Very rare 17th-century Dutch edition of the earliest published biography devoted entirely to a pirate, and one of the most vivid narratives of maritime freebooting to emerge from the Dutch Golden Age.
Claes Gerritszoon Compaen (1587-1660), began respectably as a merchant before turning privateer and ultimately pirate. Around 1620, he abandoned the constraints of licensed privateering, despite holding a commission from the States-General and the Prince of Orange, and embarked upon an independent career of sea-robbery. For three years, he hijacked ships in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and off the coasts of Africa, America, and the West-Indies, acquiring a formidable reputation. Contemporary chroniclers record that Spaniards, Portuguese, French and English alike feared his attacks. Officially branded a "Zee-Roover" and "Schelm", he nevertheless achieved legendary status and, remarkably, was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to Oostzaan, where he lived out his days as a local celebrity.
First published in 1659, the present work proved an immediate success and ran through numerous editions into the early 19th century (to 1803). All editions are now scarce, the 17th-century editions (1659, 1662, 1675, 1688) in particular. The text is set in gothic textura type, characteristic of popular Dutch prose works of the period, and most editions, including the present, are illustrated with woodcuts.
With a black oval library stamp of "Missie Huis Arnhem" in the bottom outer corner of the front wrapper, the number "9<<1621:1627>>" in the top margin of the front wrapper and the title page, an ownership stamp of "de Mul" on the inside of the front wrapper and on the title page, and a small bookplate of "Librairie ancienne et mod Nartinus[!] Nijhoff La Haye" mounted on the inside of the front wrapper. The paper wrapper is worn, the spine has previously been stengthened with black paper/tape, the whole is now covered with protective clear tape. Slight foxing and browning throughout, with a small tear in the outer margin of pp. 39-40 (not affecting the text). The present work is complete, but leavs in the final quire have been mis bound: p. 30 is followed by pp. 35-38, 31-34, 39-42. Buisman 116; Lunsford, Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age Netherlands (2005), pp. 161-163; STCN 097051624 (1 copy); USTC 1811907 (1 copy); WorldCat 951918594 (6 copies); cf. Cat. NHSM, p. 897 (1659 ed.); Muller, America 2131; Muller 839-840 (other eds.); Sabin 15015 (1663 & 1685 eds.); Scheepers II, 1026; Tiele, Mémoire, pp. 248-249; Waller 218 (all ed. 1662).