Editing Master and Commander (section)

{{short description|1969 novel by Patrick O'Brian}}
{{about|the novel|the film|Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World{{!}}''Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World''}}
{{use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name           = Master and Commander
| image          = Master & Commander cover.jpg
| caption        = First US edition (Lippincott, 1969)
| author         = [[Patrick O'Brian]]
| language       = English
| series         = [[Aubrey–Maturin series]]
| genre          = Historical novel, [[sea novel]]
| set_in         = 18 April 1800 – mid 1801{{sfn|Brown|2006|p=10}}
| publisher      = [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.|Lippincott]] (US),<ref name="LOCcat">{{Cite web |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/77085111 |title=Master and commander |website=Library of Congress Catalog |year=1969 |access-date=15 January 2018}}</ref> [[William Collins, Sons|Collins]] (UK)<ref name="BLcat">{{Cite web |url=http://primocat.bl.uk/F?func=direct&local_base=ITEMV&doc_number=010320844&con_lng=eng |title=British Library Item details |website=primocat.bl.uk | publisher = British Library |access-date=13 January 2018}}</ref>
| release_date   = 1969 (US),<ref name="LOCcat"/> 1970 (UK)<ref name="BLcat"/>
| media_type     = Print
| pages          = 384 (US),<ref name="LOCcat"/> 350 (UK)<ref name="BLcat"/>
| isbn           = 0-00-221526-8
| isbn_note      = First edition, Collins
| oclc           = 31728441
| preceded_by    =
| followed_by    = [[Post Captain (novel)|Post Captain]]
}}

'''''Master and Commander''''' is a [[nautical fiction|nautical]] [[historical novel]] by the English author [[Patrick O'Brian]], first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in the UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel [[Aubrey–Maturin series]], set largely in the era of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], on which O'Brian continued working until his death in 2000.

The novel is set at the turn of the 19th century. It focuses on two characters: the young Jack Aubrey, a [[Royal Navy]] lieutenant who has just been promoted to the rank of [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Master and Commander]], effectively a captain, and Stephen Maturin, a destitute physician and naturalist whom Aubrey appoints as his [[Ship's doctor|naval surgeon]]. They sail in HM [[sloop-of-war]] ''Sophie'' with [[first lieutenant]] James Dillon, a wealthy and aristocratic Irishman. The naval action in the Mediterranean is closely based on the real-life exploits of [[Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald|Lord Cochrane]], including a battle modelled after [[Action of 6 May 1801|Cochrane's spectacular victory]] in the brig [[HMS Speedy (1782)|HMS ''Speedy'']] over the vastly superior Spanish frigate ''[[Spanish frigate El Gamo|El Gamo]]''.

''Master and Commander'' met with mixed reviews on its first publication. Although UK sales were respectable enough for O'Brian to continue with the series, it was not initially a success in the US. In Britain and Ireland, however, voices of praise gradually became dominant. The novel has been lauded for having "a brilliant sense of period,"{{sfn|King|2000|p=213}} and for O'Brian's "easy command of the philosophical, political, sensual and social temper of the times [that] flavors a rich entertainment,"<ref name=Levin1969 /> putting the reader into the times in every aspect, from exceptional detail on the practices of the Royal Navy on sailing ships to the states of science, medicine, and society during the Napoleonic era.

In 1990, the US publisher [[W. W. Norton & Company]] re-issued the book and its sequels, which was an almost immediate success and drew O'Brian a new and large readership. O'Brian's biographer has placed the novel at the start of what he called the author's [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]], a series that has become perhaps the best-loved ''[[Novel sequence|book series]]'' of the 20th century.