The Captain by Jan De Hartog lands on the shelves of my shop.
Atheneum, 1966, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Maps to the endpapers and blanks;
From the cover: This is a novel of the sea and it is on a grand scale. Its setting is, chiefly, the Murmansk run during the Second World War, surely one of the crudest tests to which men and ships have ever been put, and on one of the crudest of seas.
Its major theme is the making of a captain, that process by which in war as in peace a man is measured by the sea, by ships, by his fellows and by himself until it is shown that he has what it takes to stand responsible, after God, for the little world of a ship and the souls it contains.
Alongside this theme are others, similarly compelling: the search of a young man for a way to express his love in a world gone mad; the effort of a woman to raise a child in a way that will enable him to find his own truth; the struggle of men to preserve themselves and yet achieve brotherhood. Above all, there is the grip of this epic drama, told by a master of story who is also a seeker after truth and an explorer of the soul.
There have been many stories of the sea and of war and of the making of a captain, but few indeed with the sweep, the power, the majesty and the illumination of this one.
Good+ in Good Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a stain to the reverse, heavily at the spine. Gently bruised at the head, tail and corners of the binding. Pages very gently age-tanned. Hinge starting at the last blank.
Blue boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 434 pages. 8½” x 5½”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!
Fact or Fable Book Shop 