The Commodore

New York, NY: W. W. Norton. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 1995. 1st American Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. 0393037606 . This book is in Near Fine condition and has a Near Fine dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. There is a very thin strip of fading to the top spine end of the book cover. The text pages are clean and bright. The dust jacket is crisp and clean with the exception of a vertical crease to the front dust jacket flap. "This is the seventeenth novel in the best-selling Aubrey / Maturin series of naval tales ... Much of the Commodore takes place on land, in sitting rooms and drafty castles, but the roar of the great guns is never far from our hearing. Aubrey and Maturin are sent on a bizarre decoy mission to the fever-ridden lagoons of the Gulf of Guinea to suppress the slave trade, but their ultimate destination is Ireland." "In the early 1990s the series was successfully relaunched into the American market by the interest of Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton publishers, attracting critical acclaim and dramatically increasing O'Brian's sales and public profile in the UK and America. Paul D. Colford notes that when O'Brian "visited the United States a few weeks ago, fans waiting to meet, lunch and have tea with him included Walter Cronkite, Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) and Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who invited O'Brian to attend a session of the high court. Hollywood also wants a piece of the press-shy storyteller." The novels sold over 3 million copies in 20 languages. In its review of 21 (published in 2004) , Publishers Weekly says that over 6 million copies have been sold. Thus O'Brian's greatest success in writing, gaining him fame, a following and invitations to events and interviews came late in his life, when he was well into his seventies, and accustomed to his private life." (from Wikipedia) .