Nicholas Monsarrat THE MASTER MARINER First Editions Book 1 Signed

First edition first print two-book hardback set of THE MASTER MARINER (Book 1: Running Proud & Book 2 Darken Ship) by Nicholas Monsarrat, Book 1 published by Cassell LTD in 1978 and Book 2 published by Cassell LTD in 1980.  Book 1 signed 'In the ill health of the author' by Nicholas Monsarrat's wife Ann Monsarrat on the front endpaper.

Book 1 is in very good condition (black cloth boards with gilt lettering to spine) with light bumping to the top corners of the front and back boards as well as very light creasing to the top and bottom edges of the spine. The book is in a very good unclipped dust jacket which has light creasing to the top edges of the front and back cover and top and bottom of the spine. There is some slight colour fading to the top of the front cover. The top and bottom page edges are age spotted, with lighter spotting to the bottom, and the front page edge has some light general age browning. Internally the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears or other inscriptions.

Book 2 is in very good+ condition (black cloth boards with silver lettering to spine) with very light bumping to the corners of the front board and very light creasing to the top and bottom of the spine. The top page edge is age spotted. The book is in a near fine unclipped dust jacket with very light creasing to the top of the spine. Internally the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears or inscriptions.

The full story of The Master Mariner cannot be told within the compass of one volume. Running Proud is the first half of this epic novel, carrying Matthew Lawe from the Armada to Trafalgar.

Book 2, Darken Ship concludes the story of Matthew Lawe as he finds himself commanding a slaver working the infamous 'Round Trip' from Liverpool to the Carribean. It is a savage story of squalor and human degradation, leading to mass murder as the slaves are thrown overboard, still chained together, to outwit the naval patrols. Going from civilised pleasures in Barbados, Matthew once more finds himself in the liverpool gutters. He is press-ganged aboard the frigate Shannon just before her duel with the American Chesapeake in 1813, sails on a clipper ship; searches for the remains of the explorer, Sir John Franklin, in the Arctic; meets Conrad and Galsworthy. In wartime he fights for his country; in peace he is neglected, and his final test comes when fire breaks out on a bulk oil-carrier traversing the St Lawrence Seaway, and he hears again the voice of a man on Drake's fire-ship snarling down the centuries: 'Matthew! Do you want to live forever?'. 

Book 1: 524 pages. Book 2: 181 pages including illustrations and Introduction by Ann Monsarrat

Book 1 ISBN: 0304296090 Book 2 ISBN: 0304307076

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