This book is titled "A Whaling Voyage In The Bark 'Willis' 1849 - 1850, The Journal Kept By Samuel Millet", privately printed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1924, it's only one of 475 copies printed on American vellum, according to the copyright page, and it's the first of numerous whaling books in the collection. There's gilt lettering on the spine, the boards are blue cloth, with blank endpapers and a sticker by Charles Lauriat of Boston stating he was the bookseller, a frontis illustration of sperm whales, then the title page, a limitation page, a four-page introduction by Thomas Perkins, a whaling poem and a list of illustrations, 44 pages of text, followed by two pages of a list of books on whaling at the rear. The bark "Willis" was a small vessel of only one hundred and sixty-four tons and was built in 1838 by Ebenezer Cannon, a noted ship-builder in Mattapoisett, a small town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and Cannon and his sons and grandsons built many of the finest whaling vessels of the time. She made twelve voyages between 1844 and 1866, and Samuel Millet kept this journal on her fourth voyage, with Captain Taber in command. The Introduction says that many of the old whaling logs and journals are more full of "wails" than of whales and their authors must have agreed with Dr. Samuel Johnson, who said "being on a ship is being in jail with a chance of being drowned." Samuel Millet, however, was rather inclined to believe that "far away hills always look green," and, as a whole, was of a cheerful disposition, and even though he detailed the hardships and privations he was forced to undergo, he never lost an opportunity to enjoy himself or to make the best of his rather hard lot. The book also says that the fourth voyage was the most successful one and was cut short because all of her casks were filled with whale oil and it was time to return to port because of that. (See page iv of the Introduction.) The book measures 9 3/4 x 6 5/8 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages and plates are clean, with light bumps on the heel and crown of the spine and very light rubbing at the tips, and a couple of uncut pages. #138 #1534