introduction by Sidney G. Brown. London: Holland Press, [1973].
$50
8vo, pp. xvi, 393, [1]; frontispiece, 2 plates, several figures in the text; fine copy in publisher's blue cloth, and price-clipped dust jacket. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
Standard work on the sperm whale first published in 1838, and a major source for Herman Melville in his writing of Moby Dick.
7. A history of British quadrupeds, including the Cetacea. London: John van Voorst, 1837.
$200
8vo, pp. xviii, 526; engravings in text throughout; publisher's full green cloth, gilt title on spine; head and tail of spine worn, bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian on free end paper, museum bookplate, plus small stamps on half-title, title and verso of final leaf; front hinge neatly reinforced; overall very good and clean.
Bell (1792-1880) was a British naturalist and zoologist, and one-time president of the Linnean Society. He "was at the heart of the scientific establishment and when Charles Darwin returned to London from the Beagle expedition on 2 December 1836, Bell was quick to take on the task of describing the reptile specimens. He was also entrusted with the specimens of Crustacea collected on the voyage. He was the authority in this field; his book British Stalke-eyed Crustacea is a masterwork. He played a significant part in the inception of Darwin's theory of natural selection in March 1837 when he confirmed that the giant Galápagos tortoises were native to the islands, not brought in by buccaneers for food as Darwin had thought" (Wikipedia).
8. Loggbok bland valfångare. Med norrmän i antarktis. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers, 1950.
$30
8vo, pp. 289, [1]; two folding maps, color frontispiece, text illustrations; text in Swedish; pictorial printed paper wrappers, ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian on half title, and Edward Mitchell on inner wrapper, with Mitchell's library stamp on title page verso, else fine.
On whaling in the Antarctic.
9. Barnacles and bilge water. A collection of old whaling yarns. New Bedford, MA: Reynolds Printing, 1941.
$40
First edition, staplebound booklet, pp. [2], 48, [2]; printed blue paper wrapper; owner's stamp and note on cover and first leaf, top corner bumped, text clean and sound, near fine. Text illustrations by George Gale, Curator of the Bilgewater Club and "one of the last important artists to document New Bedford's whale fishery from firsthand experience."
10. Right whales: past and present status. Proceedings of the workshop on the status of right whales. Cambridge: International Whaling Commission, 1986.
$45
First edition, small folio, pp. vi, [2], 289, [1]; tables, charts, text illustrations; original pictorial tan cloth boards, corners bumped; near fine. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
11. Les amphibies et les cétacés.. Paris: Berche et Tralin, 1878.
$125
12mo, pp. [4], iv, 308; red morocco-backed red cloth, gilt-decorated spine; boards a little spotted but generally very good.
Part of the section on Les Cétacés is by Lacépède.
Ten locations in OCLC, but only Wellesley and UNC in the U.S.
12. Greenlanders, whales, and whaling. Sustainability and self-determination in the Arctic. Hanover & London: Dartmouth College, published by the University Press of New England, [1997].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], 203, [1]; 2 maps, 11 plates, 19 figures and 16 tables; fine ccopy in the dust jacket.
13. Whalers and whaling. The story of the whaling ships up to the present day. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1925.
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. 248; frontispiece and 49 illustrations on 35 plates; color whaling illustration mounted on the blank p. [11]; good, sound copy or better in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
14. Cephalopoda in the diet of sperm whales of the southern hemisphere and their bearing on sperm whale biology. Discovery reports Vol. XXXVI. [Cambridge: Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, 1979].
$150
First edition, 4to, pp. iv, 324; 4 plates, text illustrations and graphs throughout; original printed paper wrappers; bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian; small cancel strip on cover, edges a little sunned, text clean and sound, very good. In a modern cardboard clamshell box.
Discovery Reports, vol. XXXVII, pp. 1-324, March 1980.
15. Whaling around Australia. London: Angus Robertson, [1970].
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. [10], 168, [10]; frontispiece and 34 illustrations on rectos and versos of 10 plates; publisher's blue cloth stamped in silver on spine; in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
16. The lives of whales and dolphins. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1994].
$15
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiii, [3], 233, [5]; fine copy in a fine, unclipped dust jacket. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
17. The adventure of whaling. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd.; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1954.
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. vii, [1], 143, [1]; numerous text illustrations by Winston Megoran (some full -page); original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; near fine.
18. Harpoon into the heart of whaling. Cambridge: Da Capo Press, [2008].
$20
First American edition, review copy, with 4-page publisher's announcements laid in; 8vo, pp. xix, [1], 300; chapter headings in the text; fine copy in the dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
Save the whales! A critique and expose of commercial whaling.
