A General History of the Pyrates
Cover of the 2nd edition | |
Author | Captain Charles Johnson (possibly a pen name) |
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Language | English |
Subject | Biographies |
Publisher | Ch. Rivington, J. Lacy, and J. Stone |
Publication date | 14 May 1724 |
Publication place | Kingdom of Great Britain |
Media type | |
Pages | 304 |
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, or simply A General History of the Pyrates, is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,[1] which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pen name for one of London's writer-publishers. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable artistic license in his accounts of pirate conversations.[2] The book also contains the name of Jolly Roger, the pirate flag, and shows the skull and crossbones design.
First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared.[1] It pandered to the British public's taste for the exotic; revelling in graphic stories on the high seas. English naval historian David Cordingly writes: "It has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates."[3] Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island) and J. M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan featuring Captain Hook) both identified Johnson's General History of the Pyrates as one of their major influences, and Stevenson even borrowed one character's name (Israel Hands) from a list of Blackbeard's crew which appeared in Johnson's book.[4][5]
Authorship
The author, who uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, has remained unknown in spite of numerous attempts by historians to discover his identity.[6]
In 1932, literary scholar John Robert Moore argued that Daniel Defoe was the true author of A General History.[6] Other sources, including a 2004 paper, suggest that the author could have been publisher Nathaniel Mist, or somebody working for Mist.[7][8] Author Colin Woodard, in The Republic of Pirates, considers attribution of Johnson's work to Defoe to be erroneous, and prefers the hypothesis that Johnson was Mist.[9]
Contents
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.[10] The book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, such as the infamous English pirates Blackbeard and Calico Jack. It provides the standard account of the lives of many people still famous in the 21st century, and has influenced pirate literature of Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie.[11]
The book was released in two volumes. The first mostly deals with early 18th-century pirates, while Volume II records the exploits of their predecessors a few decades earlier. In the first volume, the author sticks fairly close to the available sources, though he embellishes the stories somewhat.[12] He stretches the truth farther in the second volume and includes the biographies of three subjects who may be entirely fictional. The book has been hugely influential in shaping popular notions of piracy.
The pirates profiled in Volume I are:
- Anne Bonny
- Bartholomew ("Black Bart") Roberts
- Blackbeard
- Calico Jack Rackham
- Charles Vane
- Edward England
- Edward Lowe
- Francis Spriggs
- George Lowther
- Henry Every
- Howell Davis
- Israel Hands
- James Martel
- John Evans
- John Gow
- Jolly Roger
- Mary Read
- Richard Worley
- Philip Roche
- Stede Bonnet
- Thomas Anstis
Volume II features:
- Christopher Condent
- John Bowen
- John Halsey
- Nathaniel North
- Samuel Bellamy
- Samuel Burgess
- Thomas Howard
- Thomas Tew
- William Fly
- William Kidd
- David Williams
as well as biographies of the probably fictional captains James Misson, William Lewis, and John Cornelius.
Gallery
- Anne Bonny from a Dutch version of Charles Johnson's book of pirates
- Edward Teach aka Blackbeard, as engraved by Benjamin Cole in the 1724 edition
- Calico Jack Rackham in the 1725 edition
- Henry Every in the 1725 edition
- Howell Davis in the 1728 edition
- Stede Bonnet in the 1725 edition
Notes
- ^ a b A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious pirates. By Charles Johnson. Introduction and commentary by Emmett Remis. Conway Maritime Press, 2002.
- ^ Cordingly, Under the Black Flag, p. xix.
- ^ Johnson, Charles; Cordingly, David (2010). "Introduction". General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates (Lyons Press 2nd paperback ed.). London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. viii. ISBN 978-1599219059.
- ^ Jason Porterfield, Treasure Island and the Pirates of the 18th Century, Rosen, 2004, p. 12.
- ^ "Pirate chic". The Age. 6 December 2016.
- ^ a b John Robert Moore Defoe in the Pillory, and Other Studies. pp. 126–141. New York: Octagon Books, 1973.
- ^ Bialuschewski, Arne (March 2004). "Daniel Defoe, Nathaniel Mist, and the "General History of the Pyrates"". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 98 (1): 21–38. doi:10.1086/pbsa.98.1.24295828. JSTOR 24295828. S2CID 163321353.
- ^ Ossian, Rob. "Book Review:A General History of the Pyrates". The Pirate King. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
- ^ Woodard, Colin (2007). The Republic of Pirates. Harcourt, Inc. pp. 325–326. ISBN 978-0-15-101302-9.
- ^ Charles Johnson (1724), A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, pp. 250, 411-12
- ^ A general history of the robberies & murders of the most notorious pirates. Introduction, p. viii
- ^ Brooks, Baylus C. (2015). ""Born in Jamaica, of Very Creditable Parents" or "A Bristol Man Born"? Excavating the Real Edward Thache, "Blackbeard the Pirate"". The North Carolina Historical Review. 92 (3): 235–277. ISSN 0029-2494. JSTOR 44113270.
References
- David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1995.
- Charles Johnson (1724), A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, a copy on the website of East Carolina University Digital Collections
External links
- A General History of the Pyrates at Standard Ebooks
- Volume I
- A General History of the Pyrates (2nd edition) at the Internet Archive
- A General History of the Pyrates, 2nd edition at Project Gutenberg
- Volume II
- Volume II (4th edition)
- Transcription: The History of the Pyrates at Project Gutenberg
- The General History of the Pyrates public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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