MAN of WAR. [Author SIGNED copy.**]

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn but author's handwritten black ink signature - without dedication - to title page and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean, matt,colour pictorial artwork by Chris Collingwood, illustrated dw/dj with dark blue,gilt and black lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean, solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corner tips,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Publisher's bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,a black+silver striped headband and immaculate grey+black illustrated endpapers (Ship's side elevation plan).UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED,1st edn,vii-viiipp+1- 349pp [paginated] includes foreword,22(XXII) chapters,an afternote: Navarino; plus [unpaginated] half-title,SIGNED title page,contents list/table with maps list to its verso,verso+recto of last page of foreword,a title separator page with a Mediterranean region b/w map to verso,and to the rear; Matthew Hervey Curriculum Vitae with blank verso,and further 4pp blanks.
Captain Sir Laughton Peto,recently engaged to Matthew Hervey's sister,Elizabeth,has just taken command of HMS Prince Rupert,the only three-deck line-of-battle ship in commission.He is the proud master of a wooden fortress whose formidable firepower is the equal of Bonaparte's grand battery at Waterloo.
But his passage to the Ionian - where Admiral Codrington is assembling an Anglo-Russian-French fleet to evict the Turks from Greek waters - will not be smooth sailing.First he must excercise his crew, most of whom have not seen action before.He has also been entrusted with the safe passage to Malta of the admiral's youngest daughter.
Six months on,and Matthew Hervey is in London recovering from another bout of malaria and the wound from his battle with the Zulu.All is set fair for his marriage to the eminently suitable Lady Lankester, and his subsequent return to active duty at the Cape.
But trouble lies ahead as familial commitments clash with affairs of the heart,and Hervey finds himself embroiled in a military enquiry that can,at best, spell personal embarrassment,and that could result in public humiliation.
As the cataclysmic battle of Navarino Bay looms ever closer for Peto and his crew,Hervey faces a crisis that could change both his life and his military career....
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