Footnotes

"PIRATICA AMERICA" - EXTREMELY RARE FIRST EDITION. We have traced no complete copy at auction in the last 130 years.

Written by Alexandre Olivier Esquemelin (c.1645-1707, also spelled Exquemelin, Esquemeling, Exquemeling, or Oexmelin) the Americaensche Zee-Roovers is a swashbuckling account of pirate exploits in the Caribbean. Known in English as the Buccaneers of America, the book has twelve engravings that bring the fearsome pirate captains to life, and unflinching descriptions of the violence and plunder that both horrified and fascinated readers.

Among the colourful characters populating Esquemelin's eye-witness account, none looms larger than the infamous privateer Henry Morgan (1635-1688). As Morgan's confidant and barber-surgeon, Esquemelin had a front-row seat to some of the most audacious raids in pirate history, including the sack of Maracaibo in 1669 and the daring assault on Panama in 1671 (both depicted in the plates). Esquemelin paints a complex portrait of Morgan – as a brilliant tactician and fearless leader, but also a man capable of great cruelty. Following the publication of the English translation in 1684, which accused Morgan of torture and the use of nuns and monks as a human shield, Morgan took steps to discredit the book and successfully brought a libel suit against the book's English publishers William Crooke and Thomas Malthus.

"Perhaps no book in any other language was ever the parent of so many imitations" (cf. Sabin) and it became the cornerstone of pirate literature for centuries to come, Esquemelin's vivid prose and intimate knowledge of buccaneer life captivating readers across Europe. First published in this edition in 1678, it was then translated into German (1679), Spanish (1681), English (1684) and French (1686). The German translation is a faithful translation of the original Dutch while the Spanish translation adds new material quite freely and without acknowledgment, and frequently mistranslates the Dutch. The English translation appears to be a translation of the Spanish edition, including most of its deviations from the Dutch original. Finally, the French translation of 1686 is substantially a new work with many additions, including new pirate biographies (Daniel Montbars and Alexandre Bras-de-Fer) and the complete rearrangement of some sections.

First editions such as this are of "extreme rarity" (Sabin) and we have traced no other complete copies at auction since 1894 (Bangs, 25 April 1894, lot 301), with an earlier record in 1884 (Leavitt & Co., 3 March 1884, 909a). Only six copies have been traced in institutions (cf. USTC 1814458).

Plates and maps comprise: Bartholomeus de Portugees (Bartholomew the Portuguese), p.40; Rock, de Brasiliaen Genaemt (Rock Brasiliano), p.42; François Lolonois, p.46; The Cruelty of Lolonois, p.60; Johan Morgan (Henry Morgan), p.74; Morgan Attacks Puerto del Principe, Cuba, p.82; Morgan Attacking the Forts at Chagre, Panama, p.88; Afbeeldingh van de Stadt en t'Landtschap van Marcaibo (A Map of the City and Country of Maracaibo), double-page map, p.94; Captain Morgan Torturing Prisoners After the Battle of Maracaibo, p.98; Morgan Destroys the Spanish Fleet at Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, double-page view, p.102; Afbeeldingh van de Stadt en t'Landtschap van Panama (A Map of the City and Country of Panama), double-page map, p.130; Reskontre van de Spanijaerden tegens de Roovers voor de Stadt Panama, Nevens het Verbranden en Ruijneren van de selve Stadt (The Battle Between the Spaniards and the Pirates for the City of Panama, and the Burning and Ruining of the Same City), double-page view, p.134.

Provenance: Charles George Milnes Gaskell (1842-1919, MP for Morley), bookplate. Gaskell was an English lawyer and Liberal Party politician and also a serious book collector. Other books in his collection included a first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in its original boards (later in the library of Jerome Kern) and a first issue of Robinson Crusoe.