Observations on the Order Draconia in Europe by Sir Edward Howe

Lord Howe’s Action or the Glorious First of June by Philip James de Loutherbourg: thanks to Wikipedia 

Title: Observations on the Order Draconia in Europe, with notes on the Oriental Breeds

Author: Sir Edward Howe FRS

Publisher: John Murray, London 1796

Source book: Temeraire by Naomi Novik Temeraire #1

What a lot of books there seem to be about dragons, what a lot of books about dragons feature fictional books, and what a lot of fictional books feature dragons. Far more than I ever expected. And here’s another, in the first Temeraire book: Bedke’s Bestiary. Which lists numerous breeds of dragons, and states with authority that when the shell has fully hardened, a dragon’s egg will hatch within the week. 

Temeraire starts out just as if it was a traditional naval adventure. Like the books about Hornblower, Bolitho, Ramage, Aubrey or even Kydd. But [unnecessary spoiler alert] it’s about dragons too. Which means it’s just a little bit different.

Royal Navy Captain Will Laurence accidentally becomes the aviator assigned to, or rather, chosen by a Chinese Celestial dragon he names Temeraire. The dragon is born able to speak English and enjoys having books read to him. For example; The Naval Trident by Duncan. This seems to be The British Trident: Or Naval Actions (1804) by Archibald Duncan (available from Amazon as I write) in disguise. The Naval Trident presumably includes battles and other engagements at sea featuring dragons, and includes a description of the Glorious First of June (see the painting above but include dragons to taste). Will also borrows a version of the Journal of the Compte de la Perouse which includes an account of his meeting with a dragon in Korea. Temeraire is interested in mathematics and asks to have Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton read to him.

Temeraire even receives a present from the noted dragon expert Sir Edward Howe. It is a new book of dragon stories from the Orient, translated by Sir Edward himself. Sadly we are not given a title for this book ( how many times have I had to type that?), but there is of course Observations on the Order Draconia in Europe; there are extracts from it in the Appendix.

I must say that, slightly to my surprise, I rather enjoyed this book which has a little bit of something to distinguish it from most other dragon books. It’s nice the way IRL books have been subtly appropriated to add verisimilitude…. although obviously we don’t really believe in dragons. There are lots of sequels to Temeraire which I have not had yet the opportunity to read.

Thanks to History Today