(description)

Author : Walter Thornbury
Title : The Buccaneers; or, The Monarchs of the Main. With Illustrations by Phiz.
Language : Text in English
Publisher : London: G. Routledge & Co. & New York. 1858.
Size : 7.5 " X 5 "
Pages : viii-454 pages
Binding : Fine and attractive full leather binding by Bayntun Riviere, Bath (hinges fine) under a protective mylar cover.
Content : Very good content (bright, tight and clean, gift note on second blank endpaper and name on first chapter page - as shown, rare foxing and staining)  
Illustration : Complete with the frontispiece & all the full page plates by Phiz.

Estimate: (USD 250 - USD 400)

The book : Scarce early edition of this account of the 'gentlemen of the black flag' by Thornbury. Sea Rovers, Filibusters, Privateers, Buccaneers and Pirates-regardless of their title these predators of the waves have endured as long as sea trade itself, although they are especially associated with the Spanish Main of the Caribbean. Strictly speaking there is some distinction between those who operated under license from their own governments and those who were simply criminals, but reality was somewhat different. These were violent, desperate seafarers with a taste for adventure, blood and gold. The man who was a pirate one day would readily be a buccaneer the next-and vice-versa. Nevertheless, there has always been an abiding interest in the romantic aspects of these free spirits, whose allegiance was mainly to their own swaying decks. Within the pages of this book readers will discover the real life activities of infamous figures such as Lolonnois the Cruel, Montbars the Exterminator, Sir Henry Morgan, Sawkins, Sharp, Ravenau de Lussan and many other 'monarchs of the Main.'

 The author : George Walter Thornbury (13 November 1828 – 11 June 1876) was an English author. His first major work was Lays and legends of the New World (1851). It followed a history of the Buccaneers, Monarchs of the Main, (1855), Shakspeare's England during the reign of Elizabeth (1856, 2 Vols.) and Art and nature at home and abroad (1856, 2 Vols.).