19. De fossiele en recente cetacea van Nederland. Amsterdam: H. J. Paris, 1931.
$225
8vo, pp. xi, [1], 304; frontispiece plus 16 leaves of illustration at the back; tables in the text; errata slip tipped in at p. vii; original pictorial tan wrappers; near fine in a brown cloth clamshell box. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
An academic thesis on fossil whales and the family Cetacea in The Netherlands.
20. [DeWolf, William Henry.] Machinery for Henry H. DeWolf's oil factory. Prov[idence]: Aug. 26, 1835.
$375
Folio manuscript estimate from Shaw & Earle for machinery and equipment for a whale oil factory, sent to Henry H. DeWolf of Bristol, listing approximately 2 dozen line items, with prices, ranging from tubs and kettles, to candle molds and cooper's tools, to wicks, funnels and measurers: "Above is an account of the principal articles wanted for a small oil factory with the prices that we paid affixed. If we can assist you with any further information we should be happy to do so." Docketed and addressed on the verso to William H. DeWolf, Bristol, R.I. Several small tears entering from the margins (no loss); previous folds; very good.
William Henry DeWolf (1802-1853), was a member of the wealthy Bristol DeWolf family, merchants in the shipping trade, now mostly infamous for their slave trading activities. This document ("memorandum") was written by James Shaw and James M. Earle who ran a whale oil factory located at 40 South Water Street in Providence. Shaw & Earle were apparently acting as advisors in the business to William H. DeWolf who was investigating starting an oil factory of his own.
The above letter may represent an attempt by DeWolf to start again after bankruptcy. William Henry DeWolf was the son of James and Nancy Bradford DeWolf. The clan started the Mount-Hope Insurance Co., which insured their own slave ships. James DeWolf served as a senator while he profited from the trade; and brother William ran the Mount-Hope Insurance Company. When George DeWolf's sugar cane crop failed, he defaulted on a business bank loan, bringing three banks to near collapse. The reverberations hit the other DeWolfs and much of Bristol. The family went bankrupt. They couldn't pay the farmers or other suppliers so all went bankrupt. William Henry's wife Sarah Ann Rogers became known locally as "Poor Sarah," because of her having to take in borders to maintain Linden Place after her husband declared bankruptcy.
21. Petticoat whalers. Whaling wifes at sea 1820-1920 ... Original illustrations by Ron Druett.. Hanover & London: University Press of New England, [2001].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. vi, 213, [1]; illustrated throughout; fine in original pictorial wrappers.
22. Les baleiniers francais au XIXème siècle 1814-1868. Grenoble: Terre et Mer, 4 Seigneurs, 1982.
$125
First edition, 4to, pp. 256, [4]; illustrated throughout (some color); a fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
23. When the whalers were up north. Inuit memories from the eastern Arctic. Boston: David R. Godine, [1989].
$25
First American edition, square 8vo, pp. xvii, [1],187, [1]; map endpapers; illustrated throughout, some in color; fine copy in the dust jacket.
24. Whale off! The story of American shore whaling. New York: Coward-McCann, [1956].
$65
8vo, pp. xxiii, [1], 285, [1]; 16 plates, mostly from old photographs, map endpapers; fine copy in original green cloth, slightly chipped glassine jacket, publisher's slipcase (slightly cracked) with printed label.
Introduction by Roy Chapman Andrews, 5-page glossary of whaling terms at the back. Originally published in 1932.
25. The whale book. Whales and other marine animals as described by Adriaen Coenen in 1585. Edited and with an introduction by ... with commentaries by Kees Lankester. [London]: Reaktion Books, [2003].
$25
First edition, oblong 8vo, pp. xv, [1], 208; illustrated in color throughout; fine copy in a fine, unclipped dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
More than 100 pages reproduced from Coenen's manuscripts showing some of the earliesst European representations of marine life, including whales and dolphins.
26. Hvalveiðar við Ísland 1600-1939. Reykjavik: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, 1987.
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 177, [5]; 3 full-page maps, 32 full-page illustrations on rectos and versos of 16 plates, tables and graphs in the text; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
History of whaling in Iceland 1600-1939.
27. Whales and whaling, port of Sag Harbor, New York. Sag Harbor: William Ewers, 1975.
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 159, [1]; illustrations, manuscript ship lists and owners' names; original gray cloth stamped in silver and black; fine. This book "deals with the Sag Harbor Whaling Fleet proper, from its inception to its demise, giving data on all ships, voyages, cargos, and captains."
