The Hornblower Companion, by C.S. Forester (HC, 1964, $15, which is 1/3 the price on the internet. Both this book and its dust jacket are in fine condition.)
"The story of how the Hornblower Saga came to be-- with thirty maps illuminating all of the major naval exploits of this legendary figure."
In 1929 Forester needed reading for his summer on a boat. He found three volumes of The Naval Chronicle, a old magazine written by and for naval officers. One of the volumes included the actual text of the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the treaty that ended the War of 1812. Forester read those magazines, pondered over the precise wording of the Treaty, and wondered, "what if..." Little did he realize he had started a literary voyage that would take him to write 11 novels. Both Hemingway and Churchill were enthusiasts. Gene Roddenberry used Horatio as the model for both Star Trek's James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard. Then there were the movies- with Gregory Peck, and more recently with Ioan Graffudd. And the radio broadcasts, one of which starred Micheal Redgrave as Horatio. (That's one fact I didn't know.) For me though, it was experiencing the books themselves, as I read them to my father in his nursing home bed, that will stay with me always. So check out the novels, check out this companion, and check out the movies. I can promise you, you won't be sorry. Look for this book inside the glass case in the front, avail. 9/19.
P.S. Forester also wrote the African Queen!
