A General History of the Lives, Murders and Adventures of the Most Notorious Highwaymen

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Captain Charles Johnson Sam Willis

A General History of the Lives, Murders and Adventures of the Most Notorious Highwaymen

Captain Charles Johnson, Sam Willis

$55.95

Hardback

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English

British Library Publishing
01 October 2019

Biography; True crime; Popular beliefs & controversial knowledge

Captain Charles Johnson's celebrated A General History of the Pirates (1724) is the most famous book about pirates ever written. Buoyed by the volume's runaway success Johnson followed up with the equally engrossing The Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen (1734) which, published here for the first time in two centuries, provides over 50 accounts of the most notorious British criminals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These include the famous highwayman William Davis, alias The Golden Farmer, the cross-Channel gentleman highwayman Claude du Vall, the prolific road adventurer Old Mob and the royalist carriage raider James Hind. Johnson's volumes, featuring fictional accounts based on factual sources, are significant as the forerunners of the real-life criminal biography genre, and for their influence on such early novels as Defoe's Moll Flanders and Fielding's Jonathan Wild. Originally published in folio size complete with fine engravings, this new edition of Highwaymen not only includes the very best of these original decorative features but also presents a series of related illustrations, playbills, and portraits from the British Library collections.

By: Captain Charles Johnson
Introduction by: Sam Willis
Imprint: British Library Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780712352741
ISBN 10: 0712352740
Publication Date: 01 October 2019
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

The identity of Captain Charles Johnson has long been a mystery. Suspected as a pseudonym for Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, or even as a pirate himself, neither has ever been confirmed. His books are the prime source of information on the great age of piracy and road adventurers and have inspired numerous plays, books and films including Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean.