Captains Courageous

Military fiction series is a genre that drives collectors absolutely mad. There are so many great series, so many mediocre series, and, alas, some really crappy ones. Two of the very best involve Captains - one naval, one ground forces - both  set during the Napoleonic Wars, both written by British authors, and both  having a reverse character development.
Captain Horatio Hornblower sprang full grown from Jupiter‘s head as did  Richard Sharpe, yet both characters’ creators revisited their protagonists’ youth in later books. C. S. Forester thought that he was done with Hornblower after the magnificent trilogy - Beat to Quarters, Ship of the Line, and Flying Colors, or as our British brethren misspell it, Colours. Bernard Cornwell brought Sharpe to life in Sharpe’s Eagle, when Sharpe was a temporary captain in the 95th Light Infantry.  Popular demand combined with seething imaginations caused Forester and Cornwell to continue their series, and many of us  have spent many hours fighting and refighting some of the most significant - and insignificant - battles the world has ever seen.  Be they great or small, ending in victory or defeat, these stories draw the reader in because the characters make one care about what happens, be it in the personal lives of the protagonists or the historic outcome of the plot. Add the superb research and details provided by both authors,  and the reader benefits twice.

Both series have been filmed - the Gregory Peck "Captain Horatio Hornblower" for the big screen followed almost fifty years later by A&E’s  "Young Hornblower" series for the television screen. The Sharpe’s series was also done for the small screen, and runs to many episodes.

Collectors, of course, find it most difficult to find the earliest books in any genre, and so it is with military fiction series, which compounds the problem by having first editions published in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Let’s look at the difference. Note - all prices are for A fine condition book in a fine condition dust jacket:

- Beat To Quarters  (US) Little, Brown And Company 1937.  $ 500.00

- The Happy Return (UK)  Michael Joseph 1937.   $ 2500.00 and up.

- Ship of the Line (US)  Little, Brown & Co. Boston 1938  $ 750.00
- A Ship of the Line (UK)  Michael Joseph, 1938.  $ 2500.00 and up.

- Flying Colors (US)  Little, Brown And Company 1939.  $ 200.00 to $ 400.00
- Flying Colours (UK)  Michael Joseph  1938.  $ 1500.00 to $ 3000.00
           It’s interesting to note that this title was first  published by a British book club in an edition also   
           containing Ship of the Line.

- Sharpe’s Eagle (US) VIKING 1981. $ 65.00 to $150.00
- Sharpe’s Eagle (UK) Collins, 1981. $ 500.00 and up.
           Fortunately, these books have been reprinted many times in all formats,
           so the stories are there at a reasonable price.



Both Forester and Cornwell have many other titles in these series, plus other stand-alone books and series that are also excellent.