The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Vol. 5 volumes)

I feel conflicted about giving this set of books only three stars.

On one hand, O'Brian's writing is brilliant. Speaking purely in terms of the literature, I would give his work five stars rather than three. I would describe this work as a combination of Herman Melville and Jane Austen. This set really consists of one long novel, not 25 short ones. For that reason, it makes sense to purchase all of the volumes at once.

Unfortunately, the publisher of this set did a distressingly careless job of proofreading the layout. (Had the editors been aboard one of Jack Aubrey's ships, they would have gotten flogged for their slovenly ways.) There are errors every couple of pages: stray punctuation marks, letters out of place, and even some sentences that seem to be cut in half or spliced in the wrong spot. While the frequent errors seldom prevent one from understanding the text, they are endlessly annoying, particularly in books that otherwise have the look and feel of a luxury edition. O'Brian's work deserves better than this.

These are fantastic books. I am one month and 4800 pages in. All of the credit belongs to the Author as Norton has done him a dis-service. I think that they must have simply OCR'ed the manuscript and used that to set the type with minimal editing. The most frequent error seems to be "e" replaced with "c". The word "lamb" is almost universally replaced with "Iamb" making it seem that every person for whom Steven has any affection is nicknamed after some poetic element. Also, if you could trust the dust jackets, my set came with 2 copies of the 3rd volume in the series and was lacking the 4th. Fortunately, the second copy of the 3rd volume is only skin deep and the actual book is the 4th volume, still, since the books together make up a naval painting, my copy is much less attractive than it should be. Very sloppy on the part of Norton.

All told, this set is a fantastic way to read the series partly because of the savings in space and money and partly because the continuously numbered pages really help you to feel that you are reading one long book, which is how this should be read. I give this product 4 stars because the writing is so brilliant that it would take a lot more than sloppy, careless, and unprofessional printing to diminish it in any significant way.

For those that are familiar with them, the books in this set are similar to The Library Of America editions of the American classics (both are printed and bound by the same company, R.R. Donnelly & Sons). Although the paper is necessarily thin these editions are much better quality than the British individual hardbacks.

The reason for the poor rating is not for the quality of the books, nor of course for what they contain, but for the very poor type-setting and proof reading. I picked up a re-reading of the novels at 'The Mauritius Command' and it has numerous misprints, sometimes two or three a page, and is simply the worst book have read for type-setting errors. Subsequent novels are better but still may have half a dozen or more misprints.

Those wishing to replace their paperbacks with this set would probably be wise to wait for a second edition; maybe this won't be long coming, as W.W. Norton should be embarrassed by this one.

This series - in terms of character development, insights, and as a study in leadership - is simply the best there is. One of the few books or series I reread. Do not judge the books by the movie, but do consider developing additional movies or series based on these unforgettable characters.

I started out with Patrick O'Brian and Aubrey and Stephan one at a time. I never stopped. Now I have 20 O'Brian books, all bought more or less one by each. If this set had been available earlier, I would have bought it instantly. If you read a few (it only takes two or three), you'll know whether or not to do this.

Assuming that the majority reading this are already assured of these books literary relevance, this review is based around the physical condition of the books themselves.

The entire set weighs about 7 pounds, I'd say, bound as promised in 5 volumes. The set itself is not too big at all: the height is a tad shorter than your ordinary paperback. The slipcase is quite nice, though the glossiness will probably fade quickly and the fit is a bit tight around the books. The largest side of the box has a beautiful piece of Hunt work, HMS Agamemnon, which I am not recognizing as a previous cover image at the moment. The other sides have a picture of Mr. O'Brian and some reviews.

The books themselves appear to be quite solidly made, bound in blue with gold print on the spine and with a slipcover, the latter featuring the usual portrait of Mr. O'Brian (the spine images form the same Hunt painting as the outside of the box). The inside of each cover has a teaser for each book within. They vary in width as well; surprisingly to me at least, the first volume (M&C through Mauritius Command) is the thickest by far. A ribbon marker is provided as well, while the end papers are a facsimile of the manuscript copy of the opening page of Master and Commander. There is continuous page numbering throughout, including 21. The print is quite reasonable in fact, looking to be about a 12 pt, but the pages themselves are definitely thinner than most; perhaps I am far too accustomed to heavy-weight hardcovers, but these are translucent to an extent. Taking a quick look through, perhaps someone with more familiarity with the books could take a look at the maps,as the print strikes me as being a different from before.