28. Whales and seals: biology and ecology. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., [2007].
$15
Third edition in English, 8vo, pp. 448; illustrated throughout, much in color; fine in pictorial wrappers. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
29. A history of world whaling. [London]: Viking, [1990].
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. [14], 288; map endpapers, illustrations throughout; fine copy in a fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
30. Catalogue of seals and whales in the British Museum ... Second edition. London: printed by order of the trustees, 1866.
$450
First book edition, 8vo, pp. vii, [1], 402; 101 illustrations in the text; original brown cloth, gilt-stamped spine; light cracking at spine ends else very good and sound. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"This Catalogue contains an account of all the specimens of Seals and Cetacea, and their bones, that are contained in the British Museum, and a description of the specimens which are contained in other collections, in order to show what are the species which are desiderata to the Museum Collection. Many of the woodcuts are the same as were prepared to illustrate papers published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, which have been kindly lent by the Council of that Society for the purpose" (Preface).
Accompanied by: Catalogue of Seals and Whales, Supplement. London: printed by order of the Trustees, 1871. 8vo, pp. vi,103, [1]; 11 figures in the text; original blue cloth-backed blue paper-covered boards, printed paper label on the upper cover. Ex-Bureau of Fisheries with rubberstamps on title page, previous owner's rubberstamp on upper cover, and the bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
31. Speech of Mr. Grinnell, of Massachusetts, on the tariff, with statistical tables of the whale fishery of the United States [cover title].. Washington: printed by Gales and Seaton, 1844.
$100
First edition, 8vo, pp. 16; a bit of discoloration, overall very good, removed from binding.
Grinnell was opposed to the Walker Tariff of 1846, and presents here a good deal of statistical information on the whaling industry to buttress his case.
32. Whalers no more. A history of whaling on the west coast. [Madeira Park, BC]: Harbour Publishing, 1987.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], iv, 211, [1]; illustrated throughout; publisher's full blue cloth, dust jacket. Fine throughout.
33. The whale people. London: Collins, 1962.
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. 184; full-page map, 16 illustrations by Mary Weiler, several full-page; publisher's green cloth stamped in silver on spine; in a near fine, price-clipped dust jacket.
"Customs and taboos of the Hotsath West Coast Indians."
34. Sperm whaling from New Bedford. Clifford W. Ashley's photographs of bark Sunbeam in 1904. New Bedford: published at the Whaling Museum by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1997.
$50
Second printing, square 8vo, pp. xiii, [1], 221, [3]; frontispiece portrait plus 124 illustrations from photographs (many full-page); fine copy in the dust jacket. With a 27-page glossary of whaling terms and a crew list of the 1904 voyage. From the library of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"The photographs Ashley took for his own reference constitute the most complete known pictorial record of a sperm whaling voyage" (jacket blurb).
35. Salted Tories. The story of the whaling fleets of San Francisco. Mystic, Conn.: Marine Historical Association, 1960.
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 114; 6 plates; small stain on upper wrapper, else very good and sound in original printed blue wrappers. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
36. Catchers and corvettes. The steam whalecatcher in peace and war 1860-1960. Illustrated by the author. 40 ship plans specially drawn by John McKay. Rotherfield, East Sussex: Jean Boudroit Publications, 1992.
$225
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], xi, [1], 432; 505 illustrations (photos, line-drawings, etc.), 77 plans (30 folding); fine copy in the dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"The first purpose-built whalecatcher was built in 1862 in Norway, when Svend Foyn of Tonsberg founded the modern whaling industry by solving the technical problems involved in the successful hunt of the fast-swimming rorqual whales, and their recovery for processing ... The outbreak of war in 1939 was a signal for Allied navies to requisition over 200 catchers, which performed sterling work as anti-submarine vessels and minesweepers" (jacket blurb).
37. Whales, dolphins and porpoises. Oxford: Facts on File, [1988].
$20
First edition, folio, pp. 240; illustrated in color throughout; front free endpaper wrinkled due to bookplate, otherwise a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian. This copy is signed by two of the contributors, Lawrence Barnes, and Dr. R. Ewan Fordyce
38. Whaling. London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1924.
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, [4], 358; 8 color plates; very good, sound copy in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"Wherein are discussed the first whalemen of whom we have record; the growth of the European whaling industry, and of its offspring, the American whaling industry; primitive whaling among the [native peoples] of North America; the various manners and means of taking whales in all parts of the world and in all times of its history; the extraordinary adventures and mishaps that have befallen whalemen the seas over; the economic and social conditions that led to the rise of whaling and hastened its decline; and, in conclusion, the present state of the once flourishing and lucrative industry."
39. Whaleman's world. A novel. New York & Camden: Thomas Nelson, Inc., [1970].
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. 174; publisher's full green cloth stamped in silver, dust jacket with one shallow nick at the top of the front panel, else fine.
40. Great days of whaling ... Illustrated by Victor Mays. Boston and Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press, 1958.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. 184; text illustrations; publisher's pictorial yellow cloth; gift inscription on verso of front free endpaper and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, on half title; very good in pictorial dust jacket, rubbed and price-clipped. A children's adventure book. North Star Books No. 1.
41. Whaling prints in the Francis B. Lothrop collection. Salem: Peabody Museum of Salem, 1987.
$45
Edition limited to 1000 copies, 4to, pp. xxix, [3]; over 600 illustrations, some in color; original full blue cloth; signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian on free endpaper; fine in fine pictorial dust jacket.
42. Twenty-seventh report of the commission (covering the twenty-seventh fiscal year 1975-76). Cambridge, [U.K.]: issued from the office of the Commission, 1977.
$125
Folio, pp. viii, 522; text in double column; maps, tables, graphs in the text; original white printed wrappers; near fine. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
Includes a list of delegates, agenda, report of the Commission, chairman's report, financial report, etc., plus 88 scholarly papers under the subheadings "Papers Submitted to the Scientific Committee," "Report of the Sperm Whale Meeting, La Jolla," "Report of the Working Group on North Atlantic Whales, Oslo," and, "Report of the Sub-Committee on Small Cetaceans, London,"
43. Dolphins, porpoises and whales of the world. The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, U.K.: IUCN, 1991.
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, 429, [1]; tables and a few maps in the text; fine copy in the dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
44. Life and adventure in the South Pacific. By a roving printer. New York: Harper & Bros., 1861.
$950
First edition, 12mo, pp. 361, [1], [10] ads; numerous wood-engraved illustrations throughout, 38 full-page; recent quarter brown calf over marbled boards, maroon morocco label on spine; very good.
"This narrative may have been written by John D. Jones, but conclusive evidence is lacking. The ship visited many islands, among them, Guam, the Hawaiian Islands, Tonga, Juan Fernandez, and Formosa" (Hill).
Hill 1023; Howes J-213; Sabin 36440.
45. Biology of the North Atlantic fin whale Balaeonoptera physalus (L). Taxonomy, distribution, migration and food. As contained in: no. 49 of the Hvalraderts Skrifter. Scientific results of marine biological research, Edited by Universitetets Institutt for marin Biologi and Statens Institutt for Hvalforskning. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1966.
$30
Large 8vo, pp. 62; largely unopened; folding map, folding plate of the fin whale, graphs and tables in the text; fine in original printed wrappers. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
46. イルカ概論: 日本近海産小型鯨類の生態と保全 / Iruka gairon kinkaisan kogata kujirarui no seitai to honzen [= Introduction to Dolphins: Ecology and Conservation of Small Whales from the Seas Near Japan]. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, [2019].
$65
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], vi, 337, [7]; text in Japanese; charts, graphs and a few illustrations in the text; original blue publisher's cloth, fine in fine dust jacket. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
47. A field guide to whales, porpoises and seals from Cape Cod to Newfoundland. Fourth edition, revised. Washington D.C. & London: Smithsonian Insitiution Press, [1993].
$20
8vo, pp. xix, [1], 316; illustrated throughout; fine in original pictorial wrappers. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
48. Hunters of the whale. An adventure in Northwest Coast archaeology. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1974.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. 160; illustrated throughout; fine copy in an unclipped dust jacket.
"The exciting story of the excavation of one of the richest deposits of ancient Indian material ever found in the United States ... on the western-most tip of Washington's Olympic Peninsula" (jacket blurb).
49. Beluga (delphinapterus leucas) investigation of the species ... Translated from the Russian. Jerusalem: Israel Program for Scientific Translations, 1969.
$75
8vo, pp. vi, 376; text illustrations throughout; printed gray papers wrappers; wrappers toned, bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian; very good and sound.
50. クジラがとれた日 [= The day of the whale hunt]. Tokyo: Poplar Co., 2001.
$50
Second issue, 8vo, pp. 39, [1]; text in Japanese, full color illustrations throughout; pictorial boards, fine in fine dust jacket and bellyband. A photographic depiction of whale hunting in the Indonesian village of Lamalera, geared for a juvenile audience.
51. クジラにいどむ船 [= Boats that challenge the whale]. Tokyo: Poplar Co., 2004.
$50
First edition, large 8vo, pp. 39, [1]; text in Japanese; color illustrations throughout; illustrated boards; fine in fine dust jacket and bellyband. A photographic depiction of the whaling boats in the Indonesian village of Lamalera, aimed at a juvenile audience.
