First time in Large Print. Moby-Dick, Herman Melville set out to write "a mighty book" on "a mighty theme." In one of the world's greatest adventure stories, a crew of whalers sets out in pursuit of a fierce white whale. Their names ring through the canon of American literature: Ishmael, the narrator; Starbuck, the sober and serious chief mate; and above all Captain Ahab, part Faust and part Job, leading them to the ends of the earth - and the destiny he will share with his foe.