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O'BRIAN, PATRICK - Testimonies

Title: Testimonies
Description: New York: W. W. Norton, 1993. New Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. New Edition - reissued thus following the 1952 publication of his first novel in the US by Harcourt Brace. First Edition thus. This book is in Fine condition and has a Near Fine dust jacket. The book and its contents are in clean, bright condition. The text pages are clean and bright. The dust jacket has some light bumping and edge wear, especially to the spine ends. "Joseph Pugh, sick of Oxford and of teaching, decides to take some time off to live in a wild and beautiful Welsh farm valley that seems at the other end of the earth from the life he has known at the great university. There he falls physically ill, and is nursed back to health by Bronwen Vaughn, the wife of a neighboring farmer." "O'Brian protected his privacy fiercely and was usually reluctant to reveal any details about his private life or past, preferring to include no biographical details on his book jackets and supplying only a minimum of personal information when pressed to do so. For many years reviewers and journalists presumed he was Irish, and he took no steps to correct the impression. One interviewer described the man in his late seventies as "a compact, austere gentleman. His pale, watchful eyes are clear and alert." He is polite, formal and erudite in conversation, which erudition can be intimidating. Horowitz learned from those who worked with O'Brian, that the erudition did not go unnoticed, while they remained friends. "Richard Ollard, a naval historian, calls this particular habit, "blowing people out of the game." Ollard, who edited the early Aubrey/Maturin Novels, urged O'Brian to tone down the most obscure allusions, though the books remain crammed with Latin tags, antiquated medical terminology and an endless stream of marvelous sounding but impenetrable naval jargon. "Like many who have struggled themselves," Ollard said of his friend, "he thought others should struggle, too." One longtime acquaintance put it more bluntly: "Patrick can be a bit of a snob, socially and intellectually." ". Fine in Near Fine dust jacket .

Keywords: Modern Fiction First Editions Patrick O'Brian England Oxford University Oxford England Wales Relationships Love Modern Fiction Firsts

Price: US$ 20.00 Seller: S. Howlett-West Books
- Book number: 34706

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