A General History of the Pyrates

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates

Cover of the 2nd edition
Author	Captain Charles Johnson (possibly a pen name)
Country	Kingdom of Great Britain
Language	English
Subject	Biographies
Publisher	Ch. Rivington, J. Lacy, and J. Stone
Publication date	14 May 1724
Media type	Print
Pages	304

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, or simply A General History of the Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain containing biographies of contemporary pirates,^[1] which was influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates. Its author uses the name Captain Charles Johnson, generally considered a pen name for one of London's writer-publishers. 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.^[2] The book also contains the name of Jolly Roger, the pirate flag, and shows the skull and crossbones design.

First appearing in Charles Rivington's shop in London, the book sold so well that by 1726 an enlarged fourth edition had appeared.^[1] 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."^[3] 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.^[4][5]