antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
112.[EXQUEMELIN,
Alexandre Olivier]
Bucaniers of America: or, a true
Account of the Most remarkable
Assaults Committed of Late Years
upon the Coasts if the West-Indies,
By the Bucaniers of Jamaica and
Tortuga, Both English and French.
Wherein are contained more
especially, The Unparall’d Exploits
of Sir Henry Morgan, our English
Jamaican Hero who sack’d Puerto
Velo, burnt Panama &c. Written
originally in Dutch, by John
Esquemeling, one of the Bucaniers,
who was present at those Tragedies;
and thence translated into Spanish,
by Alonso de Bonnemaison, Doctor
of Physick, and Practitioner at
Amsterdam. Now faithfully rendered
into English.
London: for William Crooke, 1684 [37638] £6000
4to (240 × 185 mm), in three parts. 4 engraved portraits,
4 engraved plates, 2 of them folding, one folding map, one
engraved and 2 woodcut illustrations in the text. Light
browning throughout, short split to the first blank, one other
marginal split, no loss of text, leaf a slightly cropped into the
running head, D3 creased, paper fault?, bit no loss of text, a
small snuff hole to Rr with minimal loss of text, but overall a
very good copy in contemporary mottled calf, rebacked and
recornered.
FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. The primary contemporary
source in English for the history of the English and French
buccaneers, or more politely “privateers”, who harassed
and attacked the Spanish colonies chiefly in the Caribbean
during the seventeenth century. Sabin says of Exquemelin:
“Perhaps no book in any language was … the source for
so many fictions as this”. The author himself was a Dutch
pirate who took part in some of the events he described.
He tells of the pirate bases on Santa Domingo and Tortuga
Island; relates the exploits of some of the noted pirate
captains, especially Francois L’Olonoise, the ferocious
“cannibal” who tore the hearts from his living victims, and
Sir Henry Morgan, giving an account of his remarkable
sack of the city of Panama in January 1671. When he was
made Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, Morgan became
somewhat “fastidious about his own reputation” (ODNB)
and sued the English publisher Crooke for publishing these
libels. The case was settled by mutual consent, Morgan
receiving an indemnity of £200 and an undertaking that
all slights would be removed from subsequent editions.
Crooke’s corrected edition appeared the year following,
together with Ringrose’s continuation. The work is one
of the most intriguing of early English Americana and
has served as the basis for countless novels, stories and
dramas, as well as establishing the popular legends of
many famous pirates.
Church 689; Sabin 23479; Wing E3894; European Americana 684/54.
113.[EXQUEMELIN,
Alexandre Olivier]
Histoire des Avanturiers, qui se sont
signalez dans les Indes, contenant ce
qu’ils ont fait de plus remarquable
depuis vingt annees.
Paris, Jacques Le Febure, 1688 [39058] £3000
2 volumes, small 8vo. (157 × 97 mm) bound in one.
Contemporary mottled sheep trade binding, raised bands to
the spine, double fillet panel containing floral device gilt to the
compartments. Engraved general title, 3 folding maps, and 4
illustrations to the text, 3 of them full-page. Light browning
throughout, occasional marginal stains, mild damp-staining
to the last few leaves, worming to the upper portion of one of
the maps, costing three letters, professionally repaired with
letters provided in MS facsimile, externally a little rubbed,
lacks the spine label, head- and tail-cap chipped, but remains
a very good copy.
Second French Edition. Sabin describes the first French
edition, published two years previously to this, as “of
extreme rarity”. Translated by Frontignières, who utilized
the Spanish edition of 1681 but made substantial revisions
and additions, possibly in consultation with Exquemelin’s
manuscript.
Sabin 23476; NMM Cat. IV, 177; Hill 577–9.
Exquemelin’s
Bucaniers of
America in French
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 3: The Americas, Greenland and the Arctic