52. The truth behind the whaling dispute. [Tokyo?: publisher not identified, 2001].
$30
First edition, 12mo, pp. 176; 12 color illustrations, tables and graphs in the text; fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
A defence of Japanese commercial whaling.
53. Scammon. Beyond the lagoon. A biography of Charles Melville Scammon. Washington D.C. & London: Associates of the J. Porter Shaw Library, in cooperation with the Institute for Marine Information, Pasadena, [1986].
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, 180; frontispiece and 19 illustrations on rectos and versos of 9 plates; fine copy in the dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mamals at the Smithsonian. Issued as Number One in the publisher's Pacific Maritime Series.
Scammon was the author of The Marine Mammals of the North-Western Coast of North America (1874).
54. The emerald whaler. Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, [1960].
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. 239, [1]; map endpapers, 8 illustrations on rectos and versos of 2 plates; fine copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket.
" A saga of the sea and men who risked all for freedom." The true story of the rescue of six Irish prisoners in Freemantle, Australia.
55. Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas and regions; with illustrations of their climate, geology, and natural history; and an account of the whale-fishery. New York: printed by J. & J. Harper, 1831.
$125
12mo, pp. [2], vi, [3], 10-373, [1], [18] ads; 5 wood-engraved plates, inserted wood-engraved vignette title page, folding map (1 fold with short split); original printed tan muslin; short cracks in the cloth along the front joint; all else very good. Issued as no. 14 in the Harper's Family Library series.
56. The whale killers. Chicago [et al.]: Rand McNally & Co., [1963].
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. 191, [1]; 17 illustrations on rectos and versos of 4 plates; publisher's gray cloth stamped in red on spine and upper cover; in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
Whaling in the late 19th and 20th centuries, largely in the Arctic and Antarctic.
57. The Arctic whalers. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson, Ltd., 1968.
$30
Small 4to, pp. xi, [1], 483, [1]; map endpapers, frontispiece, 84 illustrations on rectos and versos of 26 plates, plus a folding sail plan; near fine copy in the dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
58. Harpoons and other whalecraft. New Bedford: The Old Dartmouth Historical Society, Whaling Museum, 1984.
$150
First edition limited to 600 copies printed and bound at the Stinehour Press; large 8vo, pp. xii, 256, [4]; illustrated throughout with photographs, facsimiles, and decorative drawings by Stephen Harvard; fine copy in original creme linen, red morocco label lettered in gilt on spine. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
59. The stocks of whales. London: Fishing News (Books) Ltd., [1965].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. 232; tables, graphs, and 47 photographic illustratons on rectos and versos of 10 plates; fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
An account of modern commercial whaling and its effects on the population of the various species of whales.
60. Journal of a voyage to Greenland in the year 1821. With graphic illustrations. London: printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1822.
$4,500
First edition, 4to, pp. vii, 143, [1]; 1 hand-colored folding map; 20 lithographic plates, 1 folding; other illustrations throughout; contemporary quarter calf with marbled boards; rebacked with gilt fillets and morocco label; covers a bit rubbed; otherwise very good.
Account of a Greenland whaling voyage taken with Scoresby aboard the Baffin into the northern Greenland Sea. Manby's narrative includes much whaling activity and description of Arctic wildlife. The book also contains an appendix in which Manby describes a gun-harpoon of his own invention, and its superiority over older harpoons. This work is especially notable for its lively and well-executed lithograph illustrations depicting whaling operations, the lithographs among the earliest for English lithography. The lithographs and folding map are in excellent condition, fresh and bright.
AB 10844; Jenkins, p. 123; Sabin 44195.
61. Harpoon in Eden. A novel of Nantucket and New Zealand in the great whaling days. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1969.
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. 430; owner's sticker on front free endpaper, else a fine copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket. Publisher's bookmark with the title of the book is laid in.
62. Aboriginal American harpoons. A study in ethnic distribution and invention. Washington: G.P.O., 1902.
$85
First edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 189-304 [i.e. 117 pages]; 20 plates and 92 figures in the text; very good copy in original pink printed wrappers.
63. General features of the paleobiological evolution of Cetacea ... Translated from the Russian. Tbilisi: Metsniereba Publishers [and] published for the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and the National Science Foundation, 1984.
$40
First edition in English, 8vo, pp. viii, 139, [1]; 33 largely composite plates at the back; fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
64. Call to the south. A story of British whaling in Antarctica. London, Toronto, Wellington, Sydney: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., [1962].
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. 188; full-page map and 4 leaves of illustrations; publisher's full green cloth; gift inscription on free endpaper, text clean, very good in a rubbed, soiled and price-clipped dust jacket.
