Patrick O'Brian Codebook

Literati accolades aside, Patrick O'Brian is no easy read. The 21 Aubrey-Maturin books are packed with words and minutia that are historically accurate but mostly lost on a 21st-century readership. Naval jargon and period vernacular can stymie the seasoned fan and discourage the uninitiated: cross-trees, trestle-trees, drowned baby, and treacle-dowdy. The "Patrick O'Brian Codebook" illuminates O'Brian's writings in 350 pages with 700 images and 100 custom illustrations, a lexicon with 12,000 entries, and supporting information to clarify the political and cultural landscape during the Napoleonic Wars.