Editing Patrick O'Brian (section)

===As Patrick O'Brian===
O'Brian returned to writing after the war when he moved to rural Wales. His non-fiction anthology ''A Book of Voyages'' (1947) attracted little attention. A collection of short stories, ''[[The Last Pool and Other Stories|The Last Pool]]'', was published in 1950 and was more widely and favourably reviewed, although sales were low.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|151–151}} The countryside and people around his village in Wales provided inspiration for many of his short stories of the period, and also his novel ''[[Testimonies (novel)|Testimonies]]'' (1952), which is set in a thinly disguised Cwm Croesor, and which was well received by [[Delmore Schwartz]] in ''[[Partisan Review]]'' in 1952.<ref name=Veale /><ref name=Horowitz /> His next novel was ''The Catalans'', published in 1953. The review in ''The New York Times'' noted O'Brian's accomplishments in ''Testimonies''; ''The Catalans'' was viewed as a series of well-written scenes by an observant author, but the reviewer did not think it held together as a novel.<ref>{{cite news |title=Books of The Times |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Prescott |first=Orville |author-link=Orville Prescott |date=1 January 1954 |access-date=20 February 2019 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/01/01/83743731.html?pageNumber=21 |page=21 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In the 1950s, O'Brian wrote three books aimed at a younger age group, ''[[The Road to Samarcand]]'', ''[[The Golden Ocean]]'', and ''[[The Unknown Shore]]''. Although written many years before the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]], the two naval novels reveal literary antecedents of [[Jack Aubrey|Aubrey]] and [[Stephen Maturin|Maturin]]. In ''The Golden Ocean'' and ''The Unknown Shore'', based on events of [[George Anson's voyage around the world]] from 1740 to 1744, they can be clearly seen in the characters of Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow in the latter novel.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|180}}

Over four decades he worked on his own writings, his British literary reputation growing slowly. He became an established translator of French works into English. His early novels and several of the translations were published by [[Publications by Rupert Hart-Davis|Rupert Hart-Davis]] from 1953 to 1974. O'Brian wrote the first of the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]] in 1969 at the suggestion of American publisher [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.|J B Lippincott]], following the 1966 death of [[C. S. Forester]], a writer of popular nautical novels.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Patrick O'Brian: a life revealed |last=King |first=Dean |publisher=H Holt |year=2000 |isbn=0805059768 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=192–200 |oclc=42437180}}</ref> The Aubrey–Maturin books were quietly popular in Britain; after the first four volumes, they were not published in the United States.

In the early 1990s, the series was successfully relaunched into the American market by the interest of Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton publishers,<ref name=Horowitz>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/obrian-comesin.html |title=Patrick O'Brian's Ship Comes In |last=Horowitz |first=Mark |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Books |date=16 May 1993 |access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/lawrence-steps-down-as-nortons-editor-in-chief/?_r=0 |title=Lawrence Steps Down as Norton's Editor in Chief |last=Bosman |first=Julie |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 June 2011 |access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref> attracting critical acclaim and dramatically increasing O'Brian's sales and public profile in the UK and America.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|Ch.22–23}} Paul D. Colford notes that when O'Brian "visited the United States a few weeks ago [in December 1993], fans waiting to meet, lunch and have tea with him included [[Walter Cronkite]], Sen. [[Dirk Kempthorne]] (R-Idaho) and Supreme Court Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]], who invited O'Brian to attend a session of the high court. Hollywood also wants a piece of the press-shy storyteller."<ref name=Colford>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-06-vw-8805-story.html |title=The Tide Is Changing for an Obscure Novelist |date=6 January 1994 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |last=Colford |first=Paul D |access-date=16 March 2015}}</ref>

The novels sold over three million copies in 20 languages.<ref name=Veale /> In its review of ''[[The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey|21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey]]'' (published in 2004), ''Publishers Weekly'' said that over six million copies had been sold.<ref name=PW>{{cite web |url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/21-patrick-obrian/1103810573?ean=9780393344141 |date=October 2004 |title=21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey |work=Editorial Reviews |publisher=Publishers Weekly |access-date=31 March 2015}}</ref> Thus O'Brian's greatest success in writing, gaining him fame, a following, and invitations to events and interviews came late in his life, when he was well into his seventies and accustomed to his privacy.<ref name=Veale />

Shortly before his last completed novel was published in October 1999, O'Brian wrote an article for a series of the best in the millennium ending, titled "Full Nelson", choosing for his topic [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Admiral Nelson's]] victory in the [[Battle of the Nile]] in 1798.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m1/obrian.html |last=O'Brian |first=Patrick |title=BEST NAVAL BATTLE – Full Nelson: Outmanned and outgunned, the British flummoxed the French |newspaper=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |department=Best in 1,000 Years |year=1999 |quote=It was a famous victory: it shattered Bonaparte's scheme in Egypt and India; it had great political influence in Europe; it was splendidly rewarded, with medals, promotions and quantities of presents bestowed on those who fought, and it awakened the world to Lord Nelson's glory. |access-date=8 June 2015 }}</ref>