Atlantic

1945 — 8vo., First Edition, with portrait frontispiece and 8 plates on 6; handsomely bound in full navy crushed morocco, sides with gilt frame border, back with raised bands, second and fourth compartments lettered in gilt, all other compartments tooled with gilt anchor, gilt top, hand-made endpapers, ribbon marker, a most attractive copy ideal as gift or for presentation. The first collected edition of Monsarrat's well-known trilogy. The three constituent volumes - 'HM Corvette' (1942), 'East Coast Corvette' (1943) and 'Corvette Command' (1944) - are here reproduced in their entirety (but with fewer plates). Taken in sequence they provide a near-continuous record of Monsarrat's early wartime service; furthermore they contain much of the inspiration and context, and in several cases actual incidents, which reappear in his masterpiece 'The Cruel Sea'. The first edition is now very scarce in any condition. Enser, p.120; Law 1010.