Republished here on fully-searchable CD-ROM is the immensely popular and hugely successful Johnson's Lives of
Highwaymen and Pirates. First published in 1724 'As a General History of
the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates' and often
abbreviated to 'A General History', the work had been republished and
reissued many hundreds of times, down to the present day. This edition
is known as the Dublin Tegg 'fourth edition' published in Dublin in
1839. This was the thirty-fifth time that the book had been published
and this edition was based on 1813 Edinburgh release and carried the
full title: The Lives and Actions of the Most Noted Highwaymen,
Street-Robbers, Pirates, Etc.
The identity of the
author, Captain Charles Johnson, and his authorship of Highwaymen and Pirates is shrouded in mystery and not a little controversy. While
there is little dispute that there was no such person by the name of
'Captain Charles Johnson' this had led to much speculation about who
the author really was. Highwaymen and Pirates demonstrates a knowledge
of the sailor's speech and life, which to some people suggest that he
could have been an actual sea captain. He could also have been a
professional writer, well versed in the sea, using a pseudonym. This
has led some to believe that he could have been the playwright Charles
Johnson, who had an unsuccessful play the Successful Pyrate in 1712.
This glamorized the career of Henry Avery and caused a scandal at the
time for praising a convicted criminal. The American scholar and expert
on the writings of Daniel Defoe claimed in 1934 that Defoe was actually
the author of A General History and the influence and credibility of
Moore led many to recatalogue A General History with Defoe's other
known works. However, there is no documentary evidence linking Johnson
to Defoe and the identity of Captain Johnson will probably remain a
mystery adding to the compelling nature of the work.
The
original publication was assembled using contemporary newspaper
accounts, Admiralty Court Records and a number of interviews and as a
result the work has become the most influential source in shaping
conceptions of pirates and remains one of the prime sources for the
biographies on some of the best-known pirates today.
This
edition of Highwaymen and Pirates contains 512 printed pages, a dozen
or so pen and ink sketches and is fully indexed. The Index contains the
names of the highwaymen and pirates and and many names are annotated
with one or two dagger marks. One dagger symbolised the fact that the
individual had committed murder, two daggers that 'they were guilty of
numerous or atrocious acts'. More than 120 biographical sketches of
varying length are included in Highwaymen and Pirates and all of the
best-known pirates are present and include to two infamous female
pirates Ann Bonney and Mary Read.
Perhaps the best-known
work ever published on pirates and highwaymen, Captain Johnson's The
Lives and Actions of the Most Noted Highwaymen, Street-Robbers,
Pirates, is not to be missed.
This CD contains high quality scanned images of the original book, and
has been bookmarked for easy navigation. Pages can be searched,
browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
