Description

RARE PRESENTATION/ASSOCIATION COY OF THE FIRST HORATIO HORNBLOWER NOVEL, INSCRIBED BY C.S. FORESTER TO RENOWNED MILITARY STRATEGIST CAPTAIN LIDDELL HART

FORESTER, C.S. The Happy Return. (London): Michael Joseph, (1937). Octavo, original green cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of the first book in the epic Horatio Hornblower series, a distinctive association copy inscribed to “Captain B.H. Liddell Hart from C.S. Forester.” A controversial military historian knighted in 1966, Hart—once praised by JFK as “the Captain who teaches Generals”—was an outspoken fan of Forester’s seafaring novels.

“I recommend Forester to everyone literate I know,” Hemingway once said. C.S. Forester developed the idea of the the heroic naval officer Horatio Hornblower after a brief sojourn in Hollywood as a screenwriter under producer Arthur Hornblow. Returning to his native England, Forester traveled by ship down the coast of South America and began writing his adventurous epic of the Napoleonic Era, with characters hewn from British naval chronicles and named after his associates at Paramount Studios. Initially characterized as non-fiction by Times Literary Supplement for its strong historical basis, the series would eventually swell to 11 books, revitalizing the genre of naval adventure fiction. With the bookplate of recipient Captain Liddell Hart, the renowned military historian and strategist knighted in 1966. Hart’s controversial argument for an “indirect approach” in war—strategic defense combined with guerilla tactics—led President Kennedy to describe him as “the Captain who teaches Generals” (Bassford, Clausewitz in English). Liddell was an strong admirer of Forester’s Hornblower series, once praising him in a letter to the Times Literary Supplement.

Text fine, light foxing to edges only, toning to spine of near-fine book; some edge-wear and rubbing with minor tape reinforcement to verso of very good price-clipped dust jacket.