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

Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pirates (1724) and The Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen (1734) are the most famous books about pirates ever written. This new edition of Highwaymen includes fictional accounts based on factual sources and influences such as Defoe's Moll Flanders and Fielding's Jonathan Wild.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 400 pages
\n Publication date: 12 November 2020
\n Publisher: British Library Publishing
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Captain Charles Johnson's renowned A General History of the Pirates (1724) stands as the most celebrated work on pirates ever penned. Riding the wave of the book's immense popularity, Johnson crafted the equally captivating The Lives and Adventures of the Most Famous Highwaymen (1734), a publication that, after two centuries, sees its inaugural release here. Within its pages, readers are treated to over 50 accounts detailing the lives and exploits of the most notorious British criminals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These captivating figures include the legendary highwayman William Davis, known as 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, which blend fictional narratives with factual sources, hold immense significance as the pioneers of the real-life criminal biography genre. Moreover, their profound influence can be seen in the works of such early literary giants as Defoe's Moll Flanders and Fielding's Jonathan Wild. Originally presented in folio format, adorned with exquisite engravings, this new edition of Highwaymen not only showcases the finest of these original decorative elements but also presents a collection of related illustrations, playbills, and portraits sourced from the British Library collections.

\n Weight: 852g\n
Dimension: 168 x 241 x 51 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780712352741\n \n