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› Find signed collectible books: 'Beat to Quarters'
June 1808, somewhere west of Nicaragua-a site suitable for spectacular sea battles. The Admiralty has ordered Captain Horatio Hornblower, now in command of the thirty-six-gun HMS Lydia, to form an alliance against the Spanish colonial government with an insane Spanish landowner; to find a water route across the Central American isthmus; and "to take, sink, burn or destroy" the fifty-gun Spanish ship of the line Natividad or face court-martial. A daunting enough set of orders-even if the happily married captain were not woefully distracted by the passenger he is obliged to take on in Panama: Lady Barbara Wellesley. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Black Powder War'
A splendid series.
Anne McCaffrey
Naomi Novik has done for the Napoleonic Wars what Anne McCaffrey did for science fiction: constructed an alternate reality in which dragons are real in a saga that is impressively original, fully developed, and peopled with characters you care about.
David Weber, author of the Honor Harrington series
After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majestys Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire, and Laurence and Temeraire must detour to Istanbul to escort the precious cargo back to England. Time is of the essence if the eggs are to be borne home before hatching.
Yet disaster threatens the mission at every turnthanks to the diabolical machinations of the Chinese dragon Lien, who blames Temeraire for her masters death and vows to ally herself with Napoleon and take vengeance. Then, faced with shattering betrayal in an unexpected place, Laurence, Temeraire, and their squad must launch a daring offensive. But what chance do they have against the massed forces of Bonapartes implacable army? [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Desolation Island'
Captain Bligh (yes, the guy from the Bounty) needs to be rescued, and the Royal Navy has the perfect man for the job: Captain Jack Aubrey. With his friend and cloak-and-dagger expert Stephen Maturin in tow, Aubrey sets off for Australia. Several factors, including an attractive spy and a small-scale epidemic, conspire to change his plans, and before long his frigate is being pursued into Antarctic waters by a Dutch man-of-war. Five installments into the series, the Aubrey-Maturin story remains (to quote The Observer) "the best thing afloat since Horatio Hornblower." [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Far Side of the World'
The inspiration for the major new motion picture starring Russell Crowe.
The war of 1812 continues, and Jack Aubrey sets course for Cape Horn on a mission after his own heart: intercepting a powerful American frigate outward bound to play havoc with the British whaling trade. Stephen Maturin has fish of his own to fry in the world of secret intelligence. Disaster in various guises awaits them in the Great South Sea and in the far reaches of the Pacific: typhoons, castaways, shipwrecks, murder, and criminal insanity. [via]More editions of The Far Side of the World:
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Fortune of War'
"A marvellously full-flavoured, engrossing book, which towers over its current rivals in the genre like a three-decker over a ship's longboat."Times Literary Supplement
Captain Jack Aubrey, R. N., arrives in the Dutch East Indies to find himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best-armed frigate in the Navy. He and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a dispatch vessel. But the War of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody actions precipitate them both into new and unexpected scenes where Stephen's past activities as a secret agent return on him with a vengeance.More editions of The Fortune of War:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Great Books of the Western World'
The Iliad (Ancient Greek ?????, Ilias) is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, a supposedly blind Ionian poet. The epics are considered by most modern scholars to be the oldest literature in the Greek language. The Iliad concerns events during the tenth and final year in the siege of the city of Ilion, or Troy, by the Greeks. The Odyssey (Greek: ????????, Odusseia)is commonly dated circa 800 to 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel to Homer's Iliad and mainly concerns the events that befall the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses) in his long journeys after the fall of Troy and when he at last returns to his native land of Ithaca. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Guerra Y Paz'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'H.M.S Surprise: Library Edition'
"Few, very few books have made my heart thud with excitement. H.M.S. Surprise managed it."Helen Lucy Burke, Irish Press
Third in the series of Aubrey/Maturin adventures, this book is set among the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and in the distant waters ploughed by the ships of the East India Company. Aubrey is on the defensive, pitting wits and seamanship against an enemy enjoying overwhelming local superiority. But somewhere in the Indian Ocean lies the prize that could make him rich beyond his wildest dream: the ships sent by Napoleon to attack the China Fleet... [via]More editions of H.M.S Surprise: Library Edition:
› Find signed collectible books: 'His Majesty's Dragon'
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain's defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future-and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France's own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte's boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Hornblower and the Hotspur'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ionian Mission'
Aubrey and Maturin return to the choppy Mediterranean waters where they first served together, enforcing the Royal Navy's blockade of Toulon. Then the two companions are sent to the Greek Islands, where another series of maritime cliff-hangers awaits them. O'Brian performs his peculiar narrative magic as adeptly as ever, putting (as The Observer would have it) the "spark of character into the sawdust of time." [via]

› Find signed collectible books: 'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell'
It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. --Regina Marler [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Letter of Marque'
"Fine stuff...[The Letter of Marque] leaves the devotee of naval fiction eager for sequels."Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
Captain Jack Aubrey, a brilliant and experienced officer, has been struck off the list of post-captains for a crime he did not commit. His old friend Stephen Maturin, usually cast as a ship's surgeon to mask his discreet activities on behalf of British Intelligence, has bought for Aubrey his former ship the Surprise to command as a privateer, more politely termed a letter of marque. Together they sail on a desperate mission against the French, which, if successful, may redeem Aubrey from the private hell of his disgrace. [via]› Find signed collectible books: 'Master and Commander'
An attractive movie-tie-in jacket for the release of the motion picture Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World starring Russell Crowe: "The best sea story I have ever read."--Sir Francis Chichester This, the first in the splendid series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war are faultless rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle. It is the dawn of the nineteenth century; Britain is at war with Napoleon's France. When Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson's navy, is promoted to captain, he inherits command of HMS Sophie , an old, slow brig unlikely to make his fortune. But Captain Aubrey is a brave and gifted seaman, his thirst for adventure and victory immense. With the aid of his friend Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and secret intelligence agent, Aubrey and his crew engage in one thrilling battle after another, their journey culminating in a stunning clash with a mighty Spanish frigate against whose guns and manpower the tiny Sophie is hopelessly outmatched. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Mauritius Command'
"Jack's assignment: to capture the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion and Mauritius from the French. That campaign forms the narrative thread of this rollicking sea saga. But its substance is more beguiling still..."Elizabeth Peer, Newsweek
Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half pay without a commanduntil Stephen Maturin arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a commodore's pennant, there to mount an expedition against the French-held islands of Mauritius and La Réunion. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captainsLord Clonfert, a pleasure-seeking dilettante, and Captain Corbett, whose severity pushes his crew to the verge of mutiny.More editions of The Mauritius Command:
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'
Horatio Hornblower was born in C.S. Forester's fertile imagination and became arguably more famous, certainly more personal, than Nelson, Cook and Drake combined. He fought in a dozen major campaigns during the Napoleonic wars, and it was in these pages that we first got a glimmer of just how much Bonaparte was hated, and why.
Forester's genius was not tidy, and so this story, which sets Hornblower on course at age 17, is Forester's sixth book about him, though it should have been the first. LIEUTENANT HORNBLOWER, which follows it, carries the intrepid young man another step forward in his career. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mr. Midshipman Hornblower'
'Hornblower fired. There was a small cloud of smoke, but no bang. This is death, he thought. My pistol was the unloaded one.' But Horatio Hornblower does not die. He survives the duel with Simpson, learns to overcome his seasickness, and goes on to risk his life many times over. It is 1793, Britain is at war with France, and life on a sailing ship of war is hard and dangerous. But the hardest battles are fought by Hornblower within himself. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Post Captain'
As the first sentences of Post Captain roll off actor Robert Hardy's tongue, you know you're somewhere you've never been before: the high seas in the early 19th century. Hardy's rich rendition of Patrick O'Brian's 1972 novel, a follow-up to Master and Commander, starts with series heroes Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin enjoying a brief period of peace. Soon enough, though, the Napoleonic Wars resume, and the seafaring adventures continue. (Running time: 4.5 hours, three cassettes) --Lou Schuler [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Reverse of the Medal'
"An overwhelming, outstanding novel...!"Irish Times
Captain Jack Aubrey, R. N., ashore after a successful cruise, is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make certain investments in the City. This innocent decision ensnares him in the London criminal underground and in government espionagethe province of his friend Stephen Maturin. Is Aubrey's humiliation and the threatened ruin of his career a deliberate plot? This dark tale is a fitting backdrop to the brilliant characterization and sparkling dialogue which O'Brian's readers have come to expect.More editions of The Reverse of the Medal:

› Find signed collectible books: 'Sharpe's Rifles'
A story of a battle against impossible odds and victory snatched from defeat is the smashing prequel to the action-packed Richard Sharpe adventure series. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Sharpe's Waterloo'
Featuring the character Richard Sharpe, this book describes his exploits at the Battle of Waterloo. Other books by this author include "Sharpe's Honour", "Sharpe's Regiment", "Sharpe's Siege" and "Sharpe's Rifles". [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Surgeon's Mate'
"Vividly detailed 19th-century settings and dramatic tension punctuated with flashes of wry humor make O'Brian's nautical adventure a splendid treat."Publishers Weekly
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest victory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the French intelligence network in the New World, and the attention of two privateers soon becomes menacing. The chase that follows through the fogs and shallows of the Grand Banks is as tense, and as unexpected in its culmination, as anything Patrick O'Brian has written.› Find signed collectible books: 'Throne of Jade'
When Britain intercepted a French ship and its precious cargoan unhatched dragons eggCapt. Will Laurence of HMS Reliant unexpectedly became master and commander of the noble dragon he named Temeraire. As new recruits in Britains Aerial Corps, man and dragon soon proved their mettle in daring combat against Bonapartes invading forces.
Now China has discovered that its rare gift, intended for Napoleon, has fallen into British handsand an angry Chinese delegation vows to reclaim the remarkable beast. But Laurence refuses to cooperate. Facing the gallows for his defiance, Laurence has no choice but to accompany Temeraire back to the Far Easta long voyage fraught with peril, intrigue, and the untold terrors of the deep. Yet once the pair reaches the court of the Chinese emperor, even more shocking discoveries and darker dangers await. [via]
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Treason's Harbour'
"The finest writer of sea-stories in the English language."J. de Courcy Ireland
All Patrick O'Brian's strengths are on parade in this novel of action and intrigue, set partly in Malta, partly in the treacherous, pirate-infested waters of the Red Sea. While Captain Aubrey worries about repairs to his ship, Stephen Maturin assumes the center stage for the dockyards and salons of Malta are alive with Napoleon's agents, and the admiralty's intelligence network is compromised. Maturin's cunning is the sole bulwark against sabotage of Aubrey's daring mission. [via]› Find signed collectible books: 'War and Peace'
Joseph Frank is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Princeton University and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of a five-volume study of Dostoevskys life and work.
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Waterloo'
Bernard Corwell, author of Sharpe's Company, Sharpe's Seige, and Sharpe's Revenge, continues the saga of Lt. Col. Richard Sharpe in this, his final adventure. Just as he comes face-to-face with his estranged wife and her lover at a grand society ball, news comes that the British-Prussian link is under attack. In the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe once again plays a pivotal role in the outcome of a great British triumph. [via]
› Find signed collectible books: 'Guerra Y Paz / War and Peace'
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Jonathan Strange Y El Senor Norrel'
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