Complete and unabridged, with 12 full-page plates by Winslow Homer, Thomas Fearnley and Samuel Williamson. A future naval war fought with the technology of the moment, written by the man the Admiralty listened to on such questions. Clowes was a professional naval historian and wrote his fiction as an argument about ship design; the tale of tomorrow was a recognized way to make the case in public. This edition is bound with a gallery of 12 plates of marine painting, among them works by Ivan Aivazovsky, J. M. W. Turner and Clarkson Frederick Stanfield, together with 48 restored and coloured illustrations.