Dutch? That's rich! He was born in Honfleur, France! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> This really plays into Capt. Python's point about how the history of that era is terribly muddled. I'm reading Johnson's "A General History..." right now, and while the style is similar to Defoe's, many works of that era copied Defoe's oratorial writing style. The entire first 50 pages of the book are dedicated to the editor's attempt to attribute the book to Defoe (I skipped much of it, since it's dry as dust). But recently, the notion that Capt. Johnson was a <i>nome de plume</i> for Defoe has come under fire and is no longer accepted as fact as it once was. Who knows? But I highly recommend "A General History.." as a must read.
Here's what I've been able to assemble about the history of "The Buccaneers of America".
Exquemelin's work is suspect in it's content not (only?) because of the author's relation of the facts, but because the original publisher, Jan van Hoorn, does not limit himself to a translation into Dutch of the French manuscript; he supresses some parts, rewrites others and likewise adds a complete chapter, all of this to make the book more attractive for a Dutch public. This was a common practice at this time: Exquemelin wasn’t a professional writer and he didn’t have any influence in a city and a country where he was a sea’s surgeon and a stranger.
Shortly after the publishing of his book, all trace of Exquemelin is lost until 1686.
The content of the book is further muddled by time and the revisitonist notions of its publishers. In 1679, it is translated in German. In 1681, the first Spanish edition, containing many unpublished details, is printed in Cologne. The translator is the Spaniard Alonso de Buena Maison, graduate of medicine from the University of Leyde, and who probably knew Exquemelin in person. The Dr. Buena Maison proceeds to rewrite the book because he does not want it to give offense to Spanish readers. Afterwards, it’s the turn of the English. In 1684, in London, the publishers Crooke and Malthus each print an English version of the Exquemelin’s book; the first edition is a translation of the Dutch edition, the second is a translation of the Spanish one. But Sir Henry Morgan is offended by some parts of the book in which he is the principal hero. Then, he prosecutes the two English publishers. In 1685, Crooke and Malthus are sentenced to pay to him an indemnity and to rectify the facts in the preface of the book.
In 1686, the Parisian publisher Jacques Lefebvre prints a new edition of his book under the author’s name of <i>Oexmelin</i>, proof that the French surgeon is not consulted about the final text of his adventures. This first French edition contains some ten new chapters. It appears to be based on a new manuscript of Exquemelin that differs from the one that was used for the preceding editions.
In 1699, Exquemelin leaves France one more time and a travels to America. This year, he doesn’t have time to assist in the publication of the second French edition of his book. This last original edition is again increased with many new chapters that relate some of the adventures of the buccaneers since 1682. These new chapters are not based on the manuscript of the French surgeon, but on accounts of anonymous buccaneers.
So the book's history is nearly as interesting as it's contents! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> I fully intend to read "The Buccaneers of America", after I finish the five I have in the queue currently.
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