<div>Captain Charles Johnson's celebrated A General History of the Pirates (1724) is the most famous book about pirates ever written. The mysterious Johnson followed up with the equally engrossing The Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen (1734) which, published here for the first time in two centuries, provides over 50 accounts of the most notorious British criminals of the 17th and 18th centuries. Johnson's volumes are significant as the forerunners of the real life criminal biography genre, and for their influence on such early novels as Defoe's Moll Flanders and Fielding's Jonathan Wild. Originally published in folio size complete with fine engravings, this new edition not only includes the very best of these original decorative features but also presents a series of related illustrations, playbills and portraits from the British Library collections.</div>

A General History of the Lives, Murders & Adventures of the Most Notorious Highwaymen

Biographies & Memoirs

Johnson, Captain Charles

Historical

British Library Publishing

<div>Buoyed by the runaway success of his bestselling A General History of the Pirates (1724), Captain Charles Johnson went on to publish a much-expanded edition of the work to include a further 80 accounts of some of the most extraordinary British criminals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries entitled A General History of the Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Pirates, Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, &c. (1734). He added further pirate biographies but expanded the cast to include a ferocious band of ruthless and vicious highwaymen, murderers, and wider criminals. Originally published in folio size complete with fine engravings, this new collection of rogues includes the very best of these original decorative plates but also presents a series of related illustrations, playbills, and portraits from the British Library collections.</div>

A General History of the Lives, Murders and Adventures of the Most Notorious Rogues

A thrilling collection of accounts including from all over Great Britain, featuring fantastically detailed contemporary images from the 1724 publication\nFirst published in 1724 following a marked increase in pirate attacks on the Spanish Main and the resultant Wapping executions, Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of Pirates is the most famous, and most influential, book about pirates ever written. Famed for its vigorous prose and uncanny understanding of the pirates’ way of life, Johnson’s volumes became the forerunners of the real-life criminal biography genre and inspired the likes of Defoe’s Moll Flanders and Fielding’s Jonathan Wild. Without them there would have been no Peter Pan, Treasure Island, or Captain Jack Sparrow. This new edition presents twenty action-packed biographies detailing the blood-thirsty escapades of Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, William Avery, and Bartholomew Roberts. The celebrated female pirates Mary Reed and Anne Bonny also owe their subsequent notoriety to Johnson’s book. Originally published in folio size complete with fine copper engravings, this new edition not only includes the very best of the original decorative features but also presents a series of related illustrations, adverts, playbills, and portraits from the British Library.

A General History of the Lives, Murders and Adventures of the Most Notorious Pirates

A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson was published in 1724. As the primary source of biographies of some of the most notorious pirates it influenced popular conceptions of the lifestyles. Missing legs or eyes, burying treasure and the name of the pirates flag the Jolly Roger was introduced in this touchstone of pirate lore as it has been incorporated into popular culture. A General History of the Pyrates has influencing literature and movies to this day.

A General History of the Pyrates

History

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

This excellent 1724 book was first published in Britain, containing biographies of many contemporary pirates. It is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates and has been influential in shaping popular conceptions of piracy. This excellent reference brings out the details of life as a sailor on dark, dangerous seas.  This book introduced many features which later became common in pirate literature, such as pirates with missing legs or eyes, the myth of pirates burying treasure, and the name of the pirates 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.  In giving an almost mythical status to the more colorful characters, such as the infamous English pirates Blackbeard and Calico Jack, the book provided the standard account of the lives of many people still famous in the 21st century, and influenced pirate literature of Robert Louis Stevenson and J.M.Barrie.  A General History of the Pirates Daniel Defoe Subjects: Piracy, Nautical Life, Seamanship, Sea Battles, Treasure, Wooden Ships Related books: Under the Black Flag, The Republic of Pirates, Treasure Island, Empire of Blue Water

A General History of the Pyrates: Pirate Captains, Crews, Ships, and Laws

Engineering & Transportation

DEFOE, DANIEL

Transportation

A General History of the Pyrates From their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present Time By Daniel Defoe and Captain Charles Johnson A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pseudonym 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 licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared. 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."

A General History of the Pyrates: Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (Famous Pirates)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pseudonym 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 licence in his accounts of pirate conversations. The book also contains the name of the pirate flag the Jolly Roger, and shows the skull and bones design.

A General History of the Pyrates: A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates

Pirates

Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Captain Misson, Mary Read, Anne Bonney, Captain Avery, Captain Tew, Captain Rackham... 
Pirates is a comprehensive history of the life and crimes of these and many other notorious 17th century pirates, detailing their philosophies and codes, voyages, battles, treasures, trials and bloody deaths. Here are the pioneers of liberty and autocracy whose charters from a blueprint for subsequent generations of thieves, gunslingers, assassins, revolutionaries, activists and hackers. 
The pirate counter-culture, which has fired endless imaginations from Hollywood scriptwriters to literary outlaw William S Burroughs, is savagely revived in this factual, yet mythopoeic evocation of terrorism and sudden death across the ocean frontier. 
First published in 1726, and over 600 pages in length, Pirates is a definitive document which not only illuminates a turbulent and formative period of world history, but is also vitally relevant today as a study of the roots of slavery, revolution and alternative governments.

World

Creation Books

READY FOR AN ADVENTURE?From the daring exploits of the dreaded pirate Roberts to the terrors of the black-hearted Blackbeard himself, the swash-buckling tales of pirates and piracy are here presented in a thrilling collection of the true stories of these desperate men. Captain Charles Johnson, a seaman who knew many of the pirates personally, brings to life the true history of the daring and deadly 'golden age' of Piracy.Joining Charles Johnson is the Puritan John Flavel, a man born and raised during the peak of Piracy. Burning with a desire to win sailors and seamen for Christ, Flavel wrote these men, begging them to see the sinfulness of their condition and turn to the Savior.

Pirates, Puritans, and the Perils of the High Seas

Flavel, Puritan John

Australia & Oceania

Psalm 78 Ministries

"This is a remarkable blend of fact and fiction depicting pirate lives in the Golden Age of Piracy." You will be engrossed and entertained by this historical treasure depicting bands of brothers sailing their wooden ships through sun and storm, their robberies on the high seas, forgotten islands, their lofty political ideals and their inexcusable appetite for murder and rape. These vivid stories of the scoundrel outlaws and their bloody deeds, they have captivated readers for centuries, and will keep doing so for centuries to come. Nowhere before or after has the waterways been so infested with crime, as to almost have its perpetrators form a republic of their own. In this latest edition from 2017 pirate scholar Johan Franzén, Master of Arts in Comparative Literature and General History from the Åbo Akademi University, sheds new light on this historical account. His research is here for the first time made available to the broad public, and it comes with valuable insights into the controversial attribution of authorship, and the problems arising when using this work as a source in historical research. This edition includes volume one and two plus the additions made to volume two

A General History of the Pirates: Volume I & II + research on authorship

Literature & Fiction

Atkins, John

Rogers, Woodes

Mist, Nathaniel

Genre Fiction

Independently published

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