The Handsome Sailor (SIGNED COPY)
by: Larry Duberstein

Hardcover. Sag Harbor NY, Permanent Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. SIGNED BY AUTHOR: "Best wishes, Larry Duberstein" on front fly leaf. Herman Melville, author of that famous first line, "Call me Ishmael," is best known for his masterpiece, Moby Dick. He wrote a few other works that have garnered literary attention, but after completing Moby Dick in 1851, he faded into obscurity (at least during his lifetime). Duberstein attempts to re-create Melville's life after he wrote his great novel. The book takes place mainly in 1882 while Melville is an inspector of customs in New York City. Dissatisfied with wife Elizabeth even though he appreciates her taking care of the house and the children, Melville has an affair with a woman named Cora (entirely fictional) whom he meets while on the job. Nonetheless, Duberstein's portrait of late-19th-century Manhattan is a wonder, rife with precise period detail and elegant prose. Clean copy.