海盗通史 (1724)

《抢劫与谋杀——声名狼藉的海盗通史》（A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates）是1724年在英国出版的一部当代海盗传记，署名为查尔斯·詹森船长。书中绘声绘色地描写了多位海盗黄金时代海盗的生平，并配有插图。

这本书最早在伦敦查尔斯·利文顿的书店里开始售卖，并迅速走红，到1726年就已经出了四版。一说现代人所认识的海盗形象就是由这本书塑造起来的。英国作家罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森的《金银岛》和J·M·巴里的《彼得潘》都受到过此书的影响。

内容

此书共分上下两册，第一册主要写18世纪早期的海盗，第二卷则写更早些时候的人物。此书是有一些史实依据的，但也不乏文学性的演绎。

第一卷包含人物：

卷二：

外部连接

Article comparing Johnson and Defoe

'Pirates of the Collection', Royal Geographical Society of South Australia blog post re our library's books about pirates including edition of this title reprinted from 4th edition, 1726

互联网档案馆收藏的《A General History of the Pyrates》

互联网档案馆收藏的《A General History of the Pyrates》

LibriVox中的公有领域有声书《The General History of the Pyrates》

A General History of the Pyrates, is a two volume book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates, which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. The prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates, the book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, and it is likely that the author used considerable artistic license in his accounts of pirate conversations. The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History says that the work "is not a historical primary source but is a fabulous literary one", and that it is the root of a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the history of piracy.

Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pen name for one of London's writer-publishers. The book also contains the first recorded use of the name Jolly Roger for the pirate flag, and shows the skull and crossbones design. It is not considered a reliable historical source by many modern scholars and academics of pirate history.

History

First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared. It pandered to the British public's taste for the exotic; revelling in graphic stories on the high seas. English naval historian David Cordingly writes: "It has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates." Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Treasure Island) and J. M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan featuring Captain Hook) both identified Johnson's General History of the Pyrates as one of their major influences, and Stevenson even borrowed one character's name (Israel Hands) from a list of Blackbeard's crew which appeared in Johnson's book.

Authorship

The author, who uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, has remained unknown in spite of numerous attempts by historians to discover their identity.

In 1932, literary scholar John Robert Moore argued that Daniel Defoe was the true author of A General History. Other sources, including a 2004 paper, suggest that the author could have been publisher Nathaniel Mist, or somebody working for Mist. Author Colin Woodard, in The Republic of Pirates, considers attribution of Johnson's work to Defoe to be erroneous, and prefers the hypothesis that Johnson was Mist. Other hypotheses include multiple writers including Mist being involved in the construction of the book.

Contents

A General History introduced many features which later became common in pirate literature, such as pirates with missing legs or eyes, the notion of pirates burying treasure, and the name of the pirate flag the Jolly Roger. The author specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag Jolly Roger (named after the first Pirate and his crew): Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts in June 1721, and English pirate Francis Spriggs in December 1723. The book gives an almost mythical status to the more colourful characters, such as the infamous English pirates Blackbeard and Henry Every. It provides the standard account of the lives of many people still famous in the 21st century, and has influenced pirate literature of Scottish novelists Robert Louis Stevenson and J. M. Barrie.

The book was released in two volumes. The first mostly deals with early 18th-century pirates, while Volume II records the exploits of their predecessors a few decades earlier. In the first volume, the author sticks fairly close to the available sources, though the author embellishes the stories somewhat. The author stretches the truth farther in the second volume and includes the biographies of three subjects who may be entirely fictional. The book has been hugely influential in shaping popular notions of piracy.

The pirates profiled in Volume I are:

Volume II features: