Spruance, Benton Murdoch “Moby Dick. The Passion of Ahab"

Benton Murdoch Spruance.  “Moby Dick. The Passion of Ahab.”

Barre, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1968.  Portfolio of 26 color offset lithographs with text by Lawrance Thompson. Sheet size: 16 x 22.  Edition: 450.  Very good condition in clean portfolio.  Title page lacking.  Ref: Variant of Fine & Looney: 492-97 and 504-29.  

These haunting images from Melville’s great American novel constitute some of  Spruance’s final published work.  According to Fine and Looney, “Several of the images…were published in grays rather than colors because Spruance died before he could complete the supervision of the project.”  Most of the images are printed in muted colors of sea, sky, and earth, and convey the drama and pathos of man confronting the natural world.