Product Description

A new edition of the classic companion to Patrick O'Brian's sea loving novels, updated to include the final novel in the series. This comprehensive lexicon provides definitions of nautical terms, historical entries describing the people and political events that shaped the period, and detailed explanations of the scientific, medical, and biblical references that appear in the novels.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43784 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

Invaluable reference
Dean King has done all lovers of naval history novels a great service with this book. Aimed specifically at the Aubrey/Maturin series, it nevertheless provides an invaluable wealth of detailed information about the whole of the period around the turn of the 19th Century.

Not only does it translate obscure Naval terms, it also explains obsolete Georgian phraseology; describes major naval battles; eminent naval personalities & statesmen; Latin & French phrases common during the period; explanations of classical references; medical & natural history terminology - in short, all that you need as a companion to naval literature.

I got this book after reading all the Aubrey/Maturin series - if only I'd had this at the time, I could have saved myself hours of searching through multiple reference books.

A MUST for all naval history buffs.

An essential companion to the Aubrey/Maturin adventures.
I Have been completely hooked by the Aubrey/Maturin adventures and often baffled (but not baulked) by the sailing terminology used. I was desparate to find a reference work that would fill these gaps and help me to visualise the action. This book does this and more! It is a lexicon of the sailing terms used aboard a English man-o-war, plus a general lexicon of the everyday words used at the time, as well as the medical and natural history vocabulary used by Dr Maturin. It also includes line drawings of tall ships and other sailing ships, maps and essays. It not only is an invaulable reference work, it is tremendously enjoyable to flick through the pages browsing the lexicon in a "I always wondered what that meant" way. Stephen would have loved it!

Lobscouse and Spotted Dog
I have only read one of the Patrick O'Brian novels but am surrounded by obsessive fans of his. I really enjoyed the book I read and found that the words I didn't know in his book were explained to the full here. BUT it doesn't stop there. This is actually a great coffee table book as its easy to pick up, dive in, read a couple of pages and find some fascinating word and meaning you just have to share with those around you. You should also look at the other accompanying Patrick O'Brian book which is a cookbook and is entitled Lobscouse and Spotted Dog.