Exquemelin Alexandre O. The Buccaneers of America

Glorieta, NM: Rio Grande Press, 1992. — 480 p. — ISBN: 0-87380-176-8.The first three Parts of this work were originally written in Dutch by Alex. Olivier Exquemelin (1645-1707) — anglicized as John Esquemeling; and published in Amsterdam in 1678 under the title De Americaensche Zeerovers. A Spanish translation by A. de Buena-Maison, under the title Piratas de la America, appeared in small 4to, at Colonia Agrippina 1681, and translations into other European languages followed, each magnifying the deeds of its own national hero, sometimes at the expense of Esquemeling’s text.
The Fourth Part consists of the Journal of Basil Ringrose, "gent.", one of the English Buccaneers; and gives an account of their principal exploits in the South Seas, with which Esquemeling dealt only in outline. Ringrose was with the Buccaneers at Darien in 1680, and returned to England in 1682: his Journal appeared as the second volume of Esquemeling’s work in 1685. He sailed in 1684 for the South Seas in the Cygnet, whose Captain joined the Buccaneers: he was killed by the Spaniards in Mexico in 1686.
The present edition is a verbatim reprint — modernized in respect of punctuation, and obsolete spellings and verbal and typographic eccentricities — of the second edition of the English translation (London: printed for William Crooke, at the Green Dragon without Temple-bar, 1684), which contains two additional chapters (XI and XII) to the first edition (also 1684) relating the adventures of Captain Cook, Captain Sharp, and others. Ringrose’s Fourth Part is reprinted from the first edition, which is excessively rare, valued to-day at about £60 (in good condition). A few notes have been added at the foot of the pages where obscurities — chiefly verbal — occur.
The essay on this book from the pen of the late Mr. Andrew Lang is reprinted from his Essays in Little, by kind permission of Messrs Longmans, Green and Co., its publishers.