Bucaniers of America: Or, a True account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of late Years upon the Coasts of The West-Indies, By the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga, Both English and French

A Description of The South Sea & Coasts of America. Tomado de John Exquemelin, The History of the Bucaniers of America, or, A True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed (of late years) upon the Coasts of the West Indies by the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga, English, Dutch, Portuguese &c, Londres, Printed for William Crooke at the Sign of the Green Dragon without Temple-bar, 1685, s.p.Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier and Basil RingroseBucaniers of America: Or, a True account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of late Years upon the Coasts of The West-Indies, By the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga, Both English and French. Wherein are contained more especially, The unparallel‘d Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan. . . The Second Edition, Corrected, and Inlarged with two Additional Relations, viz. the one of Captain Cook, and the other of Captain Sharp. Now faithfully rendred into English BOUND WITH Bucaniers of America. The Second Volume. Containing The Dangerous Voyage and Bold Attempts of Captain Bartholomew Sharp, and others; performed upon the Coasts of the South Sea, for the space of two years, &c. From the Original Journal of the said Voyage. . .FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROCKWELL KENT [Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier.] Bucaniers of America: Or, a True account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of late Years upon the Coasts of The West-Indies, By the Bucaniers of Jamaica and Tortuga, Both English and French. Wherein are contained more especially, The unparallel‘d Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, our English Jamaican Hero, who sack‘d Puerto Velo, burnt Panama, &c. Written originally in Dutch, by John Esquemeling, one of the Bucaniers, who was present at those Tragedies, and Translated into Spanish by Alonso de Bonne-maison, M.D. &c. The Second Edition, Corrected, and Inlarged with two Additional Relations, viz. the one of Captain Cook, and the other of Captain Sharp. Now faithfully rendred into English. London: William Crooke, 1684. Second edition in English. BOUND WITHRingrose, Basil. Bucaniers of America. The Second Volume. Containing The Dangerous Voyage and Bold Attempts of Captain Bartholomew Sharp, and others; performed upon the Coasts of the South Sea, for the space of two years, &c. From the Original Journal of the said Voyage. Written by Mr. Basil Ringrose, Gent. Who was all along present at those Transactions. London: William Crooke, 1685. First edition.Quarto (8 7/16” x 6 ¼”, 214mm x 159mm).Exquemelin: binder’s blank, A2 a4 B-H4, Aa-Kk4, Aaa-Mmm4, binder‘s blank [$2 signed; –A1]. 122 leaves, pp. [12] (title, blank, 2pp. advertisement, 7pp. translator to the reader, blank); 1-49, 242-43, 52-53, 246-47, blank; 31-80; 41-84; [12] (12pp. table). [=xii, 56, 80, 84, xii] With 9 engraved plates, of which 3 are folding; and 1 engraved head-piece and two wood-cuts in-line with the text.Ringrose: B-Hh4 [$2 signed; H2, K1]. 120 leaves, pp. 1-139, 144, 141-143, 2140-212, [24] (17pp. table, 7pp. catalogue). [=216, xxiv] With 16 engraved plates, of which 14 are integral to the text, and 2 folding. Lacking the front-matter (A4-a4: title, blank, 13pp. to the reader, errata).Bound (re-backed) in later diced calf, with two sets of gilt fillets to the boards, with gilt corner-ornaments and scroll-work. On the spine, 6 panels. Title gilt to red sheep in the second panel. Author (“Esquemeling”) gilt to brown sheep in the fourth panel. Date (“1684”) gilt to the tail. Gilt inside dentelles. Grey end-papers. All edges of the text-block gilt.Re-backed., with the corners rebuilt and bumped. Worn at the extremities, with a loss and tear to the calf of the upper edge of the back board. Lacking the front matter (8 leaves) of the Ringrose. Damp-stain to the upper spine-corner of the text-block, mostly mild but becoming moderate toward the end of the volume. Crudely-repaired stub-tear to the folding map of the Americas. Mild even tanning throughout, with the odd spot of foxing and soiling. Bookplate of Frances and Rockwell Kent atop another bookplate, as well as that of Sally and Rockwell Kent, to the front paste-down.

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (ca. 1645–1707), called John Esquemeling in the title, published his account of privateering — that is, acting as a government-sanctioned private sailor, used to attack, harass and raid enemies of that government — in 1678 as De Americaensche Zee-roovers (“The American sea-robbers). It was translated into Spanish in 1681, which in turn was the basis of the English edition, first published in 1684.The popular imagination, of course, has a different term for Exquemelin and his Caribbean brethren: pirates. Exquemelin’s tale of swashbuckling — swaggering with a small shield (from French “bouclier”) — ignited the public imagination about the New World perhaps more than any other work besides The Tempest. In a period in which the Spanish and Dutch were near constant enemies of the British, Bucaniers is a curious success.The account of Sir Henry Morgan, whose portrait is the frontispiece of part I, brought libel claims for its sensational claims of rape, torture and other malfeasance. Accusations of inaccuracy, as ever, served only to excite public interest in the work. The first edition sold well enough to spark a second in the same year. The year following a “fourth part” — a separate work by Basil Ringrose — was published, and is generally included with the second edition, as here. Ringrose’s account carries into the Pacific, describing sorties made under Captain Bartholomew Sharpe.Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) was one of America’s great artists. Although deeply tied to the Transcendentalism of New England, his own style was modern. He became renowned as a book illustrator — most famously of Melville’s Moby-Dick — as well as the preeminent designer of bookplates in the first quarter of the XXc. Kent was also an avid sailor and explorer in his own right; his adventures in Alaska, the Straits of Magellan, Greenland and elsewhere were published throughout his life. It is fitting, therefore, that this foundational text of adventures on the High Seas should be in his library. The two bookplates (designed, naturally, by Kent) date from two of his marriages: first to Frances (née Lee) 1926–1940 and then to Sally (born Shirley Johnston) 1941-1971.ESTC R20706 and R20999; Hill 579; Sabin 23479 & 23481. [https://www.araderbooks.com/pages]