Histoire des aventuriers flibustiers qui se sont signaleés dans les Indes; contenant ce qu’ils y ont fait de remarquable, avec la vie, les moeurs & les coutumes des Boucaniers, & des habitans de St. Domingue & de la Tortue; une description exacte de ces lieux, & un état des offices, tant ecclésiastiques que séculiers, & ce que les grands princes d l’Europe y possedent. Le tout enrichi de cartes géographyques & de figures en taille-douce. Par Alexandre-Olivier Oexmelin. Nouvelle edition, corrigée & augmentée de l’histoire des pirates Anglois, depuis leur établissement dans l’Isle de la Providence jusqu’à présent. by EXQUEMELIN, Alexandre-Olivier; RAVENEAU de LUSSAN; JOHNSON, Capt. Charles - 1775

A Trevoux: Par La Compagnie, 1775. Hardcover. 12mo. 4 volumes. Volume I. pp. [12], 394, [2]. Volume II. pp. [2], 428. Volume III. pp. 347, [1]. Volume IV. pp. [2], lx, 355, [3]. With an engraved frontispiece (vol. I) and 7 fold out illustrated plates (5 in the first volume and 2 in the second volume). Bound in 19th century quarter brown morocco with marbled boards. Areas of rubbing and minor restoration are present to the extremities. The Pages are generally fresh with occasional mild wear. Some leaves are unopened. Inner front hinge to volume I is neatly strengthened. Frontispiece contains outer marginal edge chipping due to a slight overhang. A marginal tear in volume I, p. 117 is professionally sealed. Volume 4 shows very mild soiling or damp-staining in the outer margins; the fore-edge of the text block displays signs of rubbing; miniscule edge chipping is present on the outer edges of some leaves with occasional minor repair. Volumes I & II contain Exquemelin’s famous first-hand account of Caribbean buccaneers. The author sailed with Captain William Morgan and became his confidant. Events such as the sacking of Panama City are described. The work was first published in Dutch (Amsterdam, 1678) and subsequently translated into various European languages. The French edition first appeared in Paris, 1686. Volume III consists of Raveneau de Lussan’s “Journal du voyage fait à la Mer du Sud” (first published in Paris, 1689). The author, a French buccaneer, took part in raids against Spanish settlements along the Pacific coast of South and Central America. Volume IV is a French translation of “A general history of the pyrates” (Histoire des pirates Anglois…) written by the pseudonymous Captain Charles Johnson [here spelled Jonhson]. This book helped establish the popular image of the pirate. The author, often writing about the contemporary and near-contemporary events of his age, includes information taken from trial accounts, newspaper reports, and possibly interviews with seamen and former pirates [See Cordingly, “Under the Black Flag” p. xix]. Included are biographies of famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, Thomas Tew, William Kidd and the female pirates Marie Read and Anne Bonny. The English edition was first published in London, 1724. The French edition appeared in Paris, 1726. [Sabin 23478; Palau V, p. 232].