THE BEST OF MODY DICK & TYPEE; BILLY BUDD COMPLETE

Mobby Dick has been excerpted for its action scenes. The result is a vivid yarn of whale chasing. Although you can quarrel with the title use of The Best, it is, nevertheless, the point of first impact for readers, many of whom will never be able to face the book in its entirety or wrestle with the symbolic meanings of the unabridged. The final portions of Typee are quite capable of kindling enough interest to send readers back to the whole book and Billy Budd is all here. The foreword by Rear Admiral Edward Ellsberg U.S.N.R. (Ret.) is a high tide in enthusiasm for Melville (rather than explanatory) and should lure in a few poor fish who have been put off by Melville's weighty reputation.