Marrin's Bookshop

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 9.5 x 6.5 inches. viii + 199 pp. Bound in original brown cloth, in unclipped pictorial dust wrapper. Slight sunning of board edges and light foxing of page edges; otherwise a very good copy. Loosely enclosed: 5 pages of typescript and manuscript correspondence relating to the publication and launch of the new 1994 edition of Britannia Rules, etc. Illustrated by 16 pages of black and white plates and by battle plans in text. First edition of the narrative account and analysis of the Royal Navy's achievements and failings during the period of the French wars, concluding with chapters on the war of 1812-14 with the US and the Battle of Algiers 1816. By Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909-93), naval historian, also known as the author of Parkinson's Law, that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.