Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier

Three parts in one. 4to (9 7/8 x 7 in.; 250 x 179 mm). 8 engraved plates (2 folding, 4 portraits) and one engraved folding map of Panama, one allegorical half-page text engraving, 2 small text woodcuts in part 3. Later full black morocco, richly tooled in gilt, covers bordered in gilt, with floral motif in corners of compartments and floral centerpiece in gilt, spine with raise bands in six compartments, lettered in second, others with repeat overall decoration in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; spine rebacked, neat repairs to corners.

Church 689; ESTC R21525; Hill 99–100; JCB 1675–1700, pp. 131–2; Sabin 23479; Wing E-3894

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of this classic account of the pirates, then at the apogee of their power and menace. Regarded as the classic of buccaneering books, first published in Dutch in 1678. The present text is based on a Spanish edition of 1681.