65. Whales and dolphins in question. The Smithsonian answer book ... Photographs by Flip Nicklin. Washington DC & London: Smithsonian Institution Press, [2002].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. xv, [1], 200; illustrations throughout, much in color; fine copy in the dust jacket. This is Mead's personal copy but without signature or bookplate. He is the Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
66. The Therian Skull. A lexicon with emphasis on the Odontocetes. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2009.
$150
First edition, 4to, pp. viii, [2], 248; 32 largely composite illustrations in the text; fine in original blue and white printed wrappers. While there is no bookplate or ownership signature, this is James Mead's own copy. Issued as Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, Number 627. Out of print. James Mead is Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"Cetaceans form one of the most unique groups in the evolutionary history of mammals. They have returned to the sea and modified their tail as an efficient means of locomotion. As they adapted to the limited visibility in the aquatic environment, the odontocetes developed a system of echolocation that resulted in extensive modifications to the skull bones. This made descriptive comparisons very difficult and early anatomists unwittingly composed new terms for anatomical structures that had already been named in other taxa. This made anatomical comparisons, based on the literature, extremely tenuous. This lexicon is an attempt to remedy that situation in that it provides headwords and definitions for all the terms that have been used in describing the mammal skull and notes the synonymous terms" (abstract).
67. Anatomy of the external nasal passages and facial complex in the delphinidae (Mammalia: Cetacea). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975.
$50
4to, pp. iii, [1], 72; text illustrations; contemporary half blue buckram over blue cloth, buckram title label on upper cover, original printed wrappers bound in; the author's personal copy, with his bookplate on upper pastedown, fine. Mead is Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
68. Исследования морских млекопитающих. труды выпуск XXXIX / Issledovaniia morskikh mlekopitaiushchikh. [= Marine mammal research, Proceedings vol. XXXIX]. Kaliningrad: Atlanticheskii nauchno-issledovatelskii Institut rybnogo khoziaistva i okeanografii, 1971.
$45
8vo, pp. 341, [3]; text illustrations, printed boards backed in green cloth, extremities rubbed, bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, on front pastedown, near fine. With sections on the ecology and distribution of cetaceans, seals and otters, and morphology and physiology of marine mammals.
69. Whale's wake. Dunedin: University of Ostego Press, 1982.
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. 396; map endpapers, 106 illustrations on rectos and versos of 20 plates; fine copy in the dust jacket.
New emphasis is given to the importance of British whaling in the area which led eventually to British settlement and to New Zealand becoming a British colony.
70. 鯨の海。男の海 [= Whale's sea, man's sea]. Tokyo: Gyousei, 1986.
$100
First edition, folio, pp. 167, [1]; color illustrations throughout; text in Japanese; fine in fine pictorial dust jacket and original slipcase. A photo book tracking a modern whaling ship and its crew.
71. A five years' whaling voyage 1848-1853. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1977.
$25
Edition limited to 423 copies (this, no. 58), 4to, pp. 58, [2]; text pinted in blue, red, black, and green; pictorial endpapers, 2 full-page woodcuts, 1 double-page woodcut and other illustrations in the text; fine in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover.
See Howes M-886 for the first edition printed in Cleveland in 1859.
72. [New Zealand.] From whaling station to sheep run. Beginnings in New Zealand. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., n.d. [ca. 1934].
$20
First edition, 12mo, pp. [iii]-ix, [1], 107, [1]; 10 full-page illustrations; front hinge cracked, some wear; original pictorial green cloth stamped in black; good and sound.
73. Abstracts from a journal kept aboard the ship Sharon of Fairhaven on a whaling voyage in the south Pacific 1841 - 1845. Providence: privately printed, 1953.
$100
Edition limited to 250 copies, slim, small 4to, pp. 14, [1]; fine in original blue cloth-backed printed boards, unprinted tissue dust-jacket torn and defective.
A bloody mutiny aboard the Sharon, and a detailed thrashing of a sailor to his death.
74. En hvalfangerfaerd gennem troperne til sydishavet. Kjøbenhavn: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1921.
$125
8vo, pp. 159, [1]; vignette title page, illustrated throughout, largely from photographs; contemporary and probably original half calf over marbled boards, gilt-stamped spine; lightly rubbed; very good.
A whaling trip through the tropics to the Southern Ocean.
75. Incidents of a whaling voyage to which are added observations on the scenery, manners and customs, and missionary stations, of the Sandwich and Society Islands. Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., [1969].
$40
Facsimile edition, after the 1841 Appleton and Co. edition; eleven plates; publisher's full blue cloth gilt; price clipped pictorial paper dust jacket; ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, light staining to top edge, else near fine in near fine dust jacket.
76. Lost leviathan. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., [1971].
$20
First American edition, 8vo, pp. 280; 16 illustrations on rectos and versos of 8 plates; fine copy in the dust jacket.
