I actually got the book in question in the English translation from the Library of Congress back in the late 1970's. The Merchantile Library, a private subscription library in Saint Louis MO that dates back to the 1830's (Lola Montez was feted at a dinner there in the 1840's), would go to great lengths for me to do such things. However, the loan was limited to two weeks (including the six days of transit time), and they would not renew it for a second term.
The book was published (in English translation as The Trafalgar Campaign, originally written in French by a French colonel named Desoubres) in 1933, and you would think that second hand copies could be found out there somewhere. The publisher was Oxford University Press, not exactly a vanity press operation, and the print run was well up in the thousands.
However, in all of those years of looking, I have found precisely one crippled copy (no cover boards, badly damaged carcass of one of the two volumes) of the work, and that at an exorbitant price of something like $600.00. At those prices, a first edition of the 100 year old plus French version of the same book (in one volume) for $45.00 seems like a bargain.
(The book is full of tabular data on stuff like ship victualing, manning levels, and has wonderful charts with noon positions for both French/Spanish squadrons and their Royal Navy equivalents. It also covers the whole naval situation at the time (including Allemand's "phantom squadron"), not just Nelson's activities. (Most English histories tend to be (ahem) "Nelson centric" to the point of treating everyone else (even other Royal Navy admirals) like Cylon warriors from Battlestar Galactica - anonymous spear carriers only there to make Nelson look good.) It's a rare and very comprehensive look at Napoleonic era naval warfare from the point of view of someone other than the British or Americans.)
Desoubres' other book of note, this on the various attempts made by the French to attempt a cross channel invasion, is even more dear than the English translation noted above. The only copy of it (in French, again) listed out at £1,800, which translates out to about $3,600 in real money. I don't think that I'll be picking that one up anytime soon.
I look forward to the day when you can buy any book ever published on demand. I don't mind spending the money - I just want the books that I want.
The book was published (in English translation as The Trafalgar Campaign, originally written in French by a French colonel named Desoubres) in 1933, and you would think that second hand copies could be found out there somewhere. The publisher was Oxford University Press, not exactly a vanity press operation, and the print run was well up in the thousands.
However, in all of those years of looking, I have found precisely one crippled copy (no cover boards, badly damaged carcass of one of the two volumes) of the work, and that at an exorbitant price of something like $600.00. At those prices, a first edition of the 100 year old plus French version of the same book (in one volume) for $45.00 seems like a bargain.
(The book is full of tabular data on stuff like ship victualing, manning levels, and has wonderful charts with noon positions for both French/Spanish squadrons and their Royal Navy equivalents. It also covers the whole naval situation at the time (including Allemand's "phantom squadron"), not just Nelson's activities. (Most English histories tend to be (ahem) "Nelson centric" to the point of treating everyone else (even other Royal Navy admirals) like Cylon warriors from Battlestar Galactica - anonymous spear carriers only there to make Nelson look good.) It's a rare and very comprehensive look at Napoleonic era naval warfare from the point of view of someone other than the British or Americans.)
Desoubres' other book of note, this on the various attempts made by the French to attempt a cross channel invasion, is even more dear than the English translation noted above. The only copy of it (in French, again) listed out at £1,800, which translates out to about $3,600 in real money. I don't think that I'll be picking that one up anytime soon.
I look forward to the day when you can buy any book ever published on demand. I don't mind spending the money - I just want the books that I want.
Last edited:
