Collection ID: LMC 1943
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Collection context

Summary

Abstract:
The O'Brian mss., ca. 1970-1994, consists primarily of notes and full-text manuscripts of author Patrick O'Brian's historical sea novels. Autograph manuscripts for eighteen of the twenty published novels are present.
Extent:
5 Boxes (4 standard, 1 custom)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Item], O'Brian mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Patrick O'Brian, 1914-2000, was an author known for his naval novels set during the Napoleonic Wars. O'Brian was born in London under the name Richard Patrick Russ. He published novels and stories under that name in the 1930s, including a collection of animal stories, Beasts Royal (1934), and a picaresque novel set in India, Hussein: An Entertainment (1938). During World War II, he worked for British intelligence. After the war, he took the name Patrick O'Brian and assumed an Irish identity; the connection between Patrick O'Brian and Richard Patrick Russ was broken in 1998 in the Daily Telegraph and in a biography by journalist Dean King. During the 1960s, O'Brian worked as a translator of French nonfiction, most notably translating the works of Simone de Beauvoir as well as Papillon (1970), the memoirs of French convict Henri Charrière. O'Brian is also the author of biographies of Pablo Picasso (1976) and Sir Joseph Banks (1987).

In 1967, O'Brian was approached by the American publishing house J.B. Lippincott. They had read his novelization of Commodore Anson's 1740 voyage to the pacific, The Golden Ocean (1956), and requested that he write another naval adventure for adults in the vein of C.S. Forester, who had died the previous year. The result, Master and Commander, published by Collins in 1969, was the first of his Napoleonic War novels about the adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin. The series, which would eventually span 20 novels, enjoyed positive reviews when first published but only achieved popular success in the 1990s. In light of that success, O'Brian was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 1995.

Scope and Content:

Consists primarily of notes and full-text manuscripts of author Patrick O'Brian's historical sea novels. Autograph manuscripts for eighteen of the twenty published novels are present. The titles are Master and Commander (1969); Post Captain (1972); HMS Surprise (1973); The Mauritius Command (1977); Desolation Island (1978); The Fortune of War (1979); The Surgeon's Mate (1980); The Ionian Mission (1981); Treason's Harbour (1983); The Far Side of the World (1986); The Reverse of the Medal (1986); Letter of Marque (1988); The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1989); The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991); Clarissa Oakes (1992); The Wine-Dark Sea (1993); The Commodore (1994); The Yellow Admiral (1996); and The Hundred Days (1998).

The notes relate to six volumes in the series, titled: The Letter of Marque, The Thirteen-Gun Salute, The Nutmeg of Consolation, Clarissa Oakes, and The Wine-Dark Sea. The last folder of notes is marked simply XVII, presumably referring to the volume that became The Commodore. In addition the manuscript of Mauritius Command is accompanied by about 25 pages of notes. The manuscripts are filed in order of publication by HarperCollins in London, with the folders of notes preceding each appropriate manuscript.

Manuscripts for O'Brian's biographies of naturalist Joseph Banks (published in 1987 by HarperCollins) and of artist Pablo Picasso (HarperCollins, 1976), complete the collection.

Acquisition information:
Purchase. 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998.
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged chronologically by work.

Physical location:
Lilly - Stacks

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

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TERMS OF ACCESS:

Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], O'Brian mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1200 East Seventh Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
(812) 855-2452
liblilly@iu.edu