Lieutenant Hornblower was published by Michael Joseph in 1952. Uniquely in the series, this novel is narrated in the third person from the perspective of William Bush — Hornblower’s loyal, unimaginative, brave friend — rather than from Hornblower’s own point of view. Bush observes Hornblower without understanding him: he sees the competence, the courage, the tactical brilliance, but cannot penetrate the self-doubt and loneliness that drive them.
The novel opens aboard HMS Renown in 1800, where Captain Sawyer — once brilliant, now paranoid and possibly insane — commands through terror. The officers face an impossible choice: mutiny (a hanging offense) or obedience to a madman who will get them killed. Hornblower navigates this crisis with characteristic indirection — he does not lead the mutiny but ensures it succeeds, maintaining plausible deniability throughout.
The narrative technique serves Forester’s deepest theme: Hornblower’s essential loneliness. Seen from outside by Bush (who admires him), Hornblower appears confident, decisive, brilliant. We know from the other novels that this appearance conceals agonized self-questioning. The gap between how others see us and how we see ourselves — Forester suggests — is unbridgeable.
Collecting Lieutenant Hornblower
First edition (Michael Joseph, London, 1952): Blue cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition with jacket, fine/fine: $150–$400
- Without jacket, very good: $40–$100
- US first (Little, Brown): $80–$200