Pirates | A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea.

Title: The Pirates Own Book
Author: Charles Ellms
Year Published: 1837/reprinted 2002 (Bookspan/Book-of-the-Month Club)
Year Purchased: 2002/2003
Source: Book-of-the-Month Club
About: At the time of its publication, this book was the definitive guide to the history of piracy. Compiled from various sources, it remains a boisterously gritty, informative read.
Motivation: Included among the roster of high seas outlaws are female pirates Anne Bonney and Mary Read. I also love that the book was published only a few years after some of the episodes it depicts, giving it a legitimacy that no 21st-century account could.
Times Read: 1 (with another about due)
Random Excerpt/Page 242: “This ferocious villain (Captain Edward Low) was born in Westminster, and received an education similar to that of the common people in England. He was by nature a pirate; for even when very young he raised contributions among the boys of Westminster, and if they declined compliance, a battle was the result. When he advanced a step farther in life, he began to exert his ingenuity at low games, and cheating all in his power; and those who pretended to maintain their own right, he was ready to call to the field of combat.”
Happiness Scale: 9
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