MASTERMAN READY: THE WRECK OF THE PACIFIC

In three 8vo. volumes.
Vol. 1: Three unnumbered title pages + vi-viii, pp.287 + 32 pp. Publisher's catalogues No.1 & 2, dated October, 1842;
Vol. 2: 269pp. plus identical 32 pp. catalogues;

Vol. 3: 225pp. and an additional note by author.

With an engraved frontispiece to each volume, numerous engraved illustrations in the text, and publisher's advertisement catalogues to Vols. I and II. Spines lightly sunned. Original publisher's bindings by Westleys & Clark, London. Light yellow FEPs with original owner's neat signatures (Marie Tronchin) on all three volumes. Internally very clean. The first edition of Frederick Marryat's (1792-1848) three volume naval adventure for children, following the Seagrave family and their experiences surviving on an island after shipwreck.

Marryat began writing books for children in 1839 when his own children asked him to write a continuation of their own favourite The Swiss Family Robinson. But when Marryat came to examine Wyss's tale, he considered it so implausible, so lacking in a sense of seamanship, and above all so ignorant or careless in its account of the wild life on the island, introducing plants and animals from so many different climates, that he decided to write a new story but in the same genre [7][7]Marryat, Captain, Masterman Ready; or, The Wreck of the…. In writing Masterman Ready; or, The Wreck of the Pacific (1841), therefore, Marryat was simply extending the tradition of the Robinsonnades for young people and using the conventional narrative device of describing the adventures of survivors on a desert island.

Marryat's story is realized with considerable authenticity. The adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Seagrave, with their four children and the veteran sailor Masterman Ready, are convincingly described from the time of the hurricane which wrecks them until their final escape from the island. Like Robinson Crusoe, the family is able to bring some provisions on shore, manage to build a shelter and discover fresh water. Recurring tensions modify the family's even progress with a succession of minor crises such as illness and by the ferocious attack of natives in the final chapters.

The story is occasionally didactic and evangelical. The children often either behave foolishly or ask questions which enables Mr. Seagrave or the old mariner to give moralizing or practical advice, and family prayers are regularly said. But Masterman Ready is saved from over solemnity by the vivacity of the characters and by Marryat's extraordinary openness and flexibility. In one episode, for example, Mr. Seagrave and his eldest son William discuss the purpose of colonies, when Mr. Seagrave freely admits to the economic advantages gained by the mother-country and realistically anticipates the time when Britain's empire will come to an end. More vibrant than this abstract discussion, however, is the humanity embodied in the genuine tragedy of Masterman Ready's death at the end, for it is largely caused by the thoughtless behaviour of Mr. Seagrave's second son Tommy. Yet Tommy is allowed to sail away from the island never knowing what his mischief has done. He is a young child after all. There is no overt moralizing here, for the tone is one of cool detachment

The success of Masterman Ready encouraged Marryat to write other books for children, and, since the appeal of exciting adventures in the wilds or on the frontiers of civilisation had already been established by James Fenimore Cooper, it is not surprising that Marryat should follow his example in his tale The Settlers in Canada (1844). Marryat had visited Canada and acquired several hundred acres of land on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes where he set his work.

"The Settlers in Canada" (1844) in First Edition is also available from LeCrastinBooks and can be bundled with "Masterman Ready" for an attractive overall price plus combined postage.