Each volume does include a table of contents listing each book, though there is no chapter listing (as I believe is true of the paperbacks). Our usual diagram of The sails of a square rigged ship, hung out to dry in a calm is featured at the beginning of each volume, portrait fashioned (no need to turn the book this round).

I read through 21 at the bookstore before receiving this set, and thus can compare to the Norton edition at least. Here, the typed pages are presented without the accompanying manuscript; in other words, it appears to be just like the other finished works in the series with no notes. The final untyped pages are included as well, copied in a fashion so that the outline of the writing paper can be clearly seen on the page. The Afterword by Richard Snow is also included as the only editorial comment throughout the set, save for O'Brian's author notes.

I do think that this was quite worth the price charged by the store (alas, I bought it earlier, and had to pay $102!), particularly since I only own the first 3 books (which I now will be shipping off to various friends to introduce them to the series). For previous readers, there's nothing new as far as I can see from the original editions. But, nonetheless, a handsome set to be treasured!

Patrick O'Brian wrote many books, and overall there are 21 Aubrey & Maturin novels, which is quite a lot of shelf space if bought individually. At first, that is what I did, and bought 1-4 in seperate books before I realized how much it would take up.

I decided to buy the complete set, and it is worth every penny! Though there are certain editing mistakes, the books are as just a good as read as the other editions. The pages are very thin, and the covers are semi-hard back, but if you're careful it is no problem.

Patrick O'Brian is a wonderful author, and few who have read it disagree with me when I say he belongs with the best writers of English literature. His characters are the most complex I have ever read, but he communicates them to you perfectly, and you almost feel what they feel. He is, no doubt, the greatest historical fiction writer in all of England's history, rivaled only by certain few like C.S. Forester and the Hornblower series, who is barely close to O'Brian.

...to say the least. How anyone could think that such an edition should be published is beyond me. Too many typos to count. The publisher should voluntarily stop producing this horrendous edition of this remarkable series. Stick to the original, individual books to enjoy this series as it was meant to be read.

That was what caught my eye... "It's a disservice to compare these books to the Hornblower books" a critic wrote... "because these are so very much better". High praise indeed, I thought... so I tried the first... got half way through and put it down. Picked it up again a year later and tried again. This time I read all 17 books(now twenty) without stopping. They are really among the very best books you could choose. I would be put off by the complete set. Go ahead and get them one at a time. I envy you in reading them for the first time.

This reprint of the Aubrey/Maturin series is really fabulous.

Although an enthusiastic reader of this series, I have never been able to collect every volume, let alone read them in sequence. This set of five volumes is exceptional value for money.

Early reviewers commented that there were quality problems with the books.Please don't let this stop your purchase - the books are of good quality with but few spelling or terminology errors and most readers will not object to this given the five volume set gives this outstanding opportunity to read the complete works as desired.

The real problem with this set of volumes is finding the time to read avidly..........

Having been introduced to the Aubrey/Maturin series by good friends, I bought this collection and was very well pleased with the presentation, the bindings, the overall quality of the work. Yes, there are a few printing mistakes, but nothing that would subtract from the work. Truly a big space-saver, exceptionally well-packaged and quite more durable than the softcovers more commonly available.

As Lucky Jack Aubrey would say, "The mistakes don't signify".

I would highly recommend this edition of the series.

"The best sea story ever written." - from the original New York Times book review of "Master and Commander".
"The best sea story ever written." - London Times book review of Patrick O'Brian's second novel in this series.

I can add little to this, all of the stories are different and unique and highly entertaining and each could easily be considered one of the best if not the best ever written, sea story or not. ... And yes, the books are better than the movie.

I will stick to reviewing the quality of the published books rather than the story itself, as Patrick O'Brian's story is an instant 5-star rating.

The typo's most complaints suggest ruin the books, do not in fact ruin the books. I barely notice them and when I do I don't really care. It is obvious what was meant when taken in context of the rest of the text, and the typo's spread over 7000 pages only come once in a great while. You would need to grade English papers for a living to catch many of them.

The quality of the book itself is excellent. The pages are thin, fitting over 1500 pages in a book size that would normally only fit 500. The pages are also fairly heavy, making the book hold itself open when laid down for reading. Each book has a ribbon bookmark attached, and the graphic on the binding is a great addition.

The price is almost 1/4th of what you would pay for all 21 books individually in hardback. I almost began buying the individual books when I read the complaints about typos on this website. In a fit of impulse, I ordered this set and I am very happy I did.

To get 21 books, 7000 pages, of such a great story is hard to beat. I suggest if you are considering getting this as someone who has not read Aubrey/Maturin before (as I had not), order the paperback of Master and Commander used first (got mine for $4) and read it.

This will surely please anyone on who likes to read on your gift list (assuming they don't already have it). It's meant to be read more than once, and the character development is unrivaled. The movie that was recently made doesn't do the books justice. I was never interested in naval history or the time of the Napoleonic wars, but this drew me in to that world.

Though the story is outstanding, and the general appearance of this set is very good, the editing is almost non exsistant. I have found the number 1 in place of a capital I, incorrect punctuation, paragraphs blended together, completely misspelled words or the incorrect word altogether. I am still enjoying the read, but for what it is, the set is substandard.

A truly astonishing and engrossing literary experience. I read the twenty Aubrey-Maturin novels straight through over the last eight months. The characters are so richly drawn, the writing so mellifulous, the sense of time and period so illuminating that its fair to consider O'Brian's work in the same class as War & Peace (which, like the O'Brian series, is an extremely enjoyable read). I would never have imagined reading a twenty-book series. Now I can't imagine not reading the series again at some point in the future. It's that good.

A very good value collection. Each volume holds four books in sequence and are physically quite large but seem to be well bound with clear print on thinnish pages.
The text has a small number of typographical errors that I don't remember seeing in the original books but to get the entire collection of O'Brian's Aubrey novels in one set for such a reasonable price I'm prepared to put up with the odd blooper. The ribbon bookmark is a very cute bonus and will certainly stop me from dog-earing the pages.

These books are excellent in historical accuracy and their depiction of all aspects of life in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. In addition, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are two excellent characters; well developed and believable. There is no hint of cliche or author's intrusion in the development of their careers and advancement through life. A cut above any other historical fiction I have read.

Received this collection for Christmas, with the gift-giver expressing reservations about it after the fact, based on some of the reviews here (specifically the typos and other editing errors).

I have to say that I do *not* find the odd error that disconcerting. And I'm a journalist by trade, usually very, VERY conscious of these things. I mean, mistakes happen, and LOOK AT THE VALUE HERE. You're getting every single page of Aubrey/Maturin text, BEAUTIFULLY bound, for just over $100.

Seriously, I feel so fortunate to have these books at all, that I'm not going to raise a stink over a typo here and there.

Mistakes happen...deal. The magic is in the world O'Brian creates - and even Lucky Jack isn't perfect. It's the difference between Jack's "fighting ship" and a "flash ship" - it's not about how neatly the ropes are coiled or how the prettily the long nines shine. It's about how the crew behaves when the shot starts to fly.

O'Brian's shot is so well-pitched up, it can withstand some shoddy editing.

Don't pass this up because some nit-pickers are freaking out about scanning errors. Skip over them and concentrate on what really matters, AND ENJOY.

Editing to expand on the "scanning errors" - what we're seeing here are words like "yams" becoming "yarns", "stern" --> "stem", a speck of grit becomes a period, mid-sentence, the number "1" replaces the letter "l", etc.

Knowing this, it usually takes me just a split-second to puzzle out what was intended.

So, thank Scanning Technology for giving us tens of thousands of pages of beloved Aubrey/Maturin text for just over $100, but yes, there's another price. And it's a price I, personally, am more-than-willing (even happy) to pay.

I bought the series after I read the good reviews from the store. Having only 2 Patrick O'Brian's books, I thought this would be a good buy to read all his Aubrey-Maturin novels. The collection despite its economical price has very bad editing. There are numerous typos, misspelled words, misquotations and missing words.
Quite a disappointment. Shoddy work from Norton's editor.

wonderful stories to be sure, but i think the editors were either illiterate or blind, because the number of typos is ridiculous and also consistent, throughout the latter half of the books, the butler at woolcombe is called mnason, ive never heard of an english name like that... or someone being called horner at one point and homer at another, they mix up rn and m quite frequently... still, despite its shortcomings, its cheaper to decode it and have htem all than buy them all seperately.

This collection was purchased as a Christmas gift for my fiance', who is a big fan of Patrick O'Brian and especially the Aubrey/Maturin series. He had already read the 21 books that are compiled in this 5 volume set, and said he liked the fact that each of these volumes was nice and compact, and while the pages are not of heavy stock but more reminiscent of pages from a bible, the typeset is clear and extremely easy to read. He also mentioned that the books are in consecutive order as the story unfolds. These were an exceptional value and we would recommend them to anyone. We are extremely happy we made this purchase.

These novels are deatiled with historical facts,and decribes life aboard man of war ships circa 1800. It was also interesting to learn that England and other countries were in the spy business during these years. Many years of research had to be completed to provide the intricate details of life, death and battle engagements.

As a Horatio Hornblower fan, I have longed for another series about the 'derring do' of the British Navy. This is it! A little difficult to get into, especially the second book in the series, but once you get past the constant Latin terms thrown into a perfectly good discussion and the sometimes not so clear descriptions of what is going on, the books come alive with drama and "what is going to happen next" suspense. I am about 2/3rds through and trying not to devour them all too quickly. They are a great read!

I made this purchase because I had already read ten of the novels, and knew I wanted to read the others. I also thought the idea of a set was a lovely one. O'Brian is a remarkable writer and I am continually amazed by the complexity, the humor, and the remarkable prose of his books. Aubrey and Maturin are two wonderful fictional creations, and each time I enter their world I feel as if I am really there.

Others on the pages of this the store listing have extolled the virtues of this omnibus collection better than I could. My review is less about the books and more about my wish to offer my theory regarding the great number of typos in the collection that so many others have complained about.

I have worked in mainstream publishing for several years and it is pretty clear to me that the original novels were somehow scanned into a computer to produce this current omnibus edition. In this way, during the scanning process, the software, used to determine the letters, digits, and punctuation, was perhaps unable to discern between, say, periods and commas, and other similarly shaped letters, etc.

The editorial staff, after this scanning, which must have been technologically necessary to produce this new edition, was then faced with the task of editing 6,000 pages of text to root out all the errors made by the software. While many errors obviously got through, I can say with all certainty that we probably did not see 85% of the more egregious instances. While I personally believe that O'Brian's fine work deserved better, in today's tightened-belt publishing world, I am sure the Norton editorial staff did the best they could.

I was given the impression that this entire collection was scanned from older pages when I noticed in "The Fortune of War" that the word "Chesapeake" (rightfully italicized when referring to the ship) was italicized in many other instances when the geographical location was referred to. Also with the word "Java." This leads me to believe the italics were dropped out of the scanning process (very normal when using certain scanning software) and thus had to be put in manually. The editor or production person may well have used "find and replace" to add in the italics, not realizing that he or she was globally italicizing "Java" whether it meant the ship or the island.

This would also explain the strange quotes that appear here and there, and bad paragraph breaks, and many other annoying little niggling errors. It is a terrible shame, I think, that these errors got into the edition, but somewhat understandable, if not excusable by the more hard-edged readers among us. Remember that real people make these books!

Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this omnibus collection--many months of some of the best reading you'll ever experience, in a convenient, pleasing to the eye package. I would say these few errors would only bother the most oak-hearted of readers--the rest of us, as I said, will probably be too caught up in the marvelous characterization and events to care a whit!

It's true that the Complete Aubrey/Maturin has some truly terrible spelling errors and punctuation mistakes, but I am inclined to forgive Norton for some of these. The vast majority do not create any sort of confusion, and while it is a bit irriataing, there are nearly 7000 pages of text, and I can understand haw some typos would make it in. Personally, I'm just glad to have them all in one set.

While others may nitpick about the typesetting or the mistakes I found the set to be well produced and very comfortable to read, both to the eye and to hold. There are, no doubt, some typographical errors but I failed to notice more than a handful and they did not detract from my enjoyment of what may be the best naval historical fiction ever written. These books are beautifully bound and a considerable saving over buying the individual books (I hesitate to say novels as the whole is really a single novel in 21 parts).
An excellent set of great literature.

The complete set of Aubrey-Maturin novels are a delight. Not only is the entire sea saga presented in an easy to manuever format but the inclusion of the unfinished final novel is a delight. The addition of the author's notes were as delicious as any spotted dog.

Huzzah!'

Excellent series and always captures the mind and puts you in the place the author wants you to be. You get a real tatse of the early shipping history and events. At the end of each of the novels its time to get another and continue reading.

I am having a rollicking time reading this fantastic story. Over 6500 pages of real history and action with subtle and humorous insights on the political and personal scene during this era. I will be sorry to finish it.

How satisfying to have all the Aubrey/Maturin books in a nicely printed, hardcover edition. While volumes which contain multiple books are often unwieldy and difficult to hold, these are quite pleasant in the hand. If you are fascinated by Patrick O'Brian's recreation of early 19th. century life at sea (and on land as well), these are a must.

The Aubrey/Maturin series are the greastest collection of novels that I have had the honor to read.Obrian has created characters that almost live and breath.I have read all the napolianic war naval writers and I believe Obrian to be the very best! Long live Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin!