< Back

The book that shaped our archetype of buccaneers

EXQUEMELIN, Alexandre Olivier [together with RAVENEAU DE LUSSAN (vol. 3) and Captain Charles JOHNSON (Ps. of Daniel DEFOE?; vol. 4].
Histoire des aventuriers flibustiers qui sont signalés dans les Indes, contenant ce qu'ils y ont fait de remarquable, avec la vie, les moeurs & les coutumes des boucaniers, & des habitants de St. Domingue & de la Tortue; une description exacte de ces lieux, & un état des offices, tant eccésiastiques que séculiers, & ce que les grands princes de l'Europe y possedent. Nouvelle édition, corrigée & augmentée de l'Histoire des pirates Anglois ...
Vol. 3: Sieur RAVENEAU de LUSSAN, Le journal du voyage fait à la Mer du Sud.
Vol. 4: Capitaine Charles JOHNSON, Histoire des pirates Anglois depuis leur etablissement dans l'Isle de la Providence jusqu'à present. Contenant toutes leurs aventures, pirateries, meurtres, cruautés, excès, &c. Avec la vie et les aventures de deux femmes pirates, Marie Read et Anne Bonny, et un extrait des loix & des ordonnances concernant la piraterie.


With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols.

With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols.

With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols.

With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols.

With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols.



Trevoux (near Lyon), 'Par la Compagnie', 1775. 4 volumes. 12mo. Contemporary marbled calf, spines gilt in compartments with red and green title labels lettered in gold, marbled endpapers and edges. With 3 folding plates of buccaneers, a Spanish ship and the hunt on turtles; and 4 folding maps of the surroundings of Maracaibo and Lake Marecaye (1686), Vera Cruz with the island St Jean de Lutz, Panama (Listhme de Panama, 1686), and Gartagene in the Spanish West Indies (Colombia), all illustrating the first two vols. (12), 394, (2); (2), 428; 348; (2), 60, 356, (2) pp.

Eighteenth-century edition of the original French much enlarged text of one of the most famous books of the period, Exquemelin's account of the adventures, life, morals, looting, plundering, and taking prisoners for ransom or slavery of the pirates roaming the seas in the later part of the seventeenth century, together with a full description of the Caribbean where they mainly operated.
Our prevailing image of the pirate is based on the buccaneer, or filibuster, active in the West Indies in the later 17th century. The story of Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin is the earliest first-hand account on these pirates,  written by just such a one of these reluctant desperadoes, from which all others seem to spring.

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (1646-1717), called Oexmelin by the French, was long considered to be a Dutchman, as the first edition of his seminal and now extremely rare book De Americaensche Zee-Roovers (The Buccaneers of America) published in Amsterdam 1678 was in Dutch. But Exquemelin was born in 1646, at the Northern French port of Honfleur, descending from Huguenot apothecaries. He started his eventful life as a chemist before spending several years with the pirates as a ship's surgeon. He took part in their daring exploits, like the expeditions of the notorious English buccaneer Henry Morgan, one of the most famous names in the annals of piracy (called John in the book), including his raid on Maracaibo in 1669, or a year later his attack on Panama. By 1674 Exquemelin had joined the Dutch Navy, serving with De Ruyter's fleet in the wars against the French. Following the Admiral's death in 1667 he returned to Amsterdam, where at last he stayed long enough to be granted citizenship and to gain his qualification as a ship surgeon in October 1679. Meanwhile he also offered his manuscript containing the description of his previous life to the publisher's Ten Hoorn, who translated it, adapted it to Dutch standards and printed it in 1678. The book became immediately so popular that editions were published everywhere. Hardly any book in any language became the parent of so many imitations and the source of so many legends, being still is popular today. Jan ten Hoorn also had published the works of Hendrik Smeeks (probably one of the sources of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe). Both publications were heavily edited by ten Hoorn, explaining the similarities of style, so that once is was believed that Exquemelin was a pseudonym of Smeets.
The book quickly took on a life of its own, with numerous editions appearing throughout Europe in the following years, many of them fittingly 'pirated', including the Second Edition of 1679, in German, published in Nuremburg under the title Die Americanischen See-Raüber. A Spanish Edition followed in 1681, titled Piratas de la America; this too was probably published in Amsterdam and not Germany as the title-page claims. The first English edition, aptly published by one William Crook, appeared in 1684 under the title Bucaniers of America: Or, a True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of late Years upon the Coasts of The West-Indies…. with a heavy emphasis on the 'unparallel'd Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, the English Jamaican Hero'. The book was a runaway bestseller and the second edition came out within three months.
Exquemelin set sail in 1681 aboard the 'San Jeroboam' bound for Jamaica. He set up as a surgeon on San Domingo in the Spanish West Indies. This proved uncongenial, and when in 1683 the Spanish tried to capture the slaver 'Martha en Maria' of Ostend, commanded by the notorious buccaneer Van Hoorn, Exquemelin once more took to sea as the surgeon of a flotilla of pirates, including Laurens de Graaf and the French filibuster Grammont. Making contact with the French Vice-Admiral Jean d'Estrès, he was granted the post of surgeon in the flagship; and returned to Brest with the Squadron after eighteen years' wanderings in 1684.
It seems the author had throughout all these vicissitudes kept his original manuscript that was published by the Paris printing house of Jacques le Febvre in a first French edition in 1686, titled Histoire des Avonturiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes. It is marginally less rare than the Dutch one, and being produced in two volumes it contains much additional material, especially botanical descriptions.
Managing to return to France in 1687 to find his book a roaring success, he brought out a second edition, but our next sighting reveals him taking part in a French attack on Cartageña in Columbia in 1697.
Accepted in his native land at last, Exquemelin spent his final years recording all his experiences since 1678, and these became the third French edition of his book, published in 1699 as Histoire des Avanturiers Flibustiers.

His book remained a bestseller in France, growing to four volumes over new editions in the years 1744, 1774 and 1775 (our copy). These editions contain material not by Exquemelin, including:
- (Vol. 3) Raveneau de Lussan's tales of his Pacific buccaneers, in which the Scot Alexander Selkirk who is generally regarded as the model for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and
- (Vol. 4) The elusive Captain Johnson's book published in 1728 and 1728 combined historic fact with romanticised fiction, such luminaries of pirate folklore as Captains Avery, Kidd and Tew, Black Sam Bellamy, and the female filibusters Mary Read and Anne Bonny, rubbing shoulders with imaginary villains like Mission and Cornelius. Once more the work captured the imagination of a new public, and spawned offspring that have themselves become classics. Foremost among these is the American illustrator Howard Pyle's The Buccaneers and Marooners of America.

Good copy.- (Corners of bindings sl. bumped, top of spine vol. 1 damaged, some worm holes).
Sabin 23478; Church 658 (first Dutch ed. of 1678), and 689 (Engl. ed. of 1684 and 1685); Hill 99-100 (English ed. of 1684 and 1685); Bibl. Diez 1044; the modern edition (Paris 2005) with extensive introduction, notes and index by Réal Quellet & Patrick Villiers.

Related Subjects: 18th Century  America [Caribbean Islands]  French  Piracy  Travel & Voyages 

Add to Shopping cart
€ 3.500,00

Prices in EUROS (€), shipping and BTW/VAT extra.

< Back

Terms of sale

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included. 

Free shipping for orders over € 2,500.  EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.

Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale

E-mail this to a friend







This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots. (see: www.captcha.net)

Type the characters that you see in the box (5 characters). The code can include characters 0..9 and A..F.*

  


Antiquariaat FORUM B.V.
Tuurdijk 16
3997 MS t Goy-Houten,
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31) (0)30 601 1955
Fax: (+31) (0)30 601 1813
E-mail: info@forumrarebooks.com
Web: http://www.forumrarebooks.com