Herman Melville. Illustrated by Anton Otto Fischer. 
 
The John C. Wiston Company. 1931. Hardcover. Very good. Chipped margin of the cover illustration, and there is fading of the boards and leaves. 
 
"'Hark ye yet again. All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks. But in each event some unknown but still reasoning thing puts forth its features from behind the mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask! How can the prisoner reach outside except by thrusting through the wall? To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me. Sometimes I think there's naught beyond. But 'tis enough. I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. Talk not to me of blasphemy, man. I'd strike the sun if it insulted me. Who's over me?'"