ULTRA RARE PIRATE BOOK PUBLISHED IN 1874, IN VERY GOOD CONDITION.
Fully titled and subtitled, Captain William Kidd and others of the pirates or buccaneers who ravaged the seas, the islands, and the continents of America two hundred years ago. Authored by John S.C. Abbott, published by Dodd & Mead in 1874. It was part of the "American Pioneers and Patriots" series, as indicated on the title page, slightly reworded as, "The Pioneers and Patriots of America" on the front boards. Overall in VERY GOOD CONDITION, as shown in listing photos. The orange-brown cloth boards with black and gilt tilting and design, with slight gilt rubbing on front board, slightly darkened cloth and slightly rubbed gilt on the spine. Darkened page tops, small tear on title page fore edge (likely from page turning), tissue protected frontispiece with several other plates throughout. There is a stain mark on the fore edges of all pages of the books - it can be seen in a listing photo. There is no discernable impact from this stain on pages. There is light age-toning around the page edges of the book. 373 pages in the book, no interior marks, no further tears.
Here is a synopsis of the book from a modern reprint:
" 'The extraordinary career of Captain Kidd, a New-York merchant, the demoniac feats of those fiends in human form, Bonnet, Barthelemy, and Lolonois; the romantic history of the innocent female pirate Mary Read, and of the termagant Anne Bonney; the amazing career of Sir Henry Morgan, and the fanaticism of Montbar, scarcely surpassed by that of Mohammed or Loyola, combine in creating a story, which the imagination of Dickens or Dumas could scarcely rival.' --John S.C. Abbott, Preface, 1874
American historian John S.C. Abbott wrote Captain William Kidd and Others of the Buccaneers (1874) as part of his American Pioneers and Patriots series. Captain William Kidd (1655-1701) was a British sailor who fought for Great Britain against the French in the West Indies, became a shipowner in New York and turned to piracy and who was tried and became one of the most colorful pirates of all time."
Cliff's Books
B107