If you’re a casual pirate enthusiast, this particular edition of The General History may not be the best one to start with; it’s not illustrated and the type font is small and tedious. The old Dover edition includes all the original plates and might be best for those just setting sail on getting into piracy; the ‘98 edition with the intro by historian David Cordingly has sort of become the default. Cordingly’s sparse notations help explain the text at times and while the illustrations are an uneven mix of original and shockingly hokey modern, it’ll likely be more engaging than the endless blocks of text in this edition. Oh right, this is a 5 star review and I better start trying to convince you to click that Add to Cart button!
This is the definitive text of Johnson’s work (continually misidentified as Daniel DeFoe here; DeFoe is even listed as holding copyright. Not bad for a guy that died in 1731!) and includes the surprisingly difficult to find second volume full of pirates. That’s why I purchased it. The first volume features the usual suspects we’ve all heard of: Blackbeard, Bonney & Read, Rackham, Roberts, Vane, Avery, et cetera. Volume 2 is a bunch of lightweights by comparison but does include Thomas Tew (who is mentioned in Volume 1 but only in passing) and the weird tale of pirate/social philosopher Captain Mission. He’s probably made up and his pirate utopia is all a bunch of bunk, but what a fascinating look into what 18th century sailors thought earthly paradise should be. If you’re a student of pirate history, this needs to be on your shelf for that reason alone.
Again, no illustrations, Johnson’s storytelling abilities leaves a lot to be desired, and your eyes will glaze over from the monotonous look of every page, but what a treasure trove of weird tales. Is Johnson to be believed? He’s usually kinda-sorta accurate, so don’t take him as complete gospel, but know that he likely got his stories as straight as he could, considering his sources were probably a bunch of wharf rats hanging out at the dockside coffee house.
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