The Next Series

This year, my Tolkien book buying will likely come to an end. Of what's coming out that we know of at this point, I feel like I'm finally finished; and in a sense, ready to go goodbye because of that. Buying Tolkien books has been a part of my life since about 2002.

Now, it's time to look ahead.

The next (possibly 'last') series of books I'm interested in getting are Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels. Most famously, in 2003 Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany starred in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It adapted portions of some of O'Brian's novels.

I have heard that the books are quite good, and reading up on them, I have become interested. I admit, this particular time period is quite unknown to me. However, the East Coast in me revels at the idea of reading these stories.

The books in the series are:

- Master and Commander: 9780006499152
- Post Captain: 9780006499169
- H.M.S. Surprise: 9780006499176
- The Mauritius Command: 9780006499183
- Desolation Island: 9780006499244
- The Fortune of War: 9780006499190
- The Surgeon's Mate: 9780006499213
- The Ionian Mission: 9780006499220
- Treason's Harbour: 9780006499237
- The Far Side of the World: 9780006499251
- The Reverse of the Medal: 9780006499268
- The Letter of the Marque: 9780006499275
- The Thirteen-Gun Salute: 9780006499282
- The Nutmeg of Consolation: 9780006499299
- Clarissa Oakes: 9780006499305
- The Wine-Dark Sea: 9780006499312
- The Commodore: 9780006499329
- The Yellow Admiral: 9780006499640
- The Hundred Days: 9780006512110
- Blue at the Mizzen: 9780006513780
- The Final Unfinished Journey of Jack Aubrey: 9780007358434

There is also a hardback boxed set, quite similar in presentation to The History of Middle-earth books that has all 12 of the books in 3 omnibus hardbacks. The ISBN for that set is 9780008189280.

I look forward to, one day, getting and reading these books, in either format. (HarperCollins, please keep these exact paperback editions in print...). It's also possible that these may be the final physical books I'll get, by that time. 

Information about the image used in this post:

"H.M.S. Agamemnon" by Geoff Hunt

Nelson’s first flagship leads the squadron, Mediterranean, 1796. Nelson flies his flag as a Commodore, commanding his first squadron. He had commanded the 64-gun battleship ‘Agamemnon’, the ship he referred to as his favorite, since 1793. Nelson was given a Commodore’s pennant in March 1796, making ‘Agamemnon’ his first flagship, just before he transferred to the 74-gun ‘Captain’ in June that year.

In April 1796, Nelson was operating in the Gulf of Genoa with the small squadron depicted in this beautiful print. ‘Agamemnon’ is shown leading ‘Meleager’ 32, ‘Blanche’ 32, ‘Diadem’ 64 and the now-famous 16-gun brig-sloop ‘Speedy’.

The powerful ships of war seem at peace in the tranquil sunset which is disturbed only by Agamemnon’s evening gunnery practice.

Agamemnon was one of seven ships built to the same design, drawn by the same naval architect who designed the famous Victory, Sir Thomas Slade. She was built at Bucklers Hard and launched on the 10th of April 1781. She was a third rate ship, having 64 guns.
She was at the centre of events fighting at the Battle of Saintes, the Battle of Copenhagen and of course, Trafalgar, the summit of her career. Later she served in the West Indies, participating in the Battle of Santo Domingo and then in South American waters, until she was wrecked in Maldonado Bay off the coast of Uruguay in 1809.

During Nelson’s command of the ship between 1793 and 1796 Nelson wrote “Without exception, one of the finest ships in the fleet with the character of sailing most remarkably well”. He also wrote “After 12 days in a storm in the Mediterranean in ‘gales and lumping seas… but in Agamemnon, we mind them not; she is the finest ship I ever sailed in, and were she a 74, nothing should induce me to leave her while the war lasts’.