"THE CLASSIC OF BUCCANEERING BOOKS": EXQUEMELIN’S ILLUSTRATED BUCANIERS OF AMERICA, 1699

EXQUEMELIN, Alexandre Olivier (a.k.a. ESQUEMELING, John). The History of the Bucaniers of America. BOUND WITH: DE LUSSAN, Raveneau. A Journal of a Voyage Made into the South Sea, by the Bucaniers or Freebooters of America. London: Tho. Newborough, et al., 1699; 1698. Two volumes bound in one. Thick octavo, contemporary full paneled calf sympathetically rebacked, raised bands, original red morocco spine label and endpapers preserved.

Early edition in English of this classic account of the buccaneers, complete with Basil Ringrose's continuation, illustrated with 25 engraved portraits, illustrations and maps (15 folding). Bound with a first edition in English of De Lussan's account of pirates in the South Sea.

"Perhaps no book in any language was ever the parent of so many imitations, and the source of so many fictions as this" (Sabin). "It has well been called the classic of buccaneering books" (Cox). Here are the exploits of Henry Morgan, who sacked Panama and absconded without dividing the booty—a transgression of the pirate's honor that Exquemelin could not applaud; here also the vicious Francis L'Ollonois, who tore out the hearts from his still-living victims and ate them. Countless tortures and robberies, raids and rampages, are here related by one of the most reliable witnesses: Alexandre Exquemelin, himself a pirate. Exquemelin had been sold into slavery in the West Indian plantations, beaten, tortured and nearly starved to death, and "so I determined, not knowing how to get any living, to enter into the order of the pirates or robbers of the sea." His career lasted from 1666 until he saw the error of his ways and withdrew from the profession. "Exquemelin's book gives a very reliable account of the principal exploits of the buccaneers down to their final disappearance, with the notable exception of their 1672 adventures in the South Sea, of which he makes no mention" (Introduction, 1898 reprint). Exquemelin's account originally appeared in Dutch in 1678, translated into Spanish in 1681, and rendered into English from the Spanish for the first time in 1684; Ringrose's continuation first appeared in 1685. Raveneau de Lussan's Journal du Voyage first appeared in French in 1690. Sabin 23483; 67986. Early owner ink signature to title page. Bookseller's small label on rear pastedown.

Light foxing to a few interior pages; a few folding plates with light edge-wear or creasing. Light expert restoration to extremities of contemporary calf boards. A very good, complete copy.