"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
— Mark Twain

Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (27 August 1899 – 2 April 1966), known by his pen name Cecil Scott "C. S." Forester, was an English novelist known for writing tales of naval warfare. He is most remembered for his 12-book Horatio Hornblower series, depicting a Royal Navyofficer during the Napoleonic wars; indeed, Hornblower has become embedded in the consciousness of generations growing up in the earlier part of the 20th century. Two of the Hornblower books, A Ship of the Line and Flying Colours, were jointly awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1938. His other works include The African Queen, which was adapted into a 1951 film.
See below our stock of C. S. Forester First Editions and signed copies.
London: Michael Joseph, 1945. [Naval adventure] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.271; [1]. Publisher's yellow cloth with silver titles to spine, in striking Barbosa-designed dust-wrapper priced at 9/6. Dusty top edge else book is near fine. Jacket sunned to spine, some rubbing and a couple of short tears. Very..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1945. [Naval adventure] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.271; [1]. Publisher's yellow cloth with silver titles to spine, in striking Barbosa-designed dust-wrapper priced at 9/6. Dusty top edge else book is near fine. Jacket sunned to spine, with a few small nicks and tears, some vintage..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1937-67. [Naval fiction / Historical Fiction] ALL FIRST EDITIONS. Eleven volumes bound as ten, octavos (19 x 13 x 33cm). The complete series, bound uniformly in recent navy blue half morocco, twin red morocco title labels lettered in gilt, with gilt 'tall ship' motif, blue marbled paper-covered..... More
London: Michael Joseph Limited, 1940. [Historical Fiction]. FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.319; [1]. blank. Publisher's cloth in dust-wrapper. Book is fine, bright jacket is lightly edgeworn, chipped across crown and a couple of tears, some tape reinforcement to rear. Shows well. Enthralling historical adventure set in an age..... More
Boston; Little Brown and Company. 1953. FORESTER FAMILY COPY. First US Edition. 8vo. Very good indeed in publisher's sea green cloth titled in gilt to spine, light bumping to spine ends. In an acceptable wrapper with fading to the spine panel, and creasing, chipping and a rectangle of loss to..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1962. [Naval Adventure] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.287 [1]. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by David Cobb, priced at 18s. Light rubbing to jacket edges, and some toning to jacket spine. Very good. The tenth in the popular..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1958. [Naval fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.283 [1]. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by Val Biro, priced at 15s. Black ink ownership to front fly-leaf. Edges toned. Jacket heavily browned to spine, with moderate rubbing and chipping..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1952. [Naval fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.304. Publisher's mid-blue cloth, pictorial Val Biro designed dust-wrapper. Book is near fine, jacket with two chips and some abrasion to the fore-edge, rear panel with some red staining to foot, the red spine lettering remains strong. Overall..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1952. [Naval fiction] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.304. Publisher's mid-blue cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the dust-jacket illustrated by Val Biro, priced at 12/6. Edges toned, with a little wear to binding extremities. Jacket toned to spine, with moderate rubbing and chipping to..... More
London: Michael Joseph, 1946. [Naval Fiction] FIRST EDITION. Crown Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.224. Publisher's mid-brown cloth with silver titles to spine. With the dust-jacket designed by Rowland Hilder, priced at 9/6. Small blue ink ownership to fly-leaf. Toning and spotting to edges. Light handling and rubbing to jacket, curved..... More
John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, 1926. Mystery novel. First Edition. 8vo.; pp.304 + 8 (adverts). Original red cloth, lettered to spine and upper cover in gilt. Occasional light spotting, joints a little rubbed, minor sunning to back-strip. An attractive example. A Hubin- listed crime title, and a Haycraft-Queen cornerstone..... More
Michael Joseph, London, 1948. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp. 219. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles. Moderately used; a very good copy in similar dustwrapper, a little rubbed and chipped to extremities, price clipped. Shows well. C.S. Forester was awarded the 1938 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for both the Hornblower novels..... More
Michael Joseph, London, 1948. FIRST EDITION. Octavo, pp. 219. Publisher's red cloth, gilt titles. Book is fine; jacket near fine with one short tear to crown. A most attractive copy. More