Marshall Rare Books
A General History of the Pyrates, from their first rise and Settlement in the Island of Providence, to the Present Time. With the remarkable Actions and Adventures of the two Female Pyrates Mary Read and Anne Bonny. ...
THE VERY RARE FIRST EDITION of a work that did much to popularise the mythology of pirates sailing under the Jolly Roger—eye patches, wooden legs and buried treasure.
FIRST EDITION, 3 engraved plates including the famed portrait of Blackbeard and one of the dreaded female pirates, contemporary panelled calf, rebacked, 8vo (190 x 120 mm), London: Ch. Rivington, 1724.
While the second edition is obtainable, the first edition is impossible, with only one other copy appearing at auction.
A General History introduced many features which later became common in pirate literature, such as pirates with missing legs or eyes, the notion of pirates burying treasure, and the name of the pirate flag the Jolly Roger. The author specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag Jolly Roger (named after the first Pirate and his crew): Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts in June 1721 and English pirate Francis Spriggs in December 1723.
The book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, such as the infamous English pirates Blackbeard and Calico Jack and has influenced the pirate literature of Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie.
“This rare work embodies many items relating to the Colonial History of British America, nowhere else extant” (Sabin).
Sabin 36287