77. Voyage de Louis Peltier par terre et par mer. Comprenant le récit de son voyage à la pêche à la baleine et de ses excursions en Afrique; écrit par lui-même. Quebec: imprimé au Bureau de "La Réforme." Rue d'Aiguillon, Faubourg Saint-Jean, 1862.
$2,600
8vo, pp. 64; errata slip mounted to rear pastedown; original printed mauve wrappers; very good. Contained in a quarter black morocco folding box.
Peltier was born in 1811 in Montreal. A French-Canadian typesetter-turned-whaler, he traveled in 1834 first to Boston, from there to Quebec and back to Boston where he embarked on an 8-month whaling voyage on the Boston whaler Clay. He was the only Canadian among the crew of 26. They sailed to the Azores, including the islands of Flores, Fayal and Pico. From there they sailed to the Cape Verde Islands, then further South where they catch a whale. He describes how they work for two days and two nights to process the whale. He describes other fishes caught for food, utensils, birds, etc. Further, he briefly describes his extended stays in Capetown and Stellenbosch and concludes with his return to Canada via St. Helena and New York in 1837.
Gagnon 2662; Lande S1763; TPL 6017; Mendelssohn III, 645; not in Jenkins' Whaling Bibliography. As best we can surmise, there are 8 tangible copies in OCLC, all in Canada, except for Yale.
78. Journal of a whaling voyage 1864-1868. [Easthamm MA]: Eastern National Park & Monument Association, [1988].
$25
First edition, 8vo, staple-bound pamphlet, pp. [48]; 3 text illustrations showing the Pennimans and their home; pictorial paper wrappers in facsimile of marbled boards; fine.
Augusta Penniman joined her husband Edward on the whaling bark Minerva, and for four years kept a journal of her life on the ship. This is the text of that journal.
79. 4 years a-whaling. Charles S. Raleigh, illustrator. New Bedford: published for the Whaling Museum by Barre Publishers, 1972.
$20
First edition, oblong 8vo, pp. 56; pictorial endpapers, illustrated throughout, some in color; fine copy in a very good dust jacket.
80. The life history and ecology of the Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). Special publication no. 3. [Stillwater, Okla.]: The American Society of Mammalogists, 1971.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, 142; graphs, tables and occasional illustrations; fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Bookplate and ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
81. American whaling on the Chathams Grounds viewed from an antipodean perspective. Nantucket: Nantucket Historical Association, 1971.
$40
First edition, staple-bound booklet, 8vo, pp. 70, [2]; map and illustrations in text; tan paper wrappers; owner's stamp on title page, light edgewear, near fine.
Chatham Islands lie approximately 500 miles east of New Zealand and 5000 miles west of southern South America.
82. The whaling trade in old New Zealand. [Christchurch]: Cadsonbury Publications, 1996.
$25
8vo, pp. [8], 163, [1]; 2 maps, 27 illustrations; price sticker on back cover else fine in original printed wrappers.
83. Arctic whalers icy seas. Narrative of the Davis Strait whale fishery. Toronto: Irwin Publishing, [1985].
$30
First edition, oblong 4to, xvi, 263, [1]; map endpapers, frontispiece, illustrations throughout; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
84. Harpoon in my hand. Sydney, London & Melbourne: Angus and Robertson, [1966].
$15
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], 183, [1]; map and 26 illustrations; very good copy in an unclipped dust jacket with a small tear at the bottom of the back panel. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
Whaling in Tonga in small boats with hand-held harpoons.
85. Eye of the whale. Epic passage from Baja to Siberia ... Maps by Eben Given. New York [et al.]: Simon & Schuster, [2001].
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 688; maps, illustrations in text, some in color; fine copy in a fine, unclipped dust jacket.
Tracking the migration of the Gray whale and retracing the voyages of Charles M. Scammon, a whaler turned naturalist.
86. The marine mammals of the north-western coast of North America, described and illustrated: together with an account of the American whale-fishery. San Francisco: John H. Carmany and Co.; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1874.
$2,500
First edition, 4to, pp. 319, [1], v (index); lithographic frontispiece of a whaling scene in the California lagoon, 26 lithograph plates (6 double-p.) by Britton & Rey, numerous wood-engraved illustrations in the text (1 full-page, and counted as a plate in the list of illustrations); original green cloth, gilt vignette on upper cover, gilt-lettered spine; light wear at spine ends, a few plates lightly spotted, but generally a very good, sound copy, without cracked hinges.
At the back is a 4-page whaling glossary and a 7-page list of stores and other outfits for a first-class whale-ship, for a Cape Horn voyage.
Cowan, p. 570; Hill 1530; Howes S-136; Jenkins, p. 143.
87. The year of the whale. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, [1969].
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, [2], 213, [1]; chapter headers and dust jacket illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher; publisher's navy cloth, gilt title on spine, pictorial dust jacket; ownership bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, top edge spotted, dust jacket toning and a touch edge worn, very good.
A fictional account of a year in the life of a sperm whale.
88. Mark well the whale!. Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, [1971].
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. viii, [4], 151, [1]; map endpapers; frontispiece and 24 illustrations on rectos and versos of 12 plates; publisher's blue cloth stamped in black on spine; in a fine, unclipped dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
The story of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., as a secondary whaling port.
89. [Scoresby, William, Capt..] Greenland voyager. Whitby: Caedmon of Whitby, [1983].
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. [8], 189, [3]; fine copy in the dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
The story of Capt. William Scoresby in the Arctic.
90. The 1823 log book of the ship Baffin from Liverpool. Whitby, Yorkshire: Caedmon of Whitby, [1984].
$50
First edition, small square 4to, pp. [138]; full text of the log shown in facsimiles of the original; fine copy in the dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marne Mammals at the Smithsonian.
"Of all of Scoresby's logbooks, this account of his final voyage is the most minutely recorded" (jacket blurb).
91. [Scrimshaw.] Whaling and the art of scrimshaw. New York: Henry Z. Walck / David McKay Company, Inc., [1976].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. x, [2], 271, [3]; illustrated throughout; fine copy in a fine, clipped dust jacket with price still present. Includes glossary, bibliography and index, as well as a brief history of whaling.
92. The voice of the whaleman. With an account of the Nicholson whaling collection. Providence: Providence Public Library, 1965.
$30
First edition, large 8vo, pp. 219, [1]; 24 plates; publisher's tan and green cloth, gilt title on spine; ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian; fine, in near fine dust jacket with one small closed tear to a fold.
93. Logbooks and leviathans: an account of the Nicholson Whaling Collection. [Hanover, N.H.]: Reprinted from Polar Notes, occasional publication of the Stefansson collection, Dartmouth College, [1961].
$15
8vo, 8pp., fine in original blue printed wrappers.
The collection is at Providence Public Library, and is among the best of its kind.
94. Walvissen. Amsterdam: D. B. Centen's Uitgeversmaatschappij, [1958].
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 524; text in Dutch, 228 text illustrations throughout; publisher's green cloth; pictorial dust jacket; bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian; bookseller's invoice tipped in at back; near fine, dust jacket sunned along spine and with shallow chipping at spine.
95. The blue whale. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1971.
$20
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiii, [3], 248; figures, tables, and 19 plates; publisher's full blue cloth, blue stained top edge; fine in a price clipped, toned and slightly edge-worn jacket.
Published at a time when the extinction of the blue whale seemed imminent, this is largely an appeal for conservation.
96. Морфология, физиология и акустика морских млекопитающих / Morfologiia, fiziologiia i akustika morskikh mlekopitaiushchikh [= Morphology, physiology and acoustics of marine mammals]. Moscow: Nauka, 1974.
$45
8vo, pp. 194, [2]; charts, graphs and illustrations throughout text; paper wrappers printed in blue and black, dogearing and wrinkles on upper wrapper, bookplate of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian; very good.
97. The sea-hunters. The great age of whaling. Philadelphia & New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, [1953].
$25
First edition, 8vo, pp. 510; 16 plates; publisher's full blue cloth; pictorial dust jacket; signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian, on half title; jacket spine sunned, jacket edge rubbed; a very good copy in a very good dust jacket.
"This book offers the first detailed history of the development of American whaling yet written for the period of 1635 to 1835, and a full account of the transition of the whaling industry from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812."
98. Whales and destiny. The rivalry between America, France, and Britain for control of the Southern Whale Fishery, 1785-1825. [Amherst]: University of Massachusetts Press, [1972].
$30
First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, [2], 427, [1]; map endpapers; 40 illustrations in the text; publisher's blue cloth stamped in silver on spine; in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.
99. History of the American whale fishery. [Secaucus: Castle Books, 1989].
$40
Facsimile edition, 8vo, pp. [4], 779, [1]; six full-page illustrations after the original plates; publisher's full blue cloth, gilt title on spine, fine in fine pictorial dust jacket.
100. The whaling years. Peterhead (1788-1893). Aberdeen: Centre for Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen, [1993].
$15
First edition, 8vo, pp. xvi, 124; illustrated throughout; fine copy in original pictorial wrappers. Ownership signature of James Mead, Curator Emeritus of Marine Mammals at the Smithsonian.