The History of the Pirates, Containing the Lives of Those Noted Pirate Captains, Misson, Bowen, Kidd, Tew, Halsey, White, Condent, Bellamy, Fly, Howard, Lewis, Cornelius, Williams, Burgess, North, and Their Several Crews. Also, an Account of the Piracies…

276 pp. 12mo. Black morocco spine with gilt titles & rules over marbled boards. Originally published in London in 1724, and first published in the United States in 1814. A pseudonymous work attributed to Daniel Defoe based on scholarly comparison to his other writings. This edition removes the description of Magadoxa in Ethiopia, and adds a section treating piracy in the West Indies from 24 January 1821 to 16 May 1825, as well as an engraved frontispiece depicting pirates commandeering a ship (oddly, one is armed with a hammer, the other with an axe). Sabin 32197, Howes C-144. Neither Sabin nor Howes attribute this publication to 'Capt. Charles Johnson' as is stated in the 1814 edition - Howes actually credits the publisher as the compiler and cautiously references "[a]n earlier edition [which] may have appeared at Norwich 1814. We have compared the text of the 1814 and 1825 editions and find the volumes to be identical with the exception of the changes mentioned above. The type was reset and new plates were made, which makes the arrangement and pagination